Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini

Product Information

There are a few physical changes worth noting, however. The Galaxy S5 Mini is waterproof (rated IP67), but unlike the full-sized version its microUSB port isn't hidden behind an annoying plastic flap. Finally, it seems, we've arrived at a mainstream smartphone that's impervious to a dunk in the bath, but without the annoying, fiddly trade-off we're used to seeing. The plastic battery door still has a rubbery seal on the inside, so you'll want to make sure it's securely snapped on each time you replace it. (And yes, the phone still reminds you to do this each time you start it up.) The GS5 Mini model we're reviewing has 16GB of onboard storage, of which an ample 11.8GB is available to use. Samsung also provides a microSD slot, naturally, which works with cards up to 128GB. But there is also a higher rating, eight, which means your phone will survive in water under pressure for long periods. The Sony Xperia Z2, for instance, reaches this waterproof level. It's usually in the features department that smaller phones reveal their inferiority, but there's not much sign of that here. First of all, the S5 Mini is water- and dust-resistant, just like the bigger model. The relevant statistic is the Ingress Protection rating which here is IP67. The 720 x 1280 resolution gives a pixels per inch count of 326, the same as the iPhone's Retina display, so no wonder it looks great. Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini: Camera

The first figure refers to dust resistance - six is the highest rating there is - and the second to water-resistance. Seven is good, and protects against immersion in water between 15cm and 1m for half an hour. The S5 Mini only has a 4.5in screen and a 1,280×720 resolution, but its Super AMOLED display is just as lovely to look at as the S5’s. Our colour calibrator showed it was displaying an outstanding 100 per cent of the sRGB colour gamut, so you can expect colours to look their very best when watching films and videos.We like the design of the Samsung Galaxy S5 mini and the fact that it hasn't moved away from the original. This is the first mini since the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact that does justice to its original. The Galaxy S5 mini and S5 look astonishingly alike and that has carried over to the feel of the device. Controls The device is claimed to be water resistant despite the exposed USB charging port, while the USB charging port of the Galaxy S5 requires to be covered by a flap to ensure water protection. The Samsung Galaxy S5 mini succeeds because it's a more widely usable size than the bigger S5, and because it cuts few corners in the shrinking process. To include a fingerprint sensor, infra-red blaster and heart rate monitor on a phone that you can splash without ruining are significant achievements. And the size and software mean that it's very pleasing to use. The bottom has an exposed microUSB port and the main microphone. It's nice to have the microUSB exposed instead of under a flap that you'd need to pry open every time you want to charge your phone but you should be wise to wait until the port is dry before plugging in a charger.

Besides that, just about everything of consequence from the GS5 has made the transition into this smaller, leaner handset. Smart Remote uses the built-in IR blaster to control your TV, an increasingly common feature for modern smartphones. S Voice is Samsung's personal assistant app, which coexists somewhat awkwardly with Google's own voice-activated features. Versions: G800F (Europe); G800A (AT&T); G800HQ (Turkey); G800H (USA); G800M (LATAM); G800R4 (US Cellular); G800Y (New Zealand) Network

There's a trend, now that phones have tended to the hefty, that manufacturers follow their flagship blowers with smaller versions that will suit smaller hands. When they launch them the makers say, actually always say, that they have not cut any corners with their new, diddier device.

Even so, it's capable of realistic and understated colours, too. The trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 looks spectacular on this screen, butter-smooth and rich with details in shadows and gentle skin tones. Okay, this is Hollywood-real rather than grey, rainy British afternoon real, but it's pretty fantastic.

Shadow areas weren’t too muddy either and the sky was very well exposed However, unlike the Alpha, the S5 Mini is IP67 certified, which means it’s protected against dust and can survive being dunked in up to a metre of water for 30 minutes. Best of all, Samsung’s managed to do this without covering the microUSB port with a cheap plastic flap, which is something that made charging the original S5 a bit of a pain. DISPLAY

This screen is bright, colourful and has the vividness that Super AMOLED offers. Samsung is king of Super AMOLED and matches software to hardware with shortcut icons, wallpapers and app choices that all make the most of the colour saturation the tech excels at. Even if this means the results are sometimes eye-searingly colourful.Still, charging an extra battery is arguably even more of a faff than remembering to plug it in when you turn in. Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini: Verdict Graphics performance was also much lower than the its big brother, as the S5 Mini struggled to get above 20fps in all three of our 3DMark Ice Storm tests. It scored 3,558 in Ice Storm Unlimited, which translates to 19.5fps, and 2,841 in Ice Storm Extreme, which averaged at 15.2fps. The S5, by comparison, maxed out Ice Storm Extreme and scored a huge 18,451 in Ice Storm Unlimited, which equates to more than 60fps. Comparing the S5 Mini to simiarly priced handsets was equally dissapointing with both the Moto X and Nexus 5 clearly outscoring it in every test. The S5 Mini wasn’t able to run Epic Citadel at our usual Ultra High Quality setting either, so we had to settle for running our benchmarks on High Quality instead. On this setting, it managed a very smooth average of 53.7fps. This is promising for anyone who likes playing more demanding games on the move, but graphical fidelity was disappointing. Inside, the S5 Mini takes a more radical departure from the Qualcomm-powered Galaxy S5 we got in the UK. That handset used a2.5GHz Snapdragon 801 chipset, while the Mini uses one of Samsung’s own quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos 3470 processors instead. While the Exynos 3470 is perfectly fast enough to run Android 4.4.2 and Samsung’s customised TouchWiz interface, the phone’s web browsing performance was much slower than we were expecting. Note that the camera on the S5 is capable of 4K recording but that's not the case here. Still, the 1080p video looks pretty good, too. Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini: Performance