Samsung Galaxy S III mini

Drake5

Drake5

Drake5

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My Dad's contract is up with T-Mobile, he didn't fancy renewing again this time as the phone he's got still does him fine with no issues. (HTC Desire S I think.)

They called him up and offered there 'new' Galaxy S III Mini for £10.50 per month, without asking me first he accepted. He doesn't know anything about phones but he seemed like it sounded a good deal.

What's this phone like? Just a bit concerned they threw this one on him straight away and didn't really offer him any others. He only really uses his phone for slight web browsing and sat-nav when he's on the road.

I don't know how it can be called the S3 Mini when the specs are close to the GS2. :confused:
 
My girlfriend has it. There's nothing wrong with it for the usage you describe, although I think the screen could be a little better
 
The GS 2 specs are better than it.

As for the usage and I am assuming he isn't into all of what android is about etc. then it will be fine.
 
Nexus18 said:
The GS 2 specs are better than it.

As for the usage and I am assuming he isn't into all of what android is about etc. then it will be fine.
Click to expand...

I've just looked up some reviews and it seems that it isn't bad at all. Just maybe a little over-priced in the long run (In terms of PAYG and phones priced similarly to it.)

Apparently it's a smooth experience with Jeallybean and web browsing is fine without any slowdowns. Not bad, hopefully this will convince him to start using a smartphone properly!
 
Hasn't the phone been out ages then? Weird how T-Mobile are only just launching it. Showing up as new stock on the website as well.
 
I think it came out in November so it's not that old. Especially as networks are usually slow to get some phones.
 
Yeah it isn't a bad wee phone at all, it is just the way samsung have used the "galaxy s3" brand name, nowhere near the gs 3 and then charging a fair amount (sim free and contract prices).

Your dad got a good deal though.

Shame as Samsung had a real chance to slaughter the small device market with that device :(

@cjgardens

Oh dear, time to sell and get the mini then! :p
 
What's the camera like on the mini? Need a new phone for my wife as the screen on her current one's broken. Uses her current phone mostly for texting and photos and she has small hands so this phone is about right for her if the camera is any good. Or are there better cameras out there for this phone size and price range?
 
iirc poor, GS 2 is better. Also the mini can only record at 720P, no 1080P.

As for other phones around the mini size and price range, not 4" afaik, but if you go a bit bigger, you can get a one s or gs 2. The one S feels smaller than the gs 2 due to the ergonomic design and being 1mm shorter in width. The one S camera is superb (same as the one X, except 1080P recording is better in terms of smoothness and light metering), gs 2 camera is still very good today but lags behind the one S, however, the 1080P recording has better light metering and is smoother looking.

You could have a look at the htc one V if the other 2 are too big still, but the phone isn't that great either, camera is good for photo quality and I believe that the video recording is rather poor and is limited to 720P too iirc.
 
Awful customer service so far with T-Mobile. Called them this morning to get a delivery estimate, they told me it'd be here tomorrow, called again tonight and they stated they didn't even have stock yet and it'd be sometime early next week.

Frustrating when you get told different things by different people in the same call center. Also took about 5 attempts to get through to the actual web sales department, kept getting cut off!
 
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Nexus18 said:
snip.
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Thanks. I have a One X so know all about that one. She's coming from my age old backup Nokia N95, so anything with 720p will be better than what she's got. So as long as the camera is comparable/better than the N95 that's fine.

The screen finally shattered last night on the N95 so we went to get a new phone since we can get cashback on teh S3mini. They didn't have the One S to compare against, but turns out my wife forgot her bank cards so couldn't get anything anyway.

Where is the best place to get phones online? going to buy out her contract since she gets no data just now but wants to get a contract with some added.

Sorry for hijacking the thread!
 
Yup they are very good, unfortunately I don't think they stock the one s any more (and not many other places do, end of the line product now) :( and due to that prices are pretty expensive for it now

Also:

phones4u
mobiles.co.uk
affordable mobiles

There are 2 versions of the one S, one has a superior chipset:

- S3 snapdragon 1.7GHz
- S4 1.5GHz

Preferably you want the S4 version, better performance and better for battery life. Sometimes sites will show it as the S4 version but it might not actually be the S4 so if you're looking at, email them to find out first.

The RAZR i is probably your best bet now, battery life is much better than both and from what you said, the camera should be just fine and I think it is better than the GS 3 mini.
 
Nexus18 is right, they don't have the OneS. Neither do affordable mobiles or phones4u though. Found it on mobiles.co.uk though. They any good? (Also says it's the 1.5Ghz processor so presume it's the S4)

I'm leaning towards that for her even out of the S3mini and the RAZR i as the camera comparison shots on GSMArena make the OneS out to be the better of the three.

Since we've got to buy her contract out for over £210 we're trying to find something cheap, that's why we opted for the S3mini, can get £75 cash back from O2 meaning it'll cost a net 135, or pay 140 to do an early upgrade on orange, but the O2 deal is more minutes and more internet. Trying to find a similar deal on the OneS but struggling....
 
Mobiles.co.uk are good too, yeah, they're owned by the Carphone Warehouse.

Are you looking to start a whole new contract after buying out the current one?

What do you want to spend per month and what are your minutes/texts/data requirements and I'll see what would be the best option on the various sites.

You might be able to get a pretty decent phone if its around £20~ a month.

Also, Mobiles.co.uk say 1.5Ghz but I imagine they all (the sites) do, it could still be the S3 version, so always check with them properly.
 
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