According to SamMobile Samsung’s current flag bearer, the Galaxy S4, as well as its predecessor is going to get a firmware update this October; bringing its OS version to Android 4.3 and is said to bring a few enhancements to these devices.
Moreover, the website claims that the Galaxy Note 2 will also get the same treatment, but at later time which they estimated to be around November or early December. Other candidates that are said to receive the updates are the two handsets (Mega 5.8 & 6.3) under Galaxy Mega lineup.
Of course, as you might expect, the roll out date may vary from region-to-region and from telco-to-telco. As such, it’s best to not get our hopes too high and just let it take its course.
So you’ve heard the news: the Samsung Galaxy S4 has landed and is now being offered in the postpaid plans of the leading telcos, Globe & Smart. It makes me wonder whether an S5 or S6 is in the works. And for those like me who wonder about the difference between the S4 and the S3, read more towards the end of this post.
Anyhow, here’s a photo collage of the Samsung Galaxy S4 launched we attended in Bonifacio Global City a couple of weeks ago. The S4 is an eye candy and the must-have smartphone of the summer season so naturally, Manila’s beautiful people were there during the event.
Here’s the phone’s close-up.It comes in the two basic colors now: Black Mist & White Frost. But there should be additional color options during the latter part of the year.
What’s easily noticed is the larger screen size which makes texts and images really come to life on the Full HD Super AMOLED display. In fact, some people are now saying that with the 5-inch screen size of the S4 (just a tad smaller than the Galaxy Note 2 at 5.5″), the S4 can be very well called a phablet (phone + tablet), thereby making it a real multi-tasking device for people who lead busy lifestyles.
So what will make you upgrade and switch to this phone? It is simply faster and more powerful. If you’re already an S3 user, for instance, processor speed is at a whopping 1.9 GHz quad core, the Android version is higher at Jelly Bean 4.2.2(from 4.1), battery capacity is stronger at 2,600 aMH, and there is an increase in rear camera quality from 8 mp to a stunning 13 megapixels! I would love to have this phone if only because I don’t need to bring my point and shoot anymore
Despite being power-packed, the S4 is also lighter than the S3 (130 grams as against the 133 g of old).
Suggested retail price of the phone as of its release date in the Philippines is P30,990
People have been very straightforward with this device. They call it “the smaller Galaxy S3”, but is there anything more to it than meets the eye? Get to know the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini in our full review.
Samsung banked on the popularity of the Galaxy S3 so it’s no surprise that they’d offer a watered-down specs of the device, called it a Mini and sold it at half the price. The Galaxy S3 Mini is a great example of how brand image can drive sales across a product line.
Design and Construction
There might have been several Mini phones from Samsung (Galaxy Mini, Galaxy Mini 2), but the S3 Mini adopts the flagship moniker with it – making the impression that it’s just a smaller SGS3. But the S3 Mini is not a Samsung Galaxy S3 hit with a shrink ray; it has a different heart powering the internals – hardware and software. The element keeping it an S3 Mini is the design.
The feeling is the same with its older brother; the curves in the back make it ergonomic to hold, but the impression is far from premium. The employment of so much round elements makes it feel generic, and the plastic isn’t helping at all.
On the front you’ll find the earpiece, the sensors, the camera, the 4-inch screen, the physical home button, which isn’t as tactile as we’d expect, and the 2 capacitive keys. On the right you’ll find the power button & on the left is the volume rocker. Up top is the audio port and down below is the microphone & the micro USB port. On the back is the 5MP camera, the flash and the speakers.
The larger size of the SGS3 may add a premium feel to itself, but here, it’s quite at a lost, and though the looks have been retained. Dirt isn’t really attracted as much with the blue version, and oh, it looks more like a pebble now.
Display
Up front is the 4-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 480 x 800. It gives out a decent pixel density of 233ppi with fair responsiveness, but the quality is less impressive than other Super AMOLED displays. We’re guessing the panel used is similar to the first Galaxy S as the colors look undersaturated when compared to, say, the Samsung Galaxy S2.
Handling a 4-inch phone brings us back to the times where phones were extremely manageable, and it’s a joy navigating through the phone (except typing with the keyboard). The sad part of that is, we often associate 4-inch phones now into the mid-range category, and that is what Samsung has done here – a mid-range SGS3.
OS, Apps and UI
The phone runs Android 4.1.2, skinned with the same Samsung UI we’d expect – TouchWiz Nature UX. But just like the other smaller phones from Samsung, it’s a stripped down version. It uses the same visual elements and manufacturer software, but it lacks some functionalities that are found with its bigger brother.
For example, it doesn’t allow you to change the screen mode (saturation levels), and it doesn’t feature that small ripple effect with the lockscreen – all of which are small complaints but important details. On the other hand, it still features Samsung’s usual software – the Hubs, S-Voice & the like. Things like Pop-up Play and Motion navigation are still found within the phone, so no worries; the software is just a little less than a Samsung Galaxy S3.
Multimedia & Camera
Speakers are loud & clear for a small phone while video playback works well too, although the experience can be cramped with a 4-inch display.
The 5MP camera delivers great amount of sharpness & saturation in average lighting. Colors pop out & noise isn’t as abundant as other sucky cameras.
720p video capture does the same, but it captures unwanted solar flare which messes the quality. Audio capture works well, but it isn’t exceptional as windy situations can make it quite crappy. There’s no auto-focus here which is sad.
The S3′s camera prowess isn’t found here (burst shot and etc.), but all-in-all, the camera is more than enough for a smartphone at this price category.
Performance & Battery Life
The phone is fast. We really expected it to be slow, but in simple tasks like opening the app drawer, it’s just on par with a Nexus 4. Exynos or no Exynos, it gets the job done with a dual-core NovaThor chipset & 1GB RAM. That’s probably enough for most types of use.
