Specs for Samsung's 4" Galaxy S3 Mini fall well short of Apple's iPhone 5

Posted:
in iPhone edited January 2014
While Samsung will compete with Apple's iPhone 5 by offering its own 4-inch handset, leaked specifications suggest it will be a budget device with a low-resolution display and camera.

Samsung confirmed on Wednesday that it will launch a "mini" 4-inch Galaxy S III at an event scheduled to be held on Thursday. But German site MobileGeeks revealed (via Engadget) that the handset will have a screen resolution of 800 by 480 pixels with a rear camera that will capture 5-megapixel images.

The new 4-inch device will be a more portable option from Samsung, as its flagship Galaxy S III features a large 4.8-inch display. As Samsung goes smaller with its new Galaxy variation, it will match the larger 4-inch display Apple debuted last month with its redesigned iPhone 5.

But while the new Samsung handset will feature the same screen size as the iPhone 5, Apple's latest handset soundly beats the rumored specifications of the Galaxy Mini. The iPhone 5 has a screen resolution of 1,136 by 640 pixels, and an 8-megapixel rear camera.

Galaxy
Galaxy S3 Mini mockup next to full-sized model via Mobile Geeks.


The Galaxy Mini is also said to feature a dual-core STE U8420 chip running at 1-gigahertz, which is a step down from the quad-core Exynos processor found in the international variant of the Galaxy S III. The smaller Galaxy phone is also said to feature a gigabyte of RAM and 16 gigabytes of flash memory with an expandable MicroSD card slot.

Word of a Galaxy Mini unveiling at an Oct. 11 event first surfaced last week, when Samsung sent out event invitations in Germany that promised to show "how big small can be." The new handset is expected to run Google's latest version of the Android operating system, Jelly Bean, with Samsung's TouchWiz interface.
«13456

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 120


    Even the 4.8"'s specs fall well short of those from the I5. 

  • Reply 2 of 120
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member


    Specs is not everything, it depends on the market you target.  It could be sell very well.

  • Reply 3 of 120
    herbapouherbapou Posts: 2,228member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by pedromartins View Post


    Even the 4.8"'s specs fall well short of those from the I5. 



     


    "well short" really?  care to be more specific?

  • Reply 4 of 120
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    Wow! that 4.8" phone is comically large. And judging by the bottom row of icons you aren't gaining any real usability with that larger display for basic usage.
  • Reply 5 of 120

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by herbapou View Post


    Specs is not everything, it depends on the market you target.  It could be sell very well.





    Exactly...Someone like my wife who is not a tech geek, but wants to be able to play games and have a touch screen phone and wanted Android could really do well with something like this. It isn't really all that different (retina display being the biggest thing) than her iPhone 4 she got for $100 last year. The catch is how much, if it is competing with the iPhone 4 at free with contract it seems fair, but ask me to pay $100 for it vs. the $200 for its big brother is a much harder sell.


     


    EDIT: To clarify for the record...my wife loves her iPhone and wouldn't do such a thing though :D

  • Reply 6 of 120
    auxioauxio Posts: 2,717member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by herbapou View Post


    Specs is not everything, it depends on the market you target.  It could be sell very well.



     


    All you hear about from Android fans on forums is specs.  Should be interesting to watch the arguments get slippery when discussing this model.

  • Reply 7 of 120
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    auxio wrote: »
    All you hear about from Android fans on forums is specs.  Should be interesting to watch the arguments get slippery when discussing this model.

    One thing is for certain however. They will declare it vastly superior to the iPhone 5
  • Reply 8 of 120
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    auxio wrote: »
    All you hear about from Android fans on forums is specs.  Should be interesting to watch the arguments get slippery when discussing this model.

    We've heard about how the iPhone fails when doing all rudimentary spec comparisons and yet the iPhone despite usually being only an annoucned product not yet on the market and being considerably larger thus allowing for faster and more HW and yet the iPhone was still better all around. Now we have a 4" flagship(?) device from Samsung that is significantly lower than an already shipping iPhone 5 and in many ways worse than the 2010 iPhone and probably still not as smooth or user friendly as the 2007 iPhone. I can't wait to hear the arguments defending this one.
  • Reply 9 of 120
    auxio wrote: »
    All you hear about from Android fans on forums is specs.  Should be interesting to watch the arguments get slippery when discussing this model.

