As is now customary, Samsung has made a smaller and cheaper version of its flagship smartphone. Here's our Samsung Galaxy S4 mini video review.
The Galaxy S4 mini fits much better in the hand than its big brother and fortunately has the same stylish design. Everything is a lá Galaxy S4, except smaller. See also: Samsung Galaxy S4 mini vs HTC One mini comparison review.
The downside to this is that the phone feels awfully plastic and cheap – not ideal when it costs nearly 400 shiny round pounds.
See also: Samsung Galaxy S4 mini specs and price in UK.
If phones were cars, the Galaxy S4 mini would be the sport version of a hatchback. The phone shows good performance from a user perspective. But other hardware on offer here is not very inspiring.
A screen size of 4.3in will be much more usable for a lot of users than the 5in whopper found on the regular Galaxy S4 and other flagship phones.
There isn’t much value for money when it comes to storage. Only 5 out of 8GB of internal storage is available to the user but luckily Samsung has included a microSD card slot for up to 64GB cards. Some apps can be moved here.
Connectivity is strong with no downgrade on features like NFC, 4G LTE and infrared. Strangely, there's no notification LED which is quite an annoying omission.
Some top smartphones now get 13Mp main cameras, but the 8Mp shooter on the Galaxy S4 mini is about what we expect from a decent mid-range device now. It's a respectable camera and takes high-quality images in general but indoor shots tend to look hazy.
Shooting modes including Dual shot, Drama, Animated Photo and Eraser have been dropped.
Like its sibling, the S4 mini has Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and Samsung's TouchWiz user interface. It's a shame that features like Air View and Multi-window are missing. As are Smart Pause, Smart Scroll and Air Gesture.
We got comfortably though a day of regular usage with the Galaxy S4 mini but it didn't have the stamina to follow up with a full second day. It's a good effort but you'll want to charge it nightly unless you're feeling brave.
The Galaxy S4 mini is a great mid-range option, offering the same styling – but mediocre build quality – as its flagship counterpart, with a cheaper price tag. The cameras, connectivity and battery life are all good but the screen and storage are both under par. We give it four stars.
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