Errors 

What DAC is in the Samsung galaxy s3 mini. Samsung Galaxy S3 mini - Specifications. reasons not to buy the Galaxy S III Mini

Samsung Galaxy The S III Mini is by no means a device for the technically concerned part of the audience. Rather, for those who want to trust brands and not delve into details.

Specifications

Launched at the end of 2012, the Galaxy S III Mini received a fresh version of the operating system. Android systems 4.1 Jelly Bean, and with it new useful features.

Unlike the most technologically advanced Samsung smartphone of 2012, the mini S III has a dual-core processor. Despite having half the number of cores, it (namely the NovaThor U8420 chipset) provides high performance and also has a better impact on time battery life. But under average loads, the battery capacity is enough for two days of work. Despite all this, the Galaxy S III Mini falls short of the title of flagship model for fans of small screen diagonals: its screen resolution is only 480x800 pixels, and a five-megapixel camera is by no means a flagship figure for today.

Specifications Galaxy S III Mini
operating system Android 4.1.1
Dimensions and weight 121.6 x 63 x 9.9 mm, 111.5 g
Display Super AMOLED, 4 inches, 800x480 pixels (pixel density 233 ppi)
CPU dual-core, NovaThor U8420 (clock frequency 1 GHz)
Memory 1 GB RAM, 8/16 GB, micro SD support
Camera 5 MP (2592x1944), flash, autofocus, HD video recording
Communications Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, A-GPS, Bluetooth
Battery 1500 mAh

The performance of the smartphone is ultimately quite good high level, however, in tests it is inferior to some of its competitors. In particular, Acer CloudMobile S500 is in both Vellamo and AnTuTu, and Huawei P1 is only in AnTuTu.

Appearance

The camera also copes quite well with video shooting.

Example video taken with a Samsung Galaxy S III Mini camera

Competitive environment

Among smartphones for 4000 UAH, the Galaxy S III Mini looks tiny. Its closest competitors, Acer Cloudmobile, Huawei Ascend P1 and last year's flagship Samsung Galaxy S II are equipped with 4.3-inch displays, and the first two also have a decent screen resolution. They also surpass the Galaxy S III Mini in performance, but are inferior to it in battery life. Also, Acer and Huawei cannot boast of their own shell - but this is a matter of taste. Some people prefer naked Android, who cares? Samsung TouchWiz, to whom - HTC Sense.

If the average screen size is an important criterion for choosing a smartphone, then the Galaxy S III Mini will only have to compete with the Sony XPERIA P for the buyer’s wallet. Both smartphones have displays with a diagonal of 4 inches, although Sony got better resolution(screen and camera) and even a metal case with a very interesting design. XPERIA smartphone P was released on the almost prehistoric version of Android OS 2.3, but should have already been updated to 4.0.

A comparison table of smartphone capabilities in the UAH 4,000 category looks like this.

Bottom line

In essence, the Galaxy S III Mini is a cocktail of the flagship name and design, a fresh version operating system, high performance, and other fillings - at the middle class level. At the same time, the device is characterized by enormous charisma, the origins of which, as it seemed to me, are in the very successful shape of the body and the polished TouchWiz shell. And the highlight of this model is Android versions 4.1, which is not yet available to competitors and, of course, a name with which the smartphone, as they say, will go far. At the same time, the price tag of 4,000 UAH eloquently hints that the buyer will have to pay part of this amount just for the “S III” in the name, and not for tangible technical advantages. After all, the same Acer Cloudmobile or Huawei P1 with better performance, screen resolution and camera will cost the same amount.

4 reasons to buy Galaxy S III Mini:

  • very natural body shape;
  • Android 4.1 and high performance;
  • autonomy is above average;
  • It's also a bit of an S III.

3 reasons not to buy the Galaxy S III Mini:

  • low screen resolution for its price category;
  • the screen lock and Home keys are faintly visible on the body;
  • Low camera resolution for its price category.

Samsung decided to use the Galaxy S III brand according to full program. In this regard, it appears on store shelves a large number of mobile phones with the same name. True, in technical terms, they all have nothing in common with the original. Here is our test Samsung Galaxy S III mini from the same number. Why is it interesting and is it worth the attention of buyers?

Samsung Galaxy S III mini is presented to us as a smaller version of itself popular smartphone 2012. In fact, the device, other than design, has nothing in common with . In technical terms, we have a completely different device. Processor, chip, memory - everything here is an order of magnitude lower.

The compensation for such a pseudo can only be the price, but the new product is only 4,000 cheaper than the original.

