Even as speculation about a low-cost iPhone mini swirls about the market, Samsung has stolen a march on Apple with a Galaxy S III mini. The S III is expected to be the single best-selling smartphone model in the world for the past year, and a mini version will cement Samsung's market leadership.
Samsung Electronics South Africa has unveiled a compact version of the flagship smartphone Galaxy S III, bringing "the high performance, intuitive ease-of-use and nature-inspired design of the Galaxy S III to an elegant, compact smartphone with a 4-inch screen".
The device is positioned as an optimal choice for consumers who are looking for a more affordable super smartphone, without losing the benefit of the key features.
“The Galaxy S III introduced a new concept of smartphone that has proven hugely popular around the world. We’re now delighted to bring its revolutionary design, intuitive usability and intelligence of the Galaxy S III, in a more compact form,” says Craige Fleischer.
“We continue to make every effort to provide extraordinary mobile experiences to meet a wide variety of user needs and the S III mini is another way we are doing just this, in reaching a broader consumer segments.”
The Galaxy S III mini is powered by Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), the latest version of the world’s most popular smartphone operating system, with stunning graphical capabilities, fast screen transitions, and an upgraded Google Now service, featuring contextual search.
Stylish and compact, the Galaxy S III mini shares the Galaxy S III’s breakthrough design and simple elegance. Its ultra-minimal curved frame delivers a rich natural feel, which is also reflected on its nature-inspired home screen, wallpapers and ringtones.
'Brilliant colour and clarity'
Its beautiful 4-inch Super Amoled display offers a generous viewing experience that lets you view multimedia and web content in brilliant colour and clarity. Its compact size gives users a comfortable grip and allows a convenient one-hand operation.
The Galaxy S III mini is packed with intelligent technology designed to make interacting with the phone incredibly natural and intuitive. S Voice, Samsung’s advanced natural language recognition software, lets you use your voice to unlock the phone with simple customised commands, or to play your favourite songs, turn the volume up or down, organise your schedule, or automatically launch the camera and start taking photos.
The Galaxy S III mini also understands your gestures to make using your phone easier and more natural: With Smart Stay, the phone’s camera tracks your eyes and keeps the screen lit as long as you are looking at it. When reading a text message from a friend, Direct Call enables you to automatically dial a call simply by lifting the phone to your ear; and Smart Alert conveniently alerts you to missed calls or messages as soon as you pick up your phone.
Content sharing is easy and fast on the Galaxy S III mini: Its S Beam feature lets you share a 10MB music file in just two seconds by simply tapping on another S Beam-enabled device including Galaxy S III or Galaxy Note II, even without a wi-fi or cellular signal. The ‘Buddy photo share’ function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.
“There is no doubt that a phone that features the very best in technology innovation, yet comes in different form factor is what the market expects from the leading consumer electronics brand and we are confident that we will see a solid uptake of this product in the local market,” concludes Fleischer.
The Galaxy S III mini is available at recommended retail prices starting from: 8GB will cost R4 599 and the 16GB, R4 999. – gadget.co.za
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