Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini rumors

The new Samsung GS5 mini could be the most popular yet of the Galaxy s5 range! Regardless of the S5 mini ranges have not really pushed the boundaries on spec. These are popular smartphones fort he user who wants something a little smaller, comfortable and at a cheaper price. The first Galaxy S5 was introduced in 2012 with the galaxy s3 Mini and became a huge susses.

As the rumours start to leak on-line we do hope Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini Amazon will be available from amazon. We can start to see a clear idea on what the SGS5 Mini will look like and what spec we could expect. For sure this will be the Korean third edition to the Samsung Galaxy S mini . We should be expecting to see a release very soon as Samsung New Zealand leaked details on the smartphone online. This also lead to Samsung Finland with support pages from the SM-G800F appeared online.

So we should expect the Galaxy s5 mini display to be that little bit smaller than the current SGalaxy S5 that is the point of this product.. Samsung reports the handset is set with a 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 Super AMOLED screen,  don’t expect it to be full HD. Id these reports are correct then it will be higher resolution and larger than the current GS4 Mini at 540 x 960.

If you are expecting a powerfull like the Z1 Compact you could be disappointed, as to Samsung the S5mini means lower power and smaller. But the smartphone will be more capable than the current Samsung galaxy S4 Mini.

We should expect this to have a nice quad-core Snapdragon processor with a nıce amount of Ram  1.5GB  on the new Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini Amazon, so while it really is not hight end device it could seriously have a dual-core. What model processor is still unknown but a Snapdragon 400 seems to be the preferred option for mid-range cell phones at the current moment so this will seem likely. Processor clocked speed has not been revealed and Samsung revealed that this smartphone has a 2.3GHz quad-core processor this is quite fast for such a small cellphone.

There’s no official or leak images yet of the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini looks, but the GS4 Miniinherited the simple design of the SGalaxy S4 just in a smaller size. The SGalaxy S5 Mini will be the same as the Galaxy S5‘s Design but just smaller in size.

One thing for sure is the dust resistant and water risistant abilities will be available as the same IP67 as the Galaxy s4 Active and Galaxy S5, which gives it a pulls side of the GS4 Mini and most other compact cell phones on the market. So expect a rugged smartphone with micro SD slot, removable cover and a battery pack.

The camera on the SGS5 is not much improvement then the current Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini. But will have a 8mb main rear camera and 2mpix the camera at the front . This is identical to the current SGalaxy S4 Mini, It will have and support a 8MP camera on the rear with a 1.9MP one on the front side, so this is a disappointment with such a small increase in spec.

The S5 Mini will have a 16Gb built in storagem, which is currently doubble storage on what is provided on the S4 mini. We should also see a microSD card slot on the SG S5 Mini.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini OS is operated with 4.4 Android KitKat that’s the most upto date version of Android and the new version there has been a reasonably stable version of the new Android 4.4 KitKat OS.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 has a new 2100 mAh powered battery, this is a bit larger than the 1900mAh used in the Galaxy S4 Mini. This battery option has extra power and a great option for a mini phone. The current rumors show that there will be a or upto a 8MPix camera, especially as last year’s SGalaxy S4 Mini had a nice simple camera with the same mega pix count.

Huawei Ascend Mate 7

With a 6” screen flanked top and bottom by some proportionately sized bezels, the Huawei is most certainly a looker.

There is nothing but the Huawei logo on the bottom bezel, a speaker, front facing camera and sensor on the top.  One great thing on the front is that there are virtually no side bezels meaning that the screen takes up a quoted 83% of the device.

The top of the device has the headphone socket and a microphone, the bottom holds the USB charging port with another microphone, the left hand side has the SIM card slot and the Micro SD card slot.  The SD slot is only accessible using a SIM removal tool which I’m not too sure is a good idea and is certainly not handy for swapping cards quickly.  The right hand side houses the power and volume controls.

The back is where the magic happens.  As well as the camera and LED flash there is a fingerprint sensor.

The model that we had is silver and white whilst a black and white and a gold model is also available.

Make no mistake, the Ascend Mate 7 is a good looking device.  It feels pleasantly weighty, the rear is finished in an attractive silver and the aluminium unibody design certainly feels sturdy.