Dimensions. Contents of delivery

id="sub0">

The dimensions of the Samsung GS III mini do not look excessive, and it cannot be called miniature either. They are rather optimal: 121.55x63.00x9.9 mm. Weight - 120 grams. The device fits well in the hand and does not tend to fall out or slip out. You can easily carry your smartphone in your trouser pocket, jeans pocket, shirt pocket or bag.

The scope of delivery includes:

  • Phone Samsung i8190 Galaxy S III mini
  • Battery 1500 mAh, lithium-ion
  • Charger(microUSB)
  • Stereo headset with 3.5 mm mini-jack connector
  • Cable for synchronization with computer
  • Instructions

Design, construction

id="sub1">

The appearance of the smartphone fully matches the design. Here you can see rounded corners housings. The decor has a minimalist feel. There is a lot of gloss on the front, as well as the back. The back cover is plastic. It comes off quite easily.

Samsung i8190 is available in two variants: sea pebbles and white marble.

Almost the entire front part of the device is occupied touchscreen. Above it is the speaker hole. To the left is a camera for video calls and various sensors: motion sensor, light sensor, G-sensor.

Below the screen there is a menu button - in the center and two touch keys context menu and return to one level. Everything is standard here. In terms of ease of use, the controls are no different from those in other Samsung smartphones.

The back surface is made of plastic, stylized as brushed metal. This prevents fingerprints, scuffs and cuts from being visible. It contains a 5 megapixel camera, an LED flash that can be used as a flashlight, and a speaker for external calls and music playback.

On the right side there is a button to turn on, turn off and lock the phone, and on the left there are volume keys. There is no camera button here; the camera application for shooting can only be launched from the menu.

At the top end there is a 3.5 mm headphone output. The standard microUSB connector is on the bottom edge. There's a microphone there too.

The lithium-ion battery is located under the battery cover. We also have a mount for a SIM card and a slot for microSD memory cards.

The build quality of the Samsung i8190 is good. During the test, no external defects were detected. The impressions are extremely positive. Galaxy S III mini is assembled at a factory in South Korea.

Screen. Graphics capabilities

id="sub2">

Samsung Galaxy S III has excellent Super AMOLED screen with a 4-inch diagonal and a resolution of 480x800 pixels (233 ppi). However, the device has been harshly criticized for its relatively low resolution. However, the display has high contrast, brightness and color reproduction.

The existing matrix provides viewing angles close to maximum. When exposed to direct sunlight, the screen fades a little, but remains easy to read.

The display of the Samsung Galaxy S III mini supports multi-touch.

In fact, we are dealing with a screen that a couple of years ago was installed in the top models of the Korean company, but today has dropped into the segment of mid-price devices.

Keyboard and information input

id="sub3">

Entering information, as well as writing texts and dialing numbers, occurs using a touch screen.

There are two options for typing text in the Samsung Galaxy S III mini: vertical and horizontal QWERTY keyboard. In the first version, the buttons are small, and therefore typing text is not very convenient.

But in horizontal orientation, the buttons are large and allow you to type text without any problems. Changing the language occurs by pressing the space bar, only you must first select the main languages ​​in the settings.

Menu. Interface and navigation

id="sub4">

Samsung Galaxy S III mini runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system. The software can be updated via the Internet.

In standby mode, the user has access to up to seven desktops. To remove or add them, you need to click contextual button and select “Change”. After this you can work with desktops. In addition, there are “live” wallpapers.

In turn, the user can add additional program shortcuts, bookmarks or widgets to any of the desktops. To do this, just click the context button and select “Add”. Further individual programs can be grouped by meaning, for example, photos, videos and YouTube on one screen, and the calendar and notes on another. The speed of access to these services increases several times.

A long, continuous press on the top of the screen will activate the notification panel. It displays The current date, operator name and other supporting information. The notification panel on the Samsung Galaxy S III mini reports new voice messages, messages Email, Gmail and much more. Here you can quickly enable functions such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, sound, auto-rotate.

The menu can be accessed by tapping the "Applications" option at the bottom right of the screen. The menu of the phone under test is presented by default with three screens that can be scrolled through. These are all different applications. Long pressing an application's shortcut will move it to the desktop. To remove a shortcut from the desktop, you need to do the opposite. There is also a “Widgets” tab, from where you can add useful information directly to your smartphone desktop.

The lock screen in the Galaxy S III mini is implemented in the same way as in the SGS III. To unlock the device, you just need to swipe your finger across the screen. In addition, there are intelligent control functions.

