The Samsung I8190 Galaxy S3 mini, as the name implies, is the official smaller brother of the Galaxy S3. The S3 mini was created because people thought the S3 was too big for them, though the specs of the phone had to be shrunken down along with the size. Is the S3 mini a good phone, though? Read on and see for yourself.

Design

First, we tackle the design. Those who complained that the S3 was too big for them will be happy to know that the S3 mini is now as small as the iPhone 5, while carrying the same look and feel of the original S3. The S3 mini has the same curves as the original S3, yet manages to feel great on the hands. The front of the S3 mini has a 4.0 inch sAMOLED screen, the Home button down below and a speaker in the middle. Left of the speaker has level sensors and the front facing camera. There are also 2 buttons to the left and right of the Home button, which reveal themselves on use. The back side has a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash, along with another speaker. The right side has the lock button, and the left has the volume rocker. Bottom side has the microUSB connector and microphone, and upper side has the 3.5mm headjack.

Hardware

Second in line is the hardware. As mentioned, the S3 mini has lesser specs than the S3 to accommodate the overall size. It runs on the Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, has a 480×800 resolution, a 1 GHz dual-core processor, a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, WiFi and NFC.

Software

Third up is the software. The S3 mini uses Samsung’s own TouchWiz UI called Nature UX, the same UI as that of the original S3. While it runs smoothly, a number of features that were in the S3 were left out for the S3 mini, due to processor, RAM and screen size. Despite this, Samsung was able to make good use of the features with Nature UX. These features include: Smart Alert, which gives you a vibrating feel to inform you about any calls you missed and messages you received, S Voice, which uses voice recognition to perform tasks with your phone, Direct Call, which lets the phone recognize when you want to call someone while you’re messaging, and many more.

Camera

Now, let’s talk about the camera. The images it can take rather good images with the 5 megapixel camera, and the front facing camera is 0.3 megapixels, useful for front facing calls and such. Like those of other phones, the camera can take record videos, but can’t shoot movies larger than 720p.

Battery and Speed

Finally, we have the battery and speed. The processing speed isn’t bad, but incomparable to the original S3. Furthermore, the S3 mini is capable of lasting through with moderate to heavy use, helped by the processor and the screen, though it feels that Samsung could have done more with the speed despite having a smaller screen.

And there you have it: the Samsung Galaxy S3 mini. Despite being a small device, it manages to have a good feel, as well as being able to keep the Nature UX features of the original S3. Battery life and the processor are good, as well. Overall, it’s a very good phone to use, though it’s still missing the rest of the features of the original Galaxy S3, so for some, using this phone might feel like something’s missing. However, it’s a good answer for those who didn’t like the huge size of the S3.

Liza John is an IT professional from Test4prep. Have you really been looking for this HIT-001 assistance? Move ahead to take the benefit of FC0-GR1 and pass your exam easily.