The S4 Mini was a competent handset, but we're hoping for more this time around.
Samsung's range of mini mobiles might not have the headline specs of the Galaxy S or Galaxy Note phones but they've carved out a sizeable niche for themselves.
Popular
with those who want something slightly smaller and cheaper, but with
many of the same positive qualities as Samsung's flagships, the Mini
series started life in 2012 with the introduction of the Galaxy S3 Mini.
The
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini will be the Korean firm's third iteration of
this product line, and while no concrete details are known yet the
rumors and leaks are starting to paint a picture of what to expect.
There's little doubt that we will be seeing the Galaxy S5 Mini soon however, after Samsung New Zealand leaked details of the handset online.
We've seen the S3 Mini and Galaxy S4 Mini turn up with severely cut down spec lists compared to their full fat brothers, but the introduction of the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact saw it inherit the same processor, RAM, GPU and 20.7MP camera from the flagship Xperia Z1.
Could Samsung take a leaf out of Sony's book for the Galaxy S5 Mini? We sure do hope so, but it's pretty unlikely.
Cut to the chase What is it? A cut down version of the flagship Galaxy S5 When is it out? Possibly May/June 2014 What will it cost? Expected to be £350-£400 (around $550, AU$650) SIM free
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini release date and price
It's not known when the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini will be released, but it is expected sooner rather than later. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
for reference arrived at the end of June and there's a good chance
we'll see its successor around then too, with some reports suggesting an
earlier May release.
Don't expect a big fanfare around
the Galaxy S5 Mini launch though, as Samsung tends to prefer a soft
launch in the way of a press release.
There aren't any
price rumors yet but the S4 Mini launched for around £350 / $520 SIM
free, so we'd expect the S5 Mini to be around the same, putting it at
the upper end of the mid-range.
With increasingly fierce competition from the likes of the Motorola Moto G and the Google Nexus 5 you can always hope that Samsung might bring the price down, but we reckon chances are slim.
With mini in the name it's a given that the Galaxy S5 Mini's screen will be smaller than the display on the full size Samsung Galaxy S5 - that is after all, the point of this product category - but by the looks of things it won't exactly be tiny.
Thw Galaxy S4 Mini had a lowly qHD resolution
Sam Mobile reports
that the handset is set to ship with a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 Super AMOLED
screen, so it won't be full HD but if these rumors are accurate it will
be both higher resolution and slightly bigger than the qHD (540 x 960)
Galaxy S4 Mini.
That's not exactly "Mini", and means the Galaxy S5 Mini would still be bigger than the 4-inch iPhone 5S, but considering the LG G2 Mini has a 4.7-inch display Samsung will actually be a little more sensible if it sticks to 4.5 inches.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini power
For
Samsung, mini seems to mean both smaller and lower powered and the
Galaxy S5 Mini will probably be no exception. So if you're expecting
something along the lines of the Z1 Compact you're likely to be
disappointed.
Having said that, current rumors point to a device that's rather more capable than the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. Sam Mobile's insiders claim
that the Galaxy S5 Mini has a quad-core Snapdragon processor and 1.5GB
of RAM, so while it will hardly be high end it could seriously show up
the dual-core Galaxy S4 Mini.
What model the processor
will be is unknown but Snapdragon 400 seems to be the processor of
choice for mid-range phones at the moment so that seems likely.
Snapdragon is favorite for the S5 Mini, but which one?
The speed the processor will be clocked at is unclear, however a user agent profile
for a device named SM-G750A popped up on Samsung's servers in March and
the profile revealed that the device had a 2.3GHz quad-core processor.
That
would be pretty speedy, but it's possible that this is the Galaxy S5
Neo rather than the S5 Mini, especially as the most recent model number
rumors point to the S5 Mini being the SM-G800.
Plus a
Snapdragon 400 chip wouldn't support speeds that fast, so if it really
is going to be 2.3GHz then we'll be looking at a different processor
model - perhaps the Snapdragon 800 which features in the Galaxy Note 3.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini design
There's no word yet on how the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini will look, but the Galaxy S4 Mini basically inherited the design of the Samsung Galaxy S4 just in a shrunk down size, so we'd imagine the S5 Mini will do the same with the Galaxy S5's design.
