I have a friend who stands at about 5 foot 3. Not surprisingly, his hands are not that big. His smartphone of choice is the Samsung Galaxy S4. Picture, if you will, a not too large hand holding this device. With his hand outstretched the smartphone covers and overlaps his entire hand.
Don’t get me wrong, with my failing eyes the idea of a phablet is a great concept. A phablet is described as a smartphone having a screen which is intermediate in size between that of a typical smartphone and a tablet. Generally it has a screen size of between 5 and 6.9 inches.
The Galaxy S4 is one such device. Its screen size is five inches with overall dimensions of 5.38 x 2.75 inches. Today, October 23, Samsung announced that a mini version of this device would be available in the U.S. beginning this November.
The Galaxy S4 mini will support a lot of the features that have made its big brother popular but will be a slimmed down version. The mini will be clocking in at 4.9 x 2.4 inches. Gregory Lee, president of Samsung Mobile said, “Samsung continues to provide a wide range of products to fit consumers' needs. The Galaxy S4 mini continues that commitment by bringing the paramount features of our flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone to a smaller, more compact form factor.”
Some of the features that will be included are:
Intuitive Camera Interface: The Galaxy S4 mini's 8-megapixel camera has zero shutter lag allowing users to document special moments without delay. The Galaxy S4 mini is equipped with the familiar and easy-to-navigate user interface found on the Galaxy S4 and supports numerous shooting modes such as Beauty Face, Best Photo, Sound & Shot, Panorama and more to enhance photos taken by even the most novice photographer.
WatchON: Control your television using the Galaxy S4 mini as a remote control. Discover a rich TV viewing experience with a Smart Remote that is functional with any IR capable TV or Set Top Box. Users can share content from the Galaxy S4 mini to a TV effortlessly, as well as look for something to watch in a new way that lets you browse by genre, search by title or receive recommendations based on your interests.
Easy Mode: Helps smooth the transition for first-time smartphone owners by simplifying the home screen layout, camera, calendar, messaging and the Internet browser to make the phone easy to navigate. Once a user is more comfortable with their Galaxy S4 mini, they can easily switch back to the standard home screen interface.
Simple Sharing: Quickly and easily transfer large files, such as videos and documents, to other Galaxy phones with S Beam. Touch the back of the Galaxy S4 mini to any S Beam-enabled phone and share without needing a Wi-Fi connection or cell signal. Users are able to simultaneously enjoy music, photos, documents and games with friends through the Group Play function.
If you want to know what some of the specs are, they incorporate a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED (960 x 540) display, 1.7 GHz Dual-Core Processor running Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean). Connectivity options include Wi-Fi 5.0GHz a/b/g/n, GPS + GLONASS, NFC, Bluetooth v4.0 (LE) IR LED and USB 2.0 HS.
The camera is a rear 8 megapixel auto focus camera with LED Flash. The front camera is a 1.9 Megapixel. The video option includes MPEG4, H.264, H.263, VC-1, VP8, WMV7/8, Sorenson Spark. The camera features Sound & Shot, Night, Best Photo, Best Face, Beauty Face, Rich Tone (High Dynamic Range), Panorama, Sports and Continuous Shot.
Some of the services include Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, Google Messenger, Google Play Store, Google Plus, YouTube, Google Talk, Google Local, Google Navigation, Voice Search, Chrome Availability of Google Play Books, Play Movies and Play Music.
Edited by
Rory J. Thompson 
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