If activated, the device will not go into sleep mode as long as the user is looking at it. For face recognition it is used front-camera. The manufacturer honestly warns that “Intelligent Waiting” may not work in the dark. However, under normal conditions the function also does not always work correctly. It seems that an eye icon appears on the notification panel (that is, the camera recognizes that the screen is in this moment look), but sometimes the display backlight still turns off after a specified period of time.

Telephone features

id="sub5">

First of all, these include “Phone”, “Contacts”, “Messages”. They are all at the bottom of the main Galaxy screen S III mini.

The Contacts app stores detailed information O telephone numbers and subscribers. A specific record can have two dozen fields, be it last name, first name, patronymic, mobile number, home phone, email address, date of birth or personal ID, Skype, etc. The search in contacts occurs immediately across all fields of the client, that is, you can dial the number, first name, last name, etc. Each subscriber’s profile can now be linked to his social media accounts.

During incoming call the screen displays a photo and number of the subscriber from the phone book, or, if the subscriber is unknown, a picture of a green man.

Text and multimedia messages are grouped by subscriber. By clicking on a specific contact, you can view the history of correspondence with this person.

Internet and Google services

id="sub6">

The standard browser uses updated Webkit and JavaScript. In addition, the browser supports Adobe Flash and does everything a progressive browser is supposed to do.

The device is fully integrated with Google services such as Gmail, Picasa, Google Talk, Google Maps, YouTube and, of course, Google search. The user only needs to provide his account information Google posts and that's all.

Work tools include Google Calendar. It allows you to view events by date, time and action. The service is a high-quality planner-organizer, all in one. All events can be divided into groups with corresponding fields. All information is stored on a Google server.

Multimedia capabilities

id="sub7">

The “Music” item is a music audio player. You can view and listen to audio tracks. The following file formats are supported: MP3, AMR, AAC, AAC+, e-AAC+. There is support for OMA DRM. There is sorting by artists, albums, genres, composers.

The standard headset is included in the package. Thanks to the 3.5 mm jack, you can choose any headphones.

The “Video” item displays videos made both by the device’s camera and downloaded from the Internet.

A unique thematic browser for photo and video files is the “Gallery” item. All files are divided into folders: photos and video clips, music.

For ease of management, the settings are divided into several sections: “ Wireless network» (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mobile network and data network), “Device” (setting up applications, power, personalization), “Personal data” (setting up social services and accounts), “System”.

Camera. Photo and video capabilities

id="sub8">

The main camera allows you to take pictures with a resolution of up to 2592x1944 and record HD video at 30 frames per second.

The camera has a standard set of settings. The volume buttons are responsible for zooming in/out of the image. There are also improvements compared to previous models. They mainly affected the color rendition of pictures, as well as the ability to select the focus point on the screen by touch.

Automatic contrast allows you to achieve good quality pictures. IN manual mode ISO settings available in 50, 100, 200, 400, 800. The following shooting modes are available: single shot, smile detection, continuous, panorama, vintage, portrait, landscape, night mode, sports, indoor, beach/snow, sunset, dawn , autumn colors, fireworks, text, twilight, against the light.

The quality of the pictures is quite average. It is much inferior to SGS III.

The settings also have special shooting effects a la a crooked mirror, which are applied directly in the process. That is, the image is processed in real time, and the smartphone thereby demonstrates its computing power.

The phone supports video recording in mpeg4 format for maximum resolution, and in the settings you can specify whether the video will be recorded with or without sound. All settings are comparable to those for photographs, but the video resolutions are different, plus effects are supported. The camera can shoot videos with a resolution of 1280x720, 720x480 pixels (30 frames), or a resolution of 640x480 pixels (30 frames). Two additional resolutions - 320x240 and 176x144 pixels.

The recorded video is not bad. It looks adequate on a phone screen, and it looks more or less on a computer.

Photos and videos can be viewed from the Multimedia menu. Photos and videos are displayed as thumbnails, the list opens very quickly, there are no delays even with a large number of photos or images. In the gallery, you can scroll through photos by tilting the phone in one direction or another. All this became possible thanks to the built-in accelerometer.

Memory and speed

id="sub9">

A version of the smartphone with 8 GB memory is currently available in stores. This volume can be expanded through the use of microSD memory cards.

The performance of the Galaxy S III mini is quite comfortable. The device runs on the NovaThor U8420 platform with a 2-core gigahertz processor, Mali-400MP graphics and 1 GB random access memory. There is enough RAM to ensure that no application feels left out. In addition, multitasking is supported for all applications.

Communication capabilities

id="sub10">

In addition to the standard connection to a computer via microUSB, the Galaxy S III mini supports Bluetooth 3.0. Bluetooth provides wireless connection peripheral devices: For example, A2DP/AVRCP stereo headsets.