    The specs arguments are growing thin too since the iPhone 5 has been proven several times to perform better than rival devices with higher specs.
    Any fandroid who attacks me asking for proof... other than being an advertising company and maker of poorly performing mobile software, google also has a search engine, use it
  • Reply 10 of 120


    I'm confused why AI's following this particular model. It's just another 'midrange' device. Who called it a flagship? :confused:


     


    This looks more like a sequel to the old international Galaxy W. I'll bet this won't ever even come to the US. Sounds like people can't see the forest through the trees.

  • Reply 11 of 120
    auxio wrote: »
    herbapou wrote: »
    Specs is not everything, it depends on the market you target.  It could be sell very well.

    All you hear about from Android fans on forums is specs.  Should be interesting to watch the arguments get slippery when discussing this model.
    -
    In Pittsburgh they say "slippy" instead of slippery.
  • Reply 12 of 120

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post







    The Galaxy Mini is also said to feature a dual-core STE U8420 chip running at 1-gigahertz, which is a step down from the quad-core Exynos processor found in the international variant of the Galaxy S III. 


    So how are they going to run ICS? Will they add twice Butter or is the lousy display resolution enough to compensate for the poor chip performance?


    I wonder how all the Android fans justify this questionable downgrade.

  • Reply 13 of 120
    lkrupp wrote: »
    One thing is for certain however. They will declare it vastly superior to the iPhone 5

    Actually, they are all pissed off because it's just a mid range phone masquerading as a mini flagship.

    Meaning that most of them are more rational than half the people in these forums
  • Reply 14 of 120
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rabbit_Coach View Post


    So how are they going to run ICS? 



    They're not. The article (based on a rumor) says it will run the latest version, Jellybean, or 4.1x instead of the older ICS version.

  • Reply 15 of 120
    geoadm wrote: »
    The specs arguments are growing thin too since the iPhone 5 has been proven several times to perform better than rival devices with higher specs.
    Any fandroid who attacks me asking for proof... other than being an advertising company and maker of poorly performing mobile software, google also has a search engine, use it

    I think someone here doesn't know the difference between "specs aren't everything" and "specs don't matter"
  • Reply 16 of 120
    gatorguygatorguy Posts: 24,176member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    Wow! that 4.8" phone is comically large. And judging by the bottom row of icons you aren't gaining any real usability with that larger display for basic usage.


    Well of course it looks big. You're looking at it on a big monitor! ;-P


     


    EDIT: I didn't recall seeing a side by side size comparison at AI with the iPhone5 and S3. There's one here if anyone's curious.


    http://1.androidauthority.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/samsung-galaxy-s3-vs-iphone-5-display.jpg

  • Reply 17 of 120

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post





    -

    In Pittsburgh they say "slippy" instead of slippery.


    That's just because they are uneducated

  • Reply 18 of 120
    Samsung can't continually grow the size of a smartphone. I'm fairly certain the 4.8" size is at its limits or has already exceeded practical limits. They might as well drop back down in size. The larger smartphones are using up that much more materials and that can't be economical long-term. Apple will be able to sell its four-inch display iPhone for years to come and consumers will be more than satisfied. Nice try, Samsung, with your huge smartphones, but you've only managed to outsmart yourself.
  • Reply 19 of 120

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Gatorguy View Post


    They're not. The article (based on a rumor) says it will run the latest version, Jellybean, or 4.1x instead of the older ICS version.



    Wich is probably even more of a challenge for the poorly performing processor.

  • Reply 20 of 120

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Lukeskymac View Post





    I think someone here doesn't know the difference between "specs aren't everything" and "specs don't matter"


     


    I bet he doesn't understand the meaning or point of your comment either

Sign In or Register to comment.