Samsung Officially Announces Galaxy S3 Mini

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Four-inch screen will provide an interesting challenge to the iPhone 5.

As expected, Samsung today officially announced the Galaxy S3 Mini that features a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, 1GHz dual-core CPU, and NFC.
The 111.5-gram handset, which runs on Android 4.1, packs a 1,500mAh battery, 1GB RAM, and 8 or 16GB of internal storage, in addition to a maximum of 32GB storage via microSD.

The Galaxy S3 Mini also understands users' gestures via Smart Stay; the device's camera tracks one's eyes and keeps the screen on as long as you're looking at it. Elsewhere, upon reading a text message from a friend, Direct Call allows users to automatically dial that contact by lifting the handset to your ear. Smart Alert, meanwhile, tells users if they've missed calls or messages when they picked up the phone.

Unfortunately, Samsung did not reveal a release date nor did they confirm the device's price. What we do know in terms of its launch, though, is that the mini will arrive in Europe.

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Zak Islam
Zak Islam
Contributor

Zak Islam is a freelance writer focusing on security, networking, and general computing. His work also appears at Digital Trends and Tom's Guide. 

12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tntom
    4 inches the perfect size for a mini. The specs do not seem that great. 1,500 mAh battery?!?
    Reply
  • kawininjazx
    This better be a "free" phone, because the Motorola RAZR M for $99 is better and the regular GS3 is only $150 now on contract.
    Reply
  • eijiyuki
    Most likely a trendy free phone for the younger boys and girls.
    Reply
  • Azn Cracker
    eh my phone from last year has better specs. The contract price is probably going to be $50 to $80
    Reply
  • jackt
    Another phone with huge borders... i think ill take an LG next, samsung and motorola are a delusion...
    Reply
  • eklipz330
    not much of a challenge for the iphone 5 unfortuneately. but then again, i don't think it's aimed at the same demographics.
    Reply
  • mad tech
    we are now in the era where a 4 inch phone is called a "Mini"
    Reply
  • kartu
    @"last year better spec" crowd, do you seriously think you can judge a phone by its specs? Anyone cares about some silly CPU benchmarks? Are you encoding videos with your phone lol?

    Screen is one of the most important parts of the phone (and AMOLED still didn't get due credit, I guess because Apple still doesn't have it) barely, if at all, covered in benchmarks and overall look and feel is not at all.

    Specs are there so that sites like toms have something to work on. They are mostly meaningless.
    Reply
  • del35
    The specs do not seem that great. 1,500 mAh battery?!?

    Hopefully they will have a removable battery so people if they wish can get larger size batteries for it. Lets hope they dont case it in coke-can aluminum a la iCrap.
    Reply
  • kartu
    del35Hopefully they will have a removable battery so people if they wish can get larger size batteries for it. Lets hope they dont case it in coke-can aluminum a la iCrap.Normally screens consume most of the battery power so smaller battery with smaller screen makes perfect sense.
    Reply