When connected to a USB port, there are several connection options: Media, Charge only, Storage, Samsung Keis. In Storage mode, the device is picked up perfectly without additional drivers, and you can copy the necessary data.

As for Kies, it’s an analogue of iTunes, only very, very crude. The program is inconvenient, and most importantly, it often crashes due to errors, or simply refuses to perform this or that action. In general, Kies is something that you should never install on your computer.

Returning to the communication capabilities, it is worth noting the support for packet data transfer using GPRS and EDGE class 32 technologies, as well as third generation networks with HSPA+ support. The phone can be used as a modem, which provides speed incoming traffic 21 Mbit/s.

This model, everything about it was great except the price. Small copy flagship smartphone They called it simply - Samsung Galaxy S III mini, and hung a price tag of 4299 hryvnia. And it would be nice if the S III mini was really smaller copy of Samsung i9300, but that's not true. The characteristics were significantly inferior to the top model; only the design and interface were common. We decided to find out what impressions the younger S III leaves behind and whether it is worthy of being valued at an amount commensurate with the original.

Considering the fact that with each new device Samsung is increasingly blurring the line separating one model from another, the Samsung Galaxy S III mini could also be called the Samsung Galaxy S Duos. It is also similar to the S III, and you can distinguish the S III mini and S Duos only by the presence of an inscription on the top of the latter’s body. If you look at the device from all sides, you really find a lot in common. This includes the design of the sidewalls, the shape of the rim around the main camera lens, the location of the recess for removing the back panel, the Micro-USB connector, the shape of the hardware key and the speaker grille, and, in fact, the materials used. Among the differences: a different arrangement of proximity sensors, lighting, front camera, flash and multimedia speaker, and, of course, dimensions. If the original has a display with a diagonal of 4.8”, then the smaller copy is some 4”. Another unifying feature of the model, here we really need to make an amendment right away - this applies to the majority Samsung devices, is the build quality - it's on good level. There are no creaks or play. The Gorilla Glass is coated with an oleophobic layer, which should prevent fingerprints. The rear removable panel is made in the same style as in, that is, made of glossy plastic. It quickly develops scratches and greasy stains from your fingers. Looking under the removable panel, you can find a battery with a modest capacity of 1500 mAh, under which is hidden a slot for memory cards, a slot for SIM cards of the usual mini format, and that’s all.














Due to its small size, the smartphone fits comfortably in your hand. The power button is located on the right side, while on the opposite side there is a double volume rocker. The frame on the sides of the display is much smaller than devices with a similar diagonal, but here, as in the latest models of LG smartphones in white, they used a trick - between the edge of the frame and the display there is short distance, which is invisible when the display backlight is off.










Interface and software

Samsung Galaxy S III mini is one of the few devices running the Android 4.1.1 operating system out of the box. Paired with the current (except for Android 4.2, which is currently only available on Nexus devices) operating system, the smartphone has latest version proprietary shell - Nature UX - the same as in the Samsung Galaxy S III. Taking this into account, the smartphone user actually receives a smaller copy of the original interface.

The only thing that we found not entirely convenient was the keyboard. Perhaps the whole point is that we are accustomed to devices with a larger diagonal display. Considering that the smartphone is designed for young people and women, this drawback cannot be considered serious. In addition, no complaints were received from the girl walking with the smartphone for several days. There were no complaints about the quality of communication. The speaker and ringing speakers are loud, but with musical abilities, not everything is so simple. The sound produced is only slightly “simpler” than what we heard in HTC Desire SV, but in terms of volume they have parity. In both cases, its level is not sufficient to enjoy music in the subway without extraneous noise from the outside, even taking into account the presence of good headphones.

Hardware platform

Even before the official information appeared, there were rumors that the smartphone would have a quad-core processor, a capacious battery and other amenities that could arouse interest not only among young people, but also among those users for whom performance is important. The reality turned out to be somewhat different. The Samsung Galaxy S III mini uses a NovaThor U8500 system-on-chip with a dual-core 1 GHz processor, Mali-400 MP graphics chip and 1 GB of RAM. All this allows the smartphone to demonstrate good results in performance tests.

The most important thing is that with a 1500 mAh battery, the smartphone showed excellent operating time results, scoring 810 points in Antutu Tester, thereby climbing to second place in the rating. The operating time at maximum load was 4.5 hours. The user can count on 8 hours of video viewing or two to three days of work with a less intense load, including several tens of minutes of calls per day, an hour of listening to music and working on a 3G network.