Underpowered this device certainly is not.  Whilst the RAM could be a little bigger (2GB is the default)  the processor is a behemoth.

The full specs are as follows:

• Size: 157mm x 81mm x 7.9mm
• Weight: 185g inc battery
• IPS LCD Capacative touchscreen
• Display: 6” FHD screen, 1080p (1920 x 1080), 368PPPI, 16M colours
• Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Processor: Octo-core Hasilicon Kirin 925 (4×1.8GHz + 4×1.3GHz)
• GPU: Mali 628
• OS: Android 4.4.2 / Huawei Emotion UI 3.0
• RAM: 2GB
• Onboard Storage: 16GB
• Connectivity: LTE / GPS / Wi-FI / Bluetooth 4.0 / MicroUSB / GSM / UMTS
• NFC
• Bands: LTE 1/2/3/4/5/7/8/20/28, GSM 850/900/1800/1900, UMTS 850/900/1900/2100
• Camera: 13MP rear camera, 5MP front facing, 1080p video recording / playback
• Battery: 4100mAh
• Colours: Silver / Gold / Black
• Accessories supplied: Headphones / Charger / USB cable

The Ascend Mate 7 is certainly a fully loaded device with every type of connection that you could wish for.  16GB onboard storage does seem a little measly but the inclusion of a MicroSD card slot makes up for that however swapping cards whilst out and about is a virtual impossibility due to the fact that you need a sim card removal tool to access it.  There is a total of 9GB free out of the box.

The speaker placement is on the rear however this doesn’t detract from the aural experience and is actually quite loud whilst maintaining clarity at high volumes.  Bass is a little lacking however this is after all a phone speaker.

The outstanding feature of the Huawei is the screen.  Bright even in sunlight, clear and vibrant it really is a joy to behold.  Viewing angles are excellent and of course as it is so large detail is abound when watching movies or television streams.  The lack of bezels along the sides really does mean that screen real estate is maximised.

The fingerprint sensor seems to be growing in popularity and the one included on the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 is excellent.  A small setup process whereby each finger that you want recognised is scanned several times means that 360 degree recognition is available.  The sensor itself does a superb job and is backed up by PIN code access should there be any issues (I had none in all the time I had the device).

The Ascend Mate 7 runs Android 4.4.2 which for a premium device is a bit of a disappointment as I would expect the latest version.  This is then overlaid with Huawei’s Emotion 3.0 interface which to be blunt feels a bit of a mess.

Confusingly there is no app drawer which means that every app installed has to appear on one of up to 9 homescreens.

There are many pre-installed apps and games, some of which are useful, some not so.  The pre installed themes are frankly awful and whilst you can download more none are too appealing.

Despite only running Android 4.4.2, Huawei have seen fit to include the Nav buttons from Lollipop, these can be reconfigured in an order that suits the user and also in what Huawei calls one handed mode.  In reality it makes little difference as unless you are Big Daddy or Giant Haystacks (if you know who I am talking about then you are showing your age) then your hands will simply not be big enough.

All of the usual Google apps are bundled along with Huawei’s additions.  In short, Polaris Office, Bitcasa, Todoist, Zinio, Asphalt 8, Bubble Bash Mania and Real Football 2015 are all included as well as Huawei’s phone manager, music player, gallery, file organiser, contact manager and notepad.

he notification bar has 2 sections, Notifications and Shortcuts.  Notifications does exactly what it says whilst Shortcuts offers a shortcut toggle to many of the settings and includes a Screenshot button, a restart button, a multi screen option and an ultra battery toggle.  These buttons can be edited and removed if you so desire.

The settings menu is vast leading to a massive array of configurable options that could be confusing to someone that is inexperienced with Android.  Even after a couple of weeks I am finding options within the settings that I didn’t know existed.  You really do need to spend a great deal of time playing in order to find all the nuances and settings that will get this phone exactly the way that you like it.

The camera on the Huawei Mate 7 is a 13MP with LED flash offering and it does rather well.  Whilst very few handsets will ever be capable of replacing a dedicated stand alone camera the Huawei is more than able to provide some good shots and offers up a large range of effects and functions.

