While all eyes are still on the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, as well as the anticipation for the release of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, the Korean tech giant has quietly released the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini plus in several European countries early this month.
Gadgets NDTV reported that the new smartphone has made its way to Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Romania and Bulgaria, priced at €239 or about $272.
Accordingly, the smartphone has already been listed on Samsung regional sites in EU late in July but only made it to the retail markets in several European countries early this month.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini plus features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED QHD display with 540 x 960 screen resolution. It is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor clocking at 1.2GHz and an Adreno 306 GPU. It has a 1.5GB of RAM and comes with a built-in storage of 8GB, that is expandable via microSD card for up to 64GB, details GSM Arena.
The smartphone features an 8-megapixel rear camera with full HD video recording capability and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera. The handset also came out with Android 4.4 KitKat operating system and it is not clear if it comes with a free upgrade to Android 5.0 Lollipop or higher.
The handset is also powered by a 1900 mAH battery and has many connectivity options including Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, GPRS/Edge, 3G, and micro USB. The phone has a dimension of 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.94 millimeters and weighs only 107 grams.
A desirable smartphone
Meanwhile, the base model of the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini plus, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is already more than two years old but it continues to be a desirable smartphone to many of its loyal users.
The 2013 flagship smartphone of the Korean tech giant still looks pretty smart and still is a very capable handset but its age started to show when it was among the last few devices that got Google’s latest mobile operating system, the Android 5.0 Lollipop, when it officially rolled out in November last year.
While it is a great-looking smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is actually unrecognizable when compared to both its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S3, and successor, the Samsung Galaxy S5, unless a thorough scrutiny is made.
The Galaxy S4 has the usual white plastic finish but looking up close, one could see the fine diamond pattern beneath the glossy surface. The feature offers a nice touch and subtle enough to avoid being considered as merely a bling. It also prevents attraction of fingerprints and smudges so users can do away with the usual regular polishing to keep it clean. The silver trim on the edges also gives it the metal look, but the material is also plastic.
A user’s companion in life
The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 4.99-inch display screen and is surprisingly svelte. The smartphone has a dimension of 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 millimeters and weighs only 130 grams.
At the time of its launch in 2013, the Samsung Galaxy S4 went up against smartphones that have slightly larger screens packed into slightly larger bodies, making the Korean tech giant’s 2013 flagship smartphone look really modern.
The modern look can be attributed to its thin screen bezels, both down the edges and at the other end, which puts the screen just 2.5 millimeters away from the edge of the device. It’s really difficult to imagine this particular distance getting small any further without seriously compromising the survivability of the handset when dropped.
The sides have also been squared off to make it easier to grip, which was a problem with the Samsung Galaxy S3, although the Galaxy S4 looks a little chunkier for it.