Display and camera

As good as Super AMOLED displays can be, they can also be bad. The smartphone has a Super AMOLED matrix with all the ensuing consequences, including reference black color, rich shades, good viewing angles and PenTile. You don't need a microscope to notice the latter. A person with good vision sees it from a familiar distance. I was somewhat surprised by the lack of automatic brightness adjustment, because physically, judging by the number of holes on the case, there is a light sensor.

The camera quality is comparable to the first generation of the Galaxy S family, and the camera capabilities are exactly the same. The maximum resolution of pictures is 5 MP, the maximum resolution of recorded video is 1280x720 pixels. The same characteristics are found in the flagship bada smartphone – Samsung Wave III. Interestingly, these three devices not only use a similar camera module, but also the type of display, including diagonal and resolution. Probably, thus, Samsung decided to give another life to the “oldies” by collecting the stale components and placing them all in a new case.
You can evaluate the quality of the camera using the following examples.





Example of 5 MP photos taken Samsung smartphone Galaxy S III mini



Results

Despite all the advantages, a close acquaintance with the Samsung Galaxy S III mini did not reveal to us the secret of such a high price. Probably, Samsung already feels so good in the global market that now all that remains is to increase the perception of its brand as a manufacturer of expensive but high-quality equipment. The smartphone is doing well with this. It is well assembled, has good characteristics and is ready to please the owner with a relatively considerable operating time. The camera will not disappoint either, if you do not expect results comparable to the original. The most important thing is that all this together leaves behind a good impression and it is likely that as soon as the price for it comes down to earth, its popularity is simply guaranteed.


Notify when on sale

In mid-October she announced new smartphone Galaxy S III mini, indexed i-8190. This model outwardly it is a smaller copy of the flagship Galaxy S III - the same design, case materials, location of control keys. But this is where the similarities end; the characteristics of smartphones differ radically.

Samsung Galaxy S III mini has dimensions of 121.55x63x9.85 mm, which resembles the dimensions of the original Galaxy S. As we already mentioned, new model will have a design similar to the Galaxy S III. Thus, the South Korean company decided that the consumers of this gadget will be those who need more compact sizes and a lower price.

As in the flagship model, almost the entire front surface of the device is occupied by a display, above which there is a front camera, light and proximity sensors, a speaker and the company logo, and below it is a control key. On the back cover you can see the main camera with LED flash. Slots for speaker and logo.

The assembly of the device is very high quality: there are no creaks or backlashes during operation.

Galaxy S III mini weighs 111.5 g.

Performance and Software

Samsung Galaxy S III mini is based on a 2-core ST-Ericsson NovaThor ModAp processor of the U8500/U8520 family with clock frequency 1 GHz, Mali-400MP graphics accelerator and 1 GB of RAM.

These specifications are, of course, worse than those of the original Galaxy S III, but still provide good performance and help reduce the cost. Below we present several tests that will help you evaluate the capabilities of the new smartphone.

The Benchmark Pi test allows you to determine CPU performance (the lower the score, the better), here the gadget is ahead of such smartphones as Xperia go, Sony Xperia sola and Samsung Galaxy S Duos.

In other benchmarks Vellamo, NenaMark 2, AnTuTu and Quadrant, the new device also showed average results.

The Samsung Galaxy S III mini has 16 GB of permanent memory, which can be expanded using cards.

Straight out of the box, the smartphone will run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system, which, of course, is a big plus.

The Galaxy S3 mini has the following: pre-installed applications: browser, audio player, video player, Play Market, integration with , navigation software, mail client, other programs and games.

The gadget supports Wi-Fi (hotspot+Direct), GPS/A-GPS and Bluetooth 4.0, FM radio, and 3G networks.

Screen

The pixel density is 233 ppi, but since this generation uses a PenTile matrix, you will be able to detect the familiar pinpointing. Although it's not a big deal, it's one of those things that you just notice once and it won't leave your mind. The Samsung Galaxy S 3 mini uses a 4-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display with resolution of 800x480 pixels and color rendering of 16 million shades. It is identical to the screen used in Galaxy smartphones S and Galaxy S Advance, so the image quality is the same.

Taking all this into account, we can say that the display has more than decent image quality for a mid-range device. Colors are rich, blacks are as deep as other AMOLED screens, and viewing angles are very wide.

Camera

Galaxy S III mini is equipped with a 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus. The new product allows you to take pictures with a maximum resolution of 2592x1944 pixels.

The photos look quite good, especially considering that this device is not camera-oriented.

You can see examples of photos below.

The camera allows you to record HD video at 30 frames per second, which makes playback movements quite smooth.

An example of a video shot on a Samsung Galaxy S3 mini camera.

