Recently I reviewed the Samsung Galaxy S5 and now it is time to have a look at the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini. There are two reasons why someone would choose the S5 mini over the S5. Firstly price and secondly size. These have to be the only two reasons as I doubt anyone would say that they want a lower specked device. Though I do know a few people who use old school Nokias. I don’t understand how anyone can live without a Smartphone. How will they take selfies?
Picking up the S5 mini, the most notable difference between it and the S5 is its size. What I like about the mini is that while it is smaller than its larger brother, it is not too small. The mini weighs 120 grams which is fair for its size.
On the left of the device you have the volume rocker and on the right the power/unlock button. The button on the front of the device houses the fingerprint sensor and can be used to wake up the device as well. The back of the device looks no different to the standard Galaxy look with the camera, flash and branding in the middle of the device.
Under the hood, the S5 mini is powered by a Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A7 processor with 1.5 GB RAM. The processor is fairly nippy. I wouldn’t get a device with under 1 GB of Ram to ensure that the device can handle heavy multi tasking. The 1.5 GBs of ram in the mini handles multi tasking really well and apps load up quickly!
The 720 x 1280 pixels Super AMOLED display is 4.5 inches which is a decent size for a phone. The screen is clear, bright, rich and colourful. Perfect for looking at photos, videos and games!
Space wise you are good to go. With 16 GB internal memory and support with up to a 64 GB micro SD card, you should have enough space for all your content!
The S5 mini comes loaded with Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) but is upgradeable to the latest version of Android 5.0 (Lolipop). Material design on Android lollipop is pretty cool and I would like to see how Samsung adapts Lollipop with their TouchWiz UI that is currently on the S5 mini. The TouchWiz UI is simple and really easy to use.
While the S5 has a 16 MP camera the S5 mini has an 8mp camera. You will not get the amazing quality that we saw on the S5, but you still get decent quality photos. Nothing bad for the average user! You can also take selfies at 2.1 MP, which should make you selfie lovers happy. You can capture videos in Full HD at 30fps which is perfect for YouTube!
The S5 mini is IP67 certified dust and water resistant up to 1 meter and 30 minutes so you don’t have to worry about taking the mini on some adventures. Get the Mini dirty and then give it a rinse or dunk, just remember to close the ports!
The S5 mini comes with a removable Li-Ion 2100 mAh battery which is actually pretty decent. You are looking at getting a day of normal use which is pretty standard on similar phones. You can always use Samsung’s power saving mode to preserve battery life by restricting background data, performance and using a grey-scale theme. There is an ultra power saving mode which only gives you a few apps to use and changes the UI to a simplified grey-scale version.
Overall the S5 mini is a great little device. If you are looking to own a Samsung device but can’t afford a higher priced device like the S5, the mini may be for you. With a nippy processor and a decent camera, most users will be pleased. I certainly am.
