Meet the All-New HTC One mini

There is indeed a "mini" trend among Android smartphones. Last year, Samsung released the Galaxy S III mini, which is the more compact version of its former flagship, the Galaxy S III. This year, Samsung has released the Galaxy S4 mini months after the launch of the current flagship, the Galaxy S4. Both mini versions of Samsung's flagship smartphones became highly popular, bringing in more sales and a larger market share for the Korean giant. Now, Taiwanese smartphone maker, HTC, wants to cash in on the trend by announcing the HTC One mini, which is obviously a shrinked version of its current flagship, the HTC One. The question now is...will it stand a chance against Samsung's Galaxy S4 mini smartphone?

Image by GSMArena

By the looks of it, the HTC One mini retained the premium feel of its larger sibling. It is made of unibody aluminum with a very solid feel to it. It measures 132 mm x 63.2 mm x 9.25 mm and weighs 122 grams. It is much smaller and lighter than the HTC One but definitely looks and feels bulkier than the Galaxy S4 mini. The HTC One mini packs a 4.3-inch 720p HD display of Super LCD2 variety. It is scratch-resistant, thanks to Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The display's pixel density is at 341 ppi, which makes it well above the Retina standard. Comparing it to the Galaxy S4 mini, the Samsung device packs an inferior qHD display of Super AMOLED variety resulting in a lower ppi.

Image by GSMArena

Under the hood is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with 1.4GHz dual-core Krait 300 CPU, Adreno 305 and 1GB RAM. The internal memory is 16GB and is non-expandable. The HTC One mini runs on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean with the HTC Sense 5 UI on top. It also has some of HTC One's neat tricks such as the BlinkFeed, Zoe, BoomSound, and Beats Audio technology. In comparison to the Galaxy S4 mini, despite having the same chipset, CPU, and GPU, the Samsung device is clocked 20% faster and has 50% more RAM. Its storage is also expandable up to 64GB.

Image by GSMArena

With regard to the camera, the HTC One mini sports the same 4-MP UltraPixel camera found on the HTC One. The only difference between them is the lack of optical image stabilization (OIS) on the One mini. However, you still get HTC's ImageChip 2 and a BSI sensor of 1/3" size. Its camera is capable of shooting 1080p Full HD videos with HDR, and the LED flash next to it uses five levels of luminance (Smart Flash). HTC's Zoe is available as well, along with slow motion video recording with variable speed playback. The front-facing camera is 1.6-MP and sports a BSI sensor that can shoot 720p HD videos. As far as the competition goes, the Galaxy S4 mini is equipped with an 8-MP shooter. Basically, the choice between the two cameras is a matter of preference, whether you want to shoot better in daylight or low light.

Image by GSMArena

The HTC One mini is powered by a 1,800 mAh Li-polymer unit, which is good for up to 13.2 hours of 3G talk time and 692 hours of 3G stand-by. Connectivity is covered with LTE, Bluetooth 4.0 with aptX enabled, Wi-Fi a/b/g/n with DLNA and GPS + GLONASS. HTC has also provided a range of sensors - gyro, accelerometer, proximity, and ambient light sensors. The HTC One mini will be available in gray (Glacial Silver) and black (Stealth Black) for select markets for an estimated €449. Global roll-out and availability will begin on September 2013. Take a peak at its promo video below:


More or less, the HTC One mini and the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini are on the same level when it comes to specifications. Choice is basically a matter of preference, i.e. plastic vs aluminum, 8-MP vs 4-MP, TouchWiz vs Sense, Super AMOLED qHD display vs Super LCD2 HD display. Regardless of which between the two smartphones you choose, you really can't have it all with a "mini" device. But at least, you get a taste of flagship specs for a fraction of the cost.

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Til then...

xoxo Nash