Samsung Electronics announced its anticipated Galaxy S4 Mini, which it describes as a “powerful, compact version of its best-selling smartphone, the Galaxy S4” – although in specification terms, it is significantly different.

In fact, the device is probably better seen as a successor to the Galaxy S3 Mini than as a sibling to the Galaxy S4. In this respect, it features a slightly larger screen (and therefore slightly longer body), faster processor, and has lost weight.

Several of the features introduced at the launch of the Galaxy S4 – such as Sound & Shot, which stores sounds and images together, S Translator, for instant translation using text or voice on applications including email and messaging, and Group Play, for peer-to-peer content sharing – are also supported by the new device.

However, many of the headline Galaxy S4 features, including Smart Pause and Smart Scroll, which enable users to control the device without touching the screen either via eye tracking or wrist movements, are not listed for the Galaxy S4 Mini.

The Galaxy S4 has been Samsung’s best-selling smartphone to date, hitting 10 million units in less than one month following its commercial launch.

But following criticism of the storage memory provision on the Galaxy S4, and specifically the amount taken up by pre-installed content and apps at the point of shipping, the company now provides guidance for “user memory”, with the caveat that this may differ depending on “region, carrier, and supporting language, and may change after software upgrade”.

The company is set to offer three versions of the device: LTE, 3G, and 3G dual-SIM, with two colour variants – black and white.

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