The smartphone also has a 0.3 megapixel front camera for video calling.

Battery

The device has lithium-ion battery 1500 mAh capacity, which is enough for 6-7 hours of intensive use (games, Wi-Fi and 3G networks, videos, music and conversations).

Price

Samsung Galaxy S III mini video review:

Samsung has decided to release the Galaxy S III mini. From the title it would seem clear that a copy should be waiting for us large smartphone on a slightly reduced scale. In fact, it turned out that Samsung resorted to a trick that consisted of exploiting the name of a hit phone.

The company decided to present its lightweight version under the guise of a simplified flagship. The new product looks like a smaller Galaxy S III - the body shape and color are the same. The characteristics have also become more modest, but the cost has also been noticeably reduced. The new product seems to hint that you have a small hi-end phone. However, it is not so small and the most productive Samsung device in the line, when compared by screen diagonal. But let's talk about design.

Design

You don't need to be particularly insightful to figure out the source of inspiration for a model's appearance. Details of the Galaxy S III are easily recognizable - from the button with a metal outline on the front panel to the “metal” strip that surrounds the side edges of the smartphone. Oddly enough, I would like to find fault with the beveled edges - they were not reduced in accordance with the proportions of the body, but were left the same as in the large Galaxy S III. As a result, the smartphone seems to be overly striving for an ellipse rather than a thin rectangle. And because of its smooth coating and white color, it even resembles an elongated “remnant”.

The ergonomics of the Galaxy S III mini are excellent. However, you wouldn’t expect anything else from a company that can make even devices with 5-inch screens convenient. The thickness is 9.9 mm, which is a good indicator for devices in its price category and with a 4-inch screen. There's actually a good balance between ridge height and a comfortable fit in the palm. Of course, I was pleased with the weight - only 111.5 grams and it does not weigh on the palm and is barely felt in the pocket.

The main material is glossy plastic, whose soilability interests us mainly in the context of the back cover. It is varnished, and therefore quickly and abundantly becomes covered with fingerprints. But it is not very noticeable due to the white color.

It was not possible to form a final opinion on the build quality due to the fact that we have a test sample. Mainly, when squeezing, squeaks appeared in the upper part of the body, however, in commercial batches, the defects will most likely be leveled out.

Despite the general similarity with its “big brother”, the Galaxy S III mini has a lot of differences in details, as well as very controversial decisions. We will talk about them in detail in the next section.

Connectors and controls

The peculiarity of the Galaxy S III mini is that the front camera, light and proximity sensors are located to the left of the speaker.

Our example with a white body fully preserves the disease of the older model with a similar color.

The two touch keys are not highlighted at all; only the backlight reminds of their purpose after direct contact. Moreover, as we remember, the blue case of the Galaxy S III does not have this drawback. I wasn't too pleased with the central physical button. The fact is that the metal contour is motionless - only the central white pad is pressed. This creates some discomfort due to a slight “cutting” effect. On the other hand, in principle, the presence physical button there is a noticeable plus. It’s easy to find by touch, and there are two more buttons on the sides that are intuitively perceived - Samsung brand loyalists will not complain about the need to change habits.

If we had no complaints about the ergonomics of the case as such, the location of the buttons on the ends turned out to be not ideal.

On the right is the phone's on/off key. In principle, its installation “under the finger” depends on specific person and cannot be the subject of objective criticism.

But the volume rocker is somewhat low - you have to lower your index finger to use the keys.

The top side of the smartphone contains only a 3.5 mm headset jack.

At the bottom, even by exclusion, one can assume the presence of a microUSB connector and a microphone slot.

There are two parallel openings on the back side system dynamics to the left of the camera, and directly below it is an LED flash.

However, the most interesting design tricks are found under the hood. To begin with, an unusual choice with the ability to change the SIM card without removing the battery - this does not happen often.

But the presence of microSD under the battery looks even more unusual. It has a somewhat unusual mount - the card is held by the body itself. How to install it correctly is shown by a small instruction printed directly on the back side. printed circuit board. Nothing complicated if you understand the two steps. But, of course, the need to remove the battery to change the card is called optimal solution it is forbidden.

If you close your eyes to the flaws in certain moments, the Galaxy S III mini cannot be accused of being too thoughtless in its attention to detail. Rather, our expectations were not met in relation to the hit progenitor.

Screen

The smartphone was not a special discovery in terms of display - the Super AMOLED matrix has already been reviewed by us several times at different models. Large viewing angles and rich colors, coupled with acceptable readability in the sun, are the most notable features of the technology used. With a diagonal of 4 inches, a resolution of 480x800 pixels means a pixel density of 233 ppi. If you have not dealt with HD smartphones before, picture clarity will not cause any issues. After getting acquainted with this year's flagships, some pixelation still catches the eye.

