Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini

Product Information

Besides that, just about everything of consequence from the GS5 has made the transition into this smaller, leaner handset. Smart Remote uses the built-in IR blaster to control your TV, an increasingly common feature for modern smartphones. S Voice is Samsung's personal assistant app, which coexists somewhat awkwardly with Google's own voice-activated features.

Not only has Samsung translated the design of the Galaxy S5 into its mini variant but the company has also successfully made it feel the same. The materials feel equal in terms of quality and the phone feels equally-comfortable in the hand. The S5 Mini wasn’t able to run Epic Citadel at our usual Ultra High Quality setting either, so we had to settle for running our benchmarks on High Quality instead. On this setting, it managed a very smooth average of 53.7fps. This is promising for anyone who likes playing more demanding games on the move, but graphical fidelity was disappointing. Versions: G800F (Europe); G800A (AT&T); G800HQ (Turkey); G800H (USA); G800M (LATAM); G800R4 (US Cellular); G800Y (New Zealand) Network Graphics performance was also much lower than the its big brother, as the S5 Mini struggled to get above 20fps in all three of our 3DMark Ice Storm tests. It scored 3,558 in Ice Storm Unlimited, which translates to 19.5fps, and 2,841 in Ice Storm Extreme, which averaged at 15.2fps. The S5, by comparison, maxed out Ice Storm Extreme and scored a huge 18,451 in Ice Storm Unlimited, which equates to more than 60fps. Comparing the S5 Mini to simiarly priced handsets was equally dissapointing with both the Moto X and Nexus 5 clearly outscoring it in every test. Still, charging an extra battery is arguably even more of a faff than remembering to plug it in when you turn in. Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini: VerdictIt's usually in the features department that smaller phones reveal their inferiority, but there's not much sign of that here. First of all, the S5 Mini is water- and dust-resistant, just like the bigger model. The relevant statistic is the Ingress Protection rating which here is IP67. Note that the camera on the S5 is capable of 4K recording but that's not the case here. Still, the 1080p video looks pretty good, too. Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini: Performance But there are subtle differences - for starters the size is an obvious one. Secondly, the microUSB port on the bottom of the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini is water resistant and doesn't require a water-repellant flap. The camera lens isn't protruding on the mini as well.

This is the other area where the specs have dropped. The 16MP camera on the S5 is replaced by an 8MP model here. Even so, that's the same as the iPhone 5s sensor resolution or indeed lots of other phones. True, the HTC One Mini 2 has a 13MP camera and the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact has a whopping 20.7MP sensor, so higher-resolution sensors are far from impossible. Even so, it's capable of realistic and understated colours, too. The trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 looks spectacular on this screen, butter-smooth and rich with details in shadows and gentle skin tones. Okay, this is Hollywood-real rather than grey, rainy British afternoon real, but it's pretty fantastic. The battery is smaller than on the S5 but it's enough to keep the phone going for a fullish day without problem. You will need to charge it every night, or you'll panic in the morning. True, the smaller virtual keyboard on the mini takes a little more care to type accurately, but, on the other hand, as it were, a little less reach is needed. Snug but usable. Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini: Battery The Galaxy S5 Mini comes with Android 4.4.2 KitKat and Samsung's TouchWiz software which includes almost all of the features of the S5.The smaller size will make a difference, especially if you get the mini right after the bigger Galaxy S5. This screen is bright, colourful and has the vividness that Super AMOLED offers. Samsung is king of Super AMOLED and matches software to hardware with shortcut icons, wallpapers and app choices that all make the most of the colour saturation the tech excels at. Even if this means the results are sometimes eye-searingly colourful.

The 720 x 1280 resolution gives a pixels per inch count of 326, the same as the iPhone's Retina display, so no wonder it looks great. Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini: Camera The Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini is an Android smartphone developed by Samsung Electronics. It was announced in May 2014 and released on July 1, 2014. The S5 Mini is a mid-range model of its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone and a successor to the Galaxy S4 Mini. It competes with the HTC One Mini 2 and the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. It has a similar design and software features to its high-end counterpart, the Galaxy S5. [4] [5] Specifications [ edit ] The S5 Mini may only have an 8-megapixel camera, but our photos were very detailed and had very natural coloursOn top of that, Samsung's got the S5 Mini loaded up with all the connectivity features you'd expect from a modern Android phone — quad-band HSPA and support for the main European LTE bands, along with Bluetooth 4.0 and 802.11 a/b/g/n Wifi support. All of that functions as expected, and the GS5 Mini's LTE reception was comparable to that of other current Android phones. Update: Phones have gotten bigger, it’s fair to say – especially if you’re a fan of Samsung. Handsets start at 5in, and the S6 and S7 didn’t get their own “mini” versions, leaving the Galaxy S5 Mini the last small (sort of) flagship Samsung produced. Assuming you can find one in 2017 (most places have retired it), is it worth owning? The Samsung Galaxy S5 mini succeeds because it's a more widely usable size than the bigger S5, and because it cuts few corners in the shrinking process. To include a fingerprint sensor, infra-red blaster and heart rate monitor on a phone that you can splash without ruining are significant achievements. And the size and software mean that it's very pleasing to use.