Samsung today revealed the Galaxy S5 mini, the latest of the Galaxy S5 line of devices. According to a company press release, the mini will include many of the same features as the Galaxy S5, just in a smaller 4.5 inch handset, though some components will be different. However, iPhone users looking to switch over to Android may prefer the mini’s smaller size compared to the 5 inch original or the larger Android alternatives.
Product Specifications
Just like the original, the Galaxy S5 mini is dustproof and water-resistant, so it can handle a plunge in water, like a drop in the toilet or a splash in the pool. It also has a fingerprint scanner—though reports thus far have claimed that the reader is not as good as Apple’s for the iPhone 5s—and a heart rate monitor that works through the camera.
Unlike the Galaxy S5, however, the Mini has a 1280 by 720 pixel resolution display (compared to the standard S5’s 1920 by 1080 full HD display), which is just slightly higher than the iPhone 5/5s. It also has an 8 megapixel camera instead of the Galaxy S5’s 16 megapixel shooter; the quality should be just as good, though the images are half the size. The Mini will also support 1080p video recording, while the Galaxy S5 supports up to 4K, which is overkill today.
The Mini also has a significantly slower 1.4 GHz quad-core processor and 1.5 GB of RAM, compared to the Galaxy S5’s 2.5 GHz chip and 3 GB of RAM. The power difference is substantial since the Galaxy S5’s performance is top of the line, but most users won’t notice a difference on lower-end devices such as the mini because the phones are already so overpowered. By comparison, the iPhone 5s uses a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and is able to handle the faster performance because of a smarter operating system.
A Smart, Albeit Not Cutting Edge, Buy
Overall, the Galaxy 5S mini is a smart buy, though the specifications rank it among last year’s high-end phones upon launch, which will occur this month in Russia and then slowly throughout the rest of the world. It’s the kind of phone that is ideal for kids, with good protection and usability for small hands, the latest Android software, and all the functionality that you could want or need. Samsung hasn’t announced a price for the Galaxy S5 mini yet, though it’s expected to sell for $100 with a two-year contract, or roughly $500 without one.
What do you think? Would you buy the Galaxy S5 mini for yourself, or maybe for your kids? Tell us in the comments below.
Image courtesy of Flickr
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