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CNET News S3 Mini release date
1:14
If you’re hopping from foot to foot with anticipation of the sawn-off S3 that is the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini, mark your diary and stick a pin in your calendar, because it’s going on sale on 8 November.
Online retailers, including Phones4U, have named the 8th as the date the S3 Mini will arrive, although Samsung has yet to confirm that officially. You can order the S3 Mini now for delivery on the 8th, on a phone contract with Orange, O2 or Vodafone; or you can buy it on its own, SIM-free.
Expansys wants £315 of your hard-earned readies for the S3 Mini sans SIM, slightly more than the £250 originally estimated by retailers when the Mini was first announced — and slightly later than the initially quoted 2 November release date.
Tipping the £300 mark may be a bit rich for some phone fans, who were disappointed that the Mini sees the specs shaved as well as the screen.
The S3 Mini is a more pocket-friendly version of the enormous 4.8-inch Samsung Galaxy S3. It has the same curved design, but sadly the smaller 4-inch screen also loses much of the eye-popping detail of the full-sized S3’s display, and underneath there’s no quad-core processor.
Still, the S3 Mini will arrive with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on board from day one. The latest version of Google’s Android software is only available on a relatively small number of phones, and mostly expensive top-end phones at that.
If you do want the full enchilada and don’t mind the cost, Jelly Bean is now arriving on the full-sized S3. It should be with you in coming weeks, depending on which network you’re on. If you’re impatient for Jelly Bean tastiness, you can root your phone and put it on yourself with our handy guide.
How much would you pay for the S3 Mini? Is it worth getting a smaller S3? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