While Samsung’s flagships really are benchmark monsters, this one doesn’t even reach half the SGS3’s scores. It only scores 6,736 on Antutu & 3,253 on Quadrant.
We looped 720p video (50% brightness and volume) with the Galaxy S3 Mini for 5 hours, and it managed to drain 75% of the battery, leaving us with a quarter left for use.
Conclusion
We guess what keeps this an S3 is the software, while the hardware deserves to be called S3 Lite rather. We loved a part of the hardware and the software, but there are a few things that hold it back. It needs a larger screen for most people as typing really was difficult, design is much unappealing, video only goes up to 720p without auto-focus and all that.
But regardless of its flaws, it does deliver what the user needs and more. It has a capable camera, a decent display, and a good set of software features. The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini may be an SGS3 with compromises, but the shortcomings are worth it – especially with the price of Php14,990.
Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini specs:
4-inch Super AMOLED display @ 800×480 pixels
1GHz dual-core processor
Mali-400 GPU
1GB RAM
8GB/16GB internal storage
micro SD up to 32GB
WiFi
GPS w/ aGPS support
FM Radio (RDS)
Bluetooth 4.0
5-megapixel (rear) camera w/ LED flash
VGA front camera
720p video capture
TouchWiz UI 4.0 (Nature UX)
Android Jellybean (4.1.2)
1500mAh battery
121.55 x 63 x 9.85 mm (dimensions)
111.5g (weight)
What we liked about it:
Great alternative to the S3
Good camera
Long lasting battery
Software has little compromise
What we didn’t like about it:
Cramped experience
S-AMOLED display could be better
Plastic & uninspired feel
Video captures flare, no 1080p
Editor’s Note: This review took a while longer since the original unit sent to us by Samsung was not working. Fortunately, we also got another unit from Globe a few weeks later so that’s the one we used here. – Yuga
Last night, we had the chance to attend the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III Mini which will be retailed at only P14,990 starting February. Methinks this is ideal for smartphone users who have always dreamt of owning the Galaxy S3 but were put off by the steep price. As its name implies, the S iii mini is smaller, cheaper but performs the same fully-loaded functions.
Some of the specs we spotted on the S iii Mini:
latest Android operating system, Jelly Bean
4.0″ WVGA Super AMOLED Display
Available colors: marble white, pebble blue, garnet red and titanium gray.
The intelligent features of the Galaxy S3 remain in this mini phone such as Smart Stay (which detects if the user is looking at the display so that it doesn’t easily time out), Smart Alert, Direct Call and Samsung’s advanced messaging service Ch@tON.
Samsung Philippines has teamed up with Globe to offer the Galaxy S iii mini free at Super Plan 999 which comes with P900 consumable, 50 MB data and two call and text freebies which you can change monthly. Both the Galaxy S3 and S iii mini will also be bundled up together in an exclusive Globe Platinum offer coming soon.
In a two-part blog entry in Samsung’s official global blog , the South Korean manufacturer detailed the new features included in the Premium Suite Upgrade that will hit Galaxy S3 users in the next coming weeks. Get to know these features included in this upgrade after the break.
Ever since Google released the latest iteration of their open-source platform, manufacturers have been busy porting the Jelly bean upgrade for their devices. Wanting to differentiate itself from the rest, Samsung has also included a ton of new features to the update, which they coined Premium Suite Upgrade, instead of just boringly updating their current flagship device’s OS.
Contextual Awareness
• Page Buddy: Your phone will smartly predict what you intend to do according to your actions. For example, when you plug in your earphones, the device automatically opens up a page with the music player.
• Contextual Menu: When you list up apps, you can now choose to see the most frequently used ones first. Especially convenient when you’re looking through apps to find files to attach.
• Contextual Tag: When you take a picture on the phone, you can tag the weather, date, and place immediately.
Enhanced Features
• Multi-Window: You can open two different apps at the same time into two different windows on the mobile screen.
• Auto Share Shot Pairing using NFC: By setting the camera to ‘Auto Share Shot’ mode, you can quickly share your photos and videos by simply tapping their GALAXY S III with other NFC and S-Beam enabled devices.
• Reader Mode: You can easily control the size of the text on your browser! Also, you can just click the webpage to share it!
• Facebook Lock Ticker: The easiest way to see your Facebook News Feeds – set your phone to show it on your lock screen.
Here’s a short video clip that showcases the aforementioned features:
Powerful Multimedia
• Paper Artist: You can make a picture like a pop artist! Change the moods of your pictures whenever you want!
• Camera, Low Light Shot: It’s always tough to take pictures in dark places. So the GALAXY S III with Premium Suite has a Low-Light-Shot function. Get your hands on one and check out the difference!
• Camera, Best Face: The problem with group pictures? Somebody always, ALWAYS blinks. Well, Best Face is your solution to that. Best Face takes 5 consecutive pictures and lets you choose the best face for each person among those shots.
New Features & Better Accessibility
• Easy Mode: For first-time smartphone users and/or those who are really really, well, lazy. This function helps you set up the most five frequently used widgets on the home screen, so you don’t have to be tired of looking everywhere to find those apps.
• Sound Balance: You can adjust the balance of volume one each side of earphones.
• Setup Wizard: After turning on your cell phone, you can see the accessibility menu right away on the screen.
• Camera Easy Snap: With ‘talk back’ and ‘face detection’ on your settings menu, the GALAXY S III tells you how many faces it can detect on the camera preview.
Unfortunately, Samsung didn’t mention when they plan to start seeding this awesome update. All they disclosed was that the update is dependent on location and network carrier. It’s a bummer no doubt, but we feel that the Premium Suite Upgrade should be worth the wait.
