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3 things you should know about the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini
The flagship phone is about to get a little brother
Good news for people who don't have gigantic hands: After a month of leaks, Samsung has finally announced a new, smaller phone called the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. While we still don't know how much it will cost, or where it will be available (although the U.S. and U.K. are sure bets), here are three things we do know:
1. It's not a tinier version of Samsung's flagship phone
It's a different, smaller phone. Here's a side-by-side comparison of the important stuff:
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Available in black or white, the Mini, as you can see, houses "more mid-range specs" to temper costs and potentially reach "a larger pool of consumers," as TechCrunch notes.
2. But it will have a few of the same software features
The Galaxy S4 was revealed with a long list of way-out-there, previously unseen apps. A few of them will be making their way onto the Mini, namely the S Translator (voice-to-text or text-to-voice instant language translation), Sound&Shot (which lets you add sound to photos), Panorama Shot (for landscapes), Group Play (which lets you share music and games), Story Album (fancy slideshows), and ChatON (which lets you add animation, video, and voice recordings to messages).
It's unclear whether the Mini will receive the full-sized S4's more notable features, including no-touch gesture controls or the camera eraser tool that edit outs would-be photobombers.
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3. Samsung's last Galaxy Mini wasn't very well received
Tech reviewers had high hopes for the S III Mini, but they weren't exactly wowed. Engadgetsaid the S III Mini was a "decent mid-range phone with top end looks." CNET was more critical, concluding that "a smaller and less powerful S3 dilutes the Galaxy name," and that "Samsung would be wiser to call the S III Mini something else and keep the Galaxy brand for only higher-end phones." That said, maybe the Galaxy S4 Mini will be a different story. Expect it to debut in the U.K. sometime in July.
Here are a few more product shots in the meantime:
Chris Gayomali is the science and technology editor for TheWeek.com. Previously, he was a tech reporter at TIME. His work has also appeared in Men's Journal, Esquire, and The Atlantic, among other places. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.