The display supports up to five simultaneous touches.

Galaxy S III in July disappointed us with a brightness of only 167 cd/m2. The S III mini fares even worse - 156.53 cd/m2 with the same display technology. It is not surprising that in sunny weather the picture becomes illegible. The brightness of the black point due to Super AMOLED technology is zero, which means the contrast tends to infinity.

During the test, the Galaxy S III failed to impress us with actual screen color temperature measurements. In its mini version, a relatively smooth graph is observed, not counting the small 10% drop that occurs on all screens. In the rest of the interval it slowly tends to the reference level, but does not fall below the 7000K level. Therefore, a shift in balance towards blue is inevitable.

Gamma measurements became almost a copy of the Galaxy S III graph. We are again faced with a significant “overexposure”, designed to artificially increase the insufficient real brightness of the display.

Camera

The smartphone's photography capabilities do not claim to be flagship-quality. On the back cover there is a 5-megapixel “eye” capable of producing frames with a resolution of 2592x1944 pixels. The maximum resolution for video recording is 1280x720 pixels, although the original Galaxy S III is capable of shooting FullHD video without any problems. There is autofocus and flash.

We have repeatedly seen the camera interface from Samsung’s point of view in other smartphones of the company; the Galaxy S3 mini did not become a fulcrum for the implementation of radical new ideas. Familiar options like ISO and white balance are side by side with additions like a variety of shooting modes and effects.

The resulting frames clearly indicate high-quality optics installed in the smartphone. First of all, the Galaxy S III mini managed to take excellent pictures in the evening - the result is immediately indistinguishable from a barely cloudy day. There are no complaints about the detail of the images and macro photography. Perhaps, since no smartphone with a 5-megapixel module has demonstrated such high-quality photography.

The compliment, of course, does not concern the front camera.

Unfortunately, video recording does not deserve the same praise. The videos turned out with a pronounced lack of detail.

The front camera showed a picture corresponding to the declared 0.3 MP.

Characteristics

Considering that we had in our hands a device that “claims” to be related to the best-selling Samsung smartphone, it was impossible to avoid direct comparison between them. It’s all the more interesting to find out what compromises users will have to endure for the money they save, in addition to a smaller screen.

According to their own Galaxy specifications The S III mini appears to us as a completely ordinary smartphone of the current middle class. From a software point of view, the model is notable for the presence of Android 4.1 out of the box. However, Google, with its characteristic haste, has already released 4.2, again making a feasible contribution to the fragmentation of the platform. We hope current version The system will arrive on the Galaxy S III mini without delay.

If you close your eyes to the lack of LTE support, then from the rest wireless standards there is the widest possible list. Here is the fourth generation of Bluetooth, NFC, and a full list of Wi-Fi specifications. And even Russian support satellite navigation There is GLONASS. True, it is not very justified. A pedestrian will not be able to appreciate the advantages of the paired work of GLONASS and GPS, and a motorist is unlikely to consider a 4-inch smartphone as a replacement for a navigator.

“Hardware” resembles a mandatory set of any more or less decent smartphone. So this is a dual-core NovaThor processor with a frequency of 1.0 GHz. At the same time, the older Galaxy S III boasts a 1.4 GHz quad-core chip made by Samsung. However, both processors are equipped with a Mali graphics chip. As we can see, the Mali-400MP is not the fastest graphics solution.

Now about the main thing - what is the model from the Galaxy S III, and what was the reason for the mention of “mini”. LTE was taken away from us, the processor was “cut down” from four to two cores, camera parameters were reduced and battery capacity was reduced. Although the last point is controversial - with a discount on the screen diagonal. To compensate, they added GLONASS, Android 4.1 and left the display technology. By and large, with the exception of appearance, there are not very many points of intersection with the Galaxy S III. Of course, the dimensions of a smartphone do not allow the same components to be built into it, but the screen could be equipped with a higher resolution - at least 960x540 pixels.

Performance testing

The Novathor U8420 chip manufactured by ST-Ericsson has not been noticed on models other than the Galaxy S III mini, which makes it more interesting to evaluate its capabilities. And, despite the difference in the number of cores, we decided to arrange a direct confrontation between “father” and “son”, pitting the Galaxy S III mini against the S III. In theory, the main advantage of a flagship is a more powerful processor.

AnTutu System Review immediately put everything in its place. In all tests based on processor calculations, the S III has a two- and even three-fold advantage. But in the graphics test, both smartphones showed comparable performance, which was to be expected.

