Latest Galaxy S5 Mini news
Introduction
The Galaxy S5 mini is Samsung's last Galaxy S device to bear the ‘mini' brand, although it was later used by the J series. Unsurprisingly, the S5 mini succeeded the Galaxy S4 mini, and it belongs to an era in which smartphone buyers were still getting accustomed to large-screen devices.
Despite the moniker, the Galaxy S5 mini wasn't released as a compact flagship phone, but rather as a mid-range device that had some resemblance to its full-sized sibling, particularly in terms of design.
Design
One of the greatest design similarities between the Galaxy S5 mini and the Galaxy S5 was the dimpled removable back panel. The speaker's location on the back panel looks almost the same on both phones, and so does the placement of the main camera and heart rate sensor. Likewise, the Galaxy S5 mini has a metallic frame, a volume rocker on the left edge, and a power key on the opposite side. It was released in the same color options as its larger, higher-end alternative, including Charcoal Black, Shimmery White, Electric Blue and Copper Gold.
The display's top and bottom bezels are extremely thick by modern standards, but at the time of release, the phone's design was quite appealing. The front panel is adorned with two capacitive buttons for ‘back' and ‘recent apps.' They flank the physical ‘home' button which doubles as a fingerprint scanner. Some of Samsung's marketing material for the Galaxy S5 mini was betraying an early desire to equip smartphones with an in-display fingerprint scanner. Of course, this technology would not become reality until years later.
Specifications
The Galaxy S5 mini is equipped with an Exynos 3470 Quad chipset. It has four Cortex-A7 cores operating at a frequency of up to 1.4GHz, and a Mali-400MP4 graphics chip. There were no Qualcomm variants for the device, just like there weren't any Exynos-powered variants of the full-fledged Galaxy S5. The AP (application processor) is paired with 1.5GB of RAM. Storage comprises of 16GB and a dedicated microSD card slot which can read cards of up to 64GB.
There is a 3G and 4G LTE (Cat.4) model, only the latter of which is equipped with an NFC chip. Other connectivity features include Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, A-GPS + GLONASS, and USB 2.0. The phone has a 2,100mAh battery which can be removed by users. Samsung rated it for up to 8 hours of internet usage on a single charge. Wireless charging is missing.
All of these components are wrapped in an IP67-certified body measuring 131.1 x 64.8 x 9.1 and weighing 120 grams. Evidently, the phone is equipped with a 3.5mm headphone jack, as USB-C was nonexistent in the mid 2010s.
Display
The Galaxy S5 mini's thick bezels surround a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 by 720 pixels. Samsung was a Super AMOLED pioneer, and the Galaxy S5 mini is one of the many early devices to boast this technology.
Unlike the high-end Galaxy S5, the mini variant doesn't have Gorilla Glass protecting its display.
Camera
Samsung's last Galaxy S mini phone has a single main camera on the back panel, but this is to be expected given the phone's release date and the company's relatively-late arrival in the multi-camera scene. The Galaxy S5 mini's camera is centered on the back panel and has an 8MP resolution with autofocus capabilities.
The main camera is accompanied by an LED flash, and can record 1920 by 1080 videos at 30 frames per second.The front camera has a 2.1MP resolution and can also record 1080p videos at 30fps.
Software and Features
The Galaxy S5 mini shipped with Android 4.4.2 KitKat out of the box and TouchWiz UI. It was later updated to Android 5.1.1 Lollipop and eventually to Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Samsung continued to release firmware updates consisting mostly of security patches up until the end of 2018.
The device had S Voice and S Health support out of the box. It was also compatible with the Gear Circle, Gear Fit, and Galaxy Gear at the time of release. Other notable features include a heart rate sensor on the back panel and IR (infrared) remote – two feature that were later removed from newer Galaxy smartphones.
Price and Availability
Samsung took the veil off the Galaxy S5 mini in July 2014. The company released the phone worldwide later that same month. The phone is no longer manufactured or available for purchase new from official sources. At launch, the Galaxy S5 mini had an MSRP of around £369 or equivalent.
