Key Difference: Samsung has officially announced the little brother of its brand new flagship: Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. The phone comes with a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that offers ~256 ppi pixel density. The weight of the phone has also been reduced to 107 grams for the 3G Model and 108 grams for the LTE Model. Nokia has recently announced a new phone to its line-up; the Lumia 928. The phone comes with a 4.5-inch AMOLED capacitive screen with broad back bezel. The phone is quite bulky and heavy, compared to other newer smartphones that are focusing on getting thinner and lighter.

Samsung has officially announced the little brother of its brand new flagship: Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. The S4 mini as the name suggests is the mini version of the Galaxy S4 released earlier on in 2013. The company has made the phone slimmer and lighter hoping to make it more appealing for the people that considered the original S4 bulky. According to JK Shin, CEO and President of IT & Mobile Communication Division at Samsung Electronics, “we want to give people more choices with GALAXY S4 mini, similar look & feel of GALAXY S4 for more compact and practical usages.”

The company has slashed many extra oomph features from the phones such as cutting down screen size and reducing resolution to reduce the price of the phone. The phone comes with a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen that offers ~256 ppi pixel density. The weight of the phone has also been reduced to 107 grams for the 3G Model and 108 grams for the LTE Model. The device houses audio jack on the top, the volume rocker on the left, the power button on the right and the USB port on the bottom. The camera and loudspeaker grille with the flash are placed on the back.

The device is powered by 1.7 GHz Krait Dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor, making it pretty fast and responsive. It also comes with Adreno 305 GPU and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The 3G model comes with 1.5 GB RAM, while the LTE model comes with 2 GB RAM. The phone is offered with 8GB internal storage capacity, which can be extended by 64GB using a microSD card.

The company maintains certain nifty features such as the IR Blaster, S Translator, S Health, S Voice and many other that were available in the original S4. The device also houses a 8MP rear camera and a 1.9 MP HD front camera. The camera comes with features such as Sound&Shot, Panorama Shot and Story Album function. According to the press release, photos taken by the S4 Mini are automatically gathered and saved according to the user’s timeline, geo-tagging information, or a specific event to create a photo album. The phone comes with a removable Li-Ion 1900 mAh battery.

Nokia has recently announced a new phone to its line-up; the Lumia 928. This phone is considered as the flagship phone for Verizon (a US telecommunications company) but it is also available in an unlocked version. In terms of hardware, the phone is very similar to Nokia’s flagship 920 but has added on extra features and tweaks that can go either way. Although, the phone has been modified, there are no revisions to the Windows Phone 8.

The Nokia Lumia 928 does not share the physical characteristics of the 920. It is in a bar from that has a slight bulge on the back that makes the phone comfortable to hold. Another small curve can be found on the bottom on which speaker grille is strategically placed that keeps volume from getting muffled when placed flat on the back. The phone comes with a 4.5-inch AMOLED capacitive screen with broad back bezel. The phone is quite bulky and heavy, compared to other newer smartphones that are focusing on getting thinner and lighter.

The Nokia phones are known for the bright interactive colors, which are no longer an option in this model. The phone is available only in two options: matte black and glossy white. This is believed to be because it is a Verizon exclusive phone. The phone comes with the basic structure of the Nokia phones with the volume rocker, power button and a dedicated camera key on the right edge. The power button is very similar to volume rocker only slightly smaller, making it difficult to find it without looking. The volume rocker is also a little to access and hit during mid-call. The left side of the device is bare, while the top hosts a center-mounted Micro USB port, a pull-out SIM tray and a 3.5mm jack. The back stands out with a bigger Xenon flash and the camera with Carl Zeiss lens.

The phone comes with a 4.5-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with ~334 ppi pixel density and boasts excellent sunlight readability. The AMOLED screen is better for side viewing angles and sunlight visibility. The phone does have excellent resolution and the images are sharp, crisp and clear. The screen can also be configured for ‘high touch sensitivity’ known as ‘glove mode’. The phone also has amazing speakers but almost all reviewers said that when talking on the phone, the voice on the other end sounded hollow and unrealistic. The loud speaker also lacks bass and depth. However, the noise cancellation on the phone works exceptionally.

The phone is powered by 1.5 GHz Krait Dual-core Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon processor, making it fast. The phone does not lag or even slow down. As it is a windows phone obviously it is powered by the Windows Phone 8 OS. The Android vs. Windows Phone debate is always the same. Though, the OS is great, Android does have more apps to offer and is also more customizable. The phones offers 1 GB RAM and has 32 GB internal memory. For users looking to add more than 32GB of data will run out of luck, as it does not offer adding extra memory.

The device houses an 8.7 MP PureView rear camera and a 1.2 MP front camera. The rear camera comes with the Carl Zeiss optics for sharper images. It also comes with the typical autofocus, image stabilization, flash etc. However, Nokia does proud itself for its low-light image technology and rightfully so. The low-light images are quite sharp and does not blur. In addition to that, the company also offers xenon flash that is bright and powerful. The xenon flash can only be used as flash and cannot be left lit, so the company has also added a secondary flash for videos and flashlight purposes. The camera does have slow shutter speed, which requires people to hold the camera still for long periods of time to avoid motion blur.

The device houses a non-removable Li-Ion 2000 mAh battery (BV 4-NW) that boasts good power. The Verge could run the battery for approximately 27 hours, while Tech Hive got only 6.5 hours out of it. The power of the battery depends on running applications, usage and many other different factors. In all, the phone is okay but does not come close to its 920 cousin.

The information for the detailed table about the two phones has been taken from the Samsung Website, the Nokia website, theverge.com and GSMArena.com.

Image Courtesy: samsungmobilepress.com, nokia.com