Imagine the S5, only smaller
One thing we have heard though is that according to Sam Mobile
it will have the same IP67 water and dust resistant credentials as the
Galaxy S5, which puts it one-up on the Galaxy S4 Mini and most other
compact smartphones, other than the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact.
Those dust and waterproof credentials have been given further backing after a Samsung New Zealand appeared to let slip on the rugged specs of the Galaxy S5 Mini.
That
also leaves the door open for a removable rear cover and battery pack,
plus the inclusion of a microSD slot - staples of the current Samsung
smartphone experience.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini camera
The camera is one area which might not be getting much of an upgrade over the Galaxy S4 Mini sadly.
All we've heard on it so far comes from sources at Sam Mobile, which claim it will have an 8MP main snapper along with a 2MP camera on the front.
Don't expect the S5's camera here
That's
almost identical to the Galaxy S4 Mini, which has an 8MP camera on the
back and a 1.9MP one on the front, so it's disappointing if true.
Of
course that doesn't count out the possibility that the Galaxy S5 Mini
will inherit some of the fancy camera features from the Galaxy S5, so
there's still hope that its photo skills could impress.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini storage
Currently it's thought that the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini will have 16GB of built in storage, which is double what the S4 Mini has.
There's
no word on whether or not it will have a microSD card slot, but most
Samsung handsets do so we'd be surprised if this one didn't.
Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini operating system
The Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini will almost certainly run Android 4.4 KitKat since that's the most recent version of Android and this is a reasonably high profile phone.
But beyond that being the obvious choice anyway we've also heard from Sam Mobile's insiders that that's what it will ship with. Not to mention the fact that a recent Google memo suggests all new handsets will have the latest version of its OS.
It's
a dead cert that it will also be overlaid with Samsung's TouchWiz
interface, in all likelihood the same version as the Samsung Galaxy S5.
It looks like the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini might have a 2100 mAh battery, if the information revealed by Sam Mobile is accurate.
That's
a little bigger than the 1900mAh unit in the Galaxy S4 Mini, but with
the extra power under the hood it will need all the help it can get.
It's also expected to come with an IR blaster.
What we want to see
So
far the Galaxy S5 Mini looks more or less like we were expecting, a
mid-range phone with a smaller screen and worse specs than the Galaxy
S5, but there's still a lot that we don't know and a lot that we hope
for, some of which is realistic, other things not so much.
1. High end power
This
isn't going to happen. Samsung has positioned its Mini line as
mid-range handsets, so mid-range is what we'll get, but there are
disappointingly few compact phones with high end specs.
Apple
is still doing it for now and the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact does it, but
that's about it. The market is flooded with mid-range phones, but a
shrunk down Galaxy S5 that really is a Galaxy S5 in all but size would
certainly be desirable.
2. A better camera
The
current rumors doing the rounds point to an 8MP snapper, which
potentially isn't bad but it's hardly inspiring either, especially as
last year's Galaxy S4 Mini had a camera with the same megapixel count.
So
a boost in megapixels would be great, but beyond that it would also be
nice to see it inherit some of the camera features from the Galaxy S5.
So fast autofocus or real time HDR for example.
3. Ultra Power Saving Mode
The
headline features on the Galaxy S5 were its fingerprint scanner and
heart rate monitor, but arguably they're both a bit of a gimmick and in
any case there's not much chance a mid-range phone like the S5 Mini will
be inheriting them. There
is however a chance that it might come with Ultra Power Saving Mode,
another feature from the full fat S5, which turns the screen black and
white and lowers power consumption to maximise the battery life.
Obviously
this is a mode you'd want to use sparingly, but it can be pretty useful
when your phone is running dangerously low on juice.
There's
a good chance the S5 Mini will have a removable battery and if this
feature makes it in as well then it could be one of the best phones
around for battery.
4. A competitive price tag
It's
likely that the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini will cost over £350 (around
$550, AU$650), despite the fact that it will probably be less powerful
than the £300, $350 Nexus 5 and potentially little if any more powerful than the Moto G, which can often be found for as low as £100, $150 if you shop around.
You'd
think that would price it out of the market, but it won't, because it's
Samsung, a company which has almost as much brand power and loyalty as
Apple. Still, it would be nice if Samsung at least tried to price the
Galaxy S5 Mini competitively.
It might not be billed as a mini phone but the iPhone 5S is pretty small. It's also very good.
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