Using graphic benchmarks, you can clearly judge how much they need the power of a multi-core processor. It turned out that they practically do not need it. With the same graphics chip in electopia, the gap is tiny, and in RD 3D the advantage of one point is entirely on the side of the S III mini.

A browser check confirmed the AnTutu System Review readings. As a result, we can state that the Galaxy S III mini has a sufficient supply of computing power. The only trump card of the older competitor naturally emerged only in “processor” tasks.

At one time, during the review of the Galaxy S III, we said that the flagship has a level of battery life on par with the record holder Galaxy Mini 2. So, Galaxy S III mini lagged behind its opponent by only 4 percentage points. No comments are needed - the battery life of the Galaxy S 3 mini is quite good.

Galaxy S3 mini software

As we have already said, the smartphone has Android 4.1 with the unchanged TouchWIZ add-on. Shell abilities, as well as basic capabilities Android 4.0, we looked at earlier using the example. Therefore, in order not to repeat ourselves, let’s try using the Galaxy S III mini as an example to familiarize ourselves with the improvements in version 4.1.

First on the list is Google Now, this is a kind of assistant-prompter that works based on an analysis of our behavior. After all, Google, as you know, loves to collect all kinds of information about user activity. To launch the program, you must select “Google” on the lock screen or hold down the “Home” touch button and select the same inscription. Google Now offers a great variety of messaging options, but to implement them you need to use your smartphone for at least several months. Then the so-called information cards will provide information that is potentially of interest.

The system's keyboard received one-button language switching and self-learning prompts for entered words. However, Samsung removed the Android keyboard, so we were not able to test it.

Standard Android browser from now on added Google Chrome, which is especially attractive due to its synchronization function between desktop and mobile versions. Very convenient to switch between open tabs, to do this you just need to flip them like pages left or right.

Google Maps is finally no longer free, but not the most practical service due to the need to connect to the Internet. Users were allowed to select an area on the map and download its map in order to have access even offline. However, not every scale of territory is supported.

Both Google+ and the YouTube client now have a sliding panel on the left. It gives quick access to the main sections of services and settings.

Android 4.1 ran on the Galaxy S III mini without errors or noticeable delays. However, “super speeds” were also not noticed. Traditionally, not everyone will like the clutter of Samsung programs and services.

Conclusion

If we consider the Samsung Galaxy S III mini in isolation, we see a stylish smartphone for those who seem to want to have the capabilities of advanced phones in reserve. It has a good camera, a medium-sized (but good-quality) screen, and the hardware platform can cope with multimedia tasks and 3D games, and its battery life is quite good.

At the same time, since we are dealing with a stripped-down version of the flagship, as its name clearly indicates, some characteristics could be “tightened up.” For example, increase the processor frequency by 200-400 MHz and raise the screen resolution a little. And it wasn’t worth cutting off the ability to shoot FullHD video. But LTE can be left to the flagships.

In a good way, the smartphone fell into the gap of smartphones where the choice is not too great. However, the cost seems too high and will make the device truly competitive only over time - when Samsung begins to gradually reduce the price tag.

Price

Judging by store prices, the version with 8 GB of memory can be bought for an average of 16,000 rubles. It is not yet possible to purchase the model without going through official sales, so it is too early to think about options for purchasing the Galaxy S III mini at a lower price.

The most interesting thing is that the opponent new Galaxy S III mini features products from Samsung itself. In particular, the official one costs 2-3 thousand more, but offers a 4.3-inch screen, a faster processor, and Android firmware 4.1 they promise him.

Looks no less interesting Galaxy Advance– having approximately the same characteristics, it can be found for about 11-12 thousand rubles. But no Android 4.1 or even 4.0 - only 2.3. It is possible that this will not change at all.

If we look towards other manufacturers, then the Chinese Meizu MX could be an interesting analogue. A dual-core model with 16 GB of memory can be purchased for 14-15 thousand. Moreover, the phone has a 4-inch screen, but with a resolution of 640x960 pixels.

Pros:

  • attractive design;
  • Super AMOLED screen;
  • relatively good performance;
  • high-quality camera;
  • Android 4.1 out of the box with TouchWIZ proprietary shell;
  • good autonomy.

Minuses:

  • CPU frequency could be higher;
  • inability to shoot FullHD video;
  • low brightness and disturbed white balance of the screen;
  • inconvenient location of the memory card slot;
  • overcharge.

Samsung Galaxy S III mini software screenshots

Main menu and applications

Wallpaper

Calculator

Alarm