Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini

chops018

Hi guys,

I really like the look of this phone, but I am a bit weary as I had a Nokia touch screen a few years ago and I hated it so I vowed never to go back near a touch screen. But it looks as if these days they have the touch screen phones right.

Anyway, I have a Blackberry Curve 8520, have it about 2 years and I can;t complain, it has never given me trouble. I am wondering would it be much of a transition to switch over to the Samsung.

Also I am wondering in general if the S3 mini is actually a good phone and nice to use etc. I've no interest in the actual S3, too expensive and too big in my opinion. Same with the iPhone.

Any views on the above would be appreciated.

StaticNoise

If you're a basic talk and text user with a little bit of internet browsing, it is fine and perfect, but you may as well get a cheaper phone. If you are a power user, avoid, avoid, avoid.

Review: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s_iii_mini-review-857.php
Specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i8190_galaxy_s_iii_mini-5033.php

Basically, it is a nice watered down phone, which holds nothing on the power of the SIII, despite being not far off the real price of the big brother. As you can see, they even recommend the Galaxy S (a far cheaper phone) as there isn't much in the difference.

I hope this helps.

chops018

StaticNoise wrote: »

If you're a basic talk and text user with a little bit of internet browsing, it is fine and perfect, but you may as well get a cheaper phone. If you are a power user, avoid, avoid, avoid.

Review: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s_iii_mini-review-857.php
Specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_i8190_galaxy_s_iii_mini-5033.php

Basically, it is a nice watered down phone, which holds nothing on the power of the SIII, despite being not far off the real price of the big brother. As you can see, they even recommend the Galaxy S (a far cheaper phone) as there isn't much in the difference.

I hope this helps.

I would be just a talk and text person with some small internet use - facebook, twitter, football updates.

It looks like a lovely phone, my main worry is the transition from buttons to touchscreen, Blackberry to Samsung. I never had a problem with the Blackberry, but I want an upgrade and I don't fancy the price or look of the newer Curve for it's specs, and the Bold seems a bit too pricey for me which is why I thought I might have a change for a year or so and this looked nice with decent specs.

StaticNoise

What network are you on? I'll take a look and give you a recommendation, with buttons.
Also, what is your price range?

chops018

StaticNoise wrote: »

What network are you on? I'll take a look and give you a recommendation, with buttons.
Also, what is your price range?

Meteor.. 300 pay as you go, but I was looking to switch to the 25 quid a month bill, with the free meteor to meteor calls and texts I doubt I'd go over the mins or net usage. That way the phone would be way cheaper too.

StaticNoise

You've seen the Samsung Galaxy Chat?
Android, web ready, with buttons?

Free on Three with unlimited texts, internet add on for a fiver and €25p/m?

http://www.three.ie/online/shop/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=1731&p=voice&tariffType=contract&step=2&src=p&edt=0&itemId=0&dch=0

chops018

StaticNoise wrote: »

You've seen the Samsung Galaxy Chat?
Android, web ready, with buttons?

Free on Three with unlimited texts, internet add on for a fiver and €25p/m?

http://www.three.ie/online/shop/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=1731&p=voice&tariffType=contract&step=2&src=p&edt=0&itemId=0&dch=0

It would have to be meteor, most of my friends are on that network so it would make no sense to change. The phone looks good though, thanks for the link.

Edit: The camera doesn't look great, I have 2MP on my current phone and it's two years old. The camera is not the determining factor but I would prefer it to be better than what I have.

StaticNoise

Then go for the offer you mentioned.

I find that typing on touchscreen devices is actually quite easy, and Samsung, for example, are very good to use,
Best of luck.

chops018

StaticNoise wrote: »

Then go for the offer you mentioned.

I find that typing on touchscreen devices is actually quite easy, and Samsung, for example, are very good to use,
Best of luck.

Thanks for the info!

evolutionqy7

The S3 Mini is actually nice. I got it for my gf for Xmas, tbh its close enough to the S2 in the body of something that looks like an S3.

Its quite a nice phone, doesn't seem to lag or anything. Battery life is just average and the screen is nice. Though its a Pentile Matrix so its not a very crisp detail screen, though color reproduction is great.

If your after a good camera, this is not it, camera is quite crap tbh. Every other aspect is great. Its a nice small phone as well in the world of huge handsets. Gf loves it anyway, she had a HTC Sensation before and found the S3 Mini much better.

chops018

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

The S3 Mini is actually nice. I got it for my gf for Xmas, tbh its close enough to the S2 in the body of something that looks like an S3.

Its quite a nice phone, doesn't seem to lag or anything. Battery life is just average and the screen is nice. Though its a Pentile Matrix so its not a very crisp detail screen, though color reproduction is great.

If your after a good camera, this is not it, camera is quite crap tbh. Every other aspect is great. Its a nice small phone as well in the world of huge handsets. Gf loves it anyway, she had a HTC Sensation before and found the S3 Mini much better.

Well the phone I have now is only a 2MP camera so surely the upgrade to the 5MP will be much better and I'm sure it would be a better phone all around once I got used to it. I really like the S3 and my friend has one and whenever I was playing around with it I was impressed, it was just the sheer size that turned me off, but when I saw the S3 mini I thought maybe it could be for me.

I've done a bit of research and it seems it is similar enough to the S3 in that the it's the same OS and it just looks like a smaller version. The main differences is that the processor isn't as good (although I was told you wouldn't really notice this), camera is 5Mp instead of 8MP, video is 720p instead of 1080, and some other small stuff. It does look really good and operates much the same as the 'huge' S3.

So you'd recommend it then? I might go for it.

evolutionqy7

Yeah tbh besides the camera I cant find any other problems with it.

Its generally a pleasant phone to use. Avg folk probably find it great

I just couldn't think of anything better to get at that price point, while buying it from a store. I know you could probably pick up an S2 from adverts.ie or something brand new for that money, but its a peace of mind that I can bring it back to the store if anything is wrong with it.

The one I got as well was sim free, even though it was meant to be with meteor. Regarding the size of the S3, I wouldnt worry, you get used to it quite quick.

chops018

evolutionqy7 wrote: »

Yeah tbh besides the camera I cant find any other problems with it.

Its generally a pleasant phone to use. Avg folk probably find it great

I just couldn't think of anything better to get at that price point, while buying it from a store. I know you could probably pick up an S2 from adverts.ie or something brand new for that money, but its a peace of mind that I can bring it back to the store if anything is wrong with it.

The one I got as well was sim free, even though it was meant to be with meteor.

Yeah I prefer getting something new too. Cheers for your experiences with it anyways. The negatives don't seem to be things that would bother me, and the positives are good. I think I'll go for it, I'll give it a think over the next few weeks while I wait on my free calls and texts and credit to run out before I do haha.

room_149

I got one of these devices after my Galaxy S2 broke down back in January and have really regretted doing so ever since.
The 8GB internal memory has prevented me from downloading many of the previous Apps I had on the S2. (I have tried all of the 'switch-to-SD card-memory' Apps on the Google Play store- none of them work.) The phone has a cheap look to it and the lack of Flash is another negative mark going against it too.
I will be getting rid of the thing soon as I clear off a few bills; and will probably go for a 16GB S3 instead, despite having some reservations over the size and general appearance of it.