There is a beauty mode which smooths out the skin and enlarges eyes when taking pictures of faces, a panorama mode, the standard HDR and a best photo mode (similar to ZOE on the HTC handsets).

The ability to take a photo with the fingerprint sensor is offered as well as voice control.  As with other areas of the Mate 7, there are multiple functions here including manual ISO adjustment, manual White balance, exposure settings, saturation settings, contrast and brightness settings and the ability to add an audio note.

There is also the option to add a pre-defined filter a la Instagram, modes include Nostalgia, Childhood, Dawn, Dusk, Pure and many many others.

The front facing camera is a 5MP affair and adds the ability to video call using Skype or Hangouts in 720p resolution and offers up a more acceptable image quality.

Android 5.0 Lollipop Release

The month of November has provided a rush of newAndroid 5.0 Lollipop release details for owners of Google’s Nexus devices, HTC smartphones, LG smartphones, Motorola smartphones, Samsung smartphones, and Sony devices. With details swirling, we want to take a look at the current climate and examine the 10 most important things to know, right now, about the Android 5.0 Lollipop release.

Earlier this year, Google took the stage at Google I/O and announced an Android L update. In October, Google finally confirmed the name and release of that update, now known as Android 5.0 Lollipop. Android 5.0 Lollipop, as expected, is a major update to the Android operating system, arguably the biggest change to the Android OS since its release.

Its brought massive change to Google’s stable of Nexus smartphones and tablets, Motorola’s Moto X and Moto G, and it’s set to bring massive changes to devices on a collection of other Android manufacturers including Sony, Samsung, and more.

This month, we’ve seen the Android 5.0 Lollipop update make substantial progress as companies, including Google, have pushed out Android 5.0 Lollipop updates to key devices. Of course, the enormity of the update’s release can be a lot to handle, especially for those that aren’t in tune with the smartphone world and only check in sparingly. That’s where we come in.

In an effort to inform as many Android users as we possibly can, we want to take a look at the most important things to know, right now, about the ongoing Android 5.0 Lollipop release for top companies. This roundup will cover key details for Nexus devices, Google Play Edition devices, HTC devices, LG devices, Motorola devices, Samsung devices, and Sony devices. Those of you touting other smartphones or tablets will need to investigate further.

That said, here are the details we consider the most important as we head toward the end of November and the end of the year.

Android 5.0 Lollipop unveiled at Google I/O conference

Google first unveiled Android Lollipop back in the Summer at its Google I/O conference. At the time it was simply "Android L", but has since been given its confectionary-based, alphabetic moniker, as well as version number 5.0. As usual, the software was debuted on a signature Google Nexus device, well two actually, the Nexus 6 phablet made by Motorola, and a Nexus 9 tablet made by HTC.

Other manufacturers take a little longer to get new Android builds onto their latests devices, partly due to testing it on their hardware, but partly due to their need to add their own flavour via UI overlays while integrating new system features and designs. Several manufacturers, including Samsung, HTC, and LG, have either declared their intention to update lead devices already, or we've seen leaked software builds pictured online.

Will your device make the cut? If so, when will it arrive? These are the questions we're aiming to answer with this information hub.

Android 5.0 Lollipop introduces an entirely new Material Design language, so you can expect the latest update to your device to look pretty different from before. It'll also add Google Now card-style notifications, built-in Android Beam features for streaming to other devices, and a package of software optimisations designed to give you the best battery life possible. However, don't expect to get stock Android 5.0 on anything other than Google's Nexus range and some of Motorola's devices.

Google has now begun rolling out Android Lollipop to its Nexus handsets and tablets, meaning if you own a Nexus 5, Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 the update should be hitting your device anytime soon.

There are some mitigating circumstances, however, as noted by Google: “The update is rolling out over-the-air to Google’s main line-up of Nexus devices, including the Nexus 5, 7 (both generations, but not LTE/3G versions yet), and 10, while rollout for LTE/3G models of the Nexus 7 as well as the Nexus 4 will be coming at some point in the near future.” 

Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini

The Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini, Announced on July 1, 2014 and is currently available in Europe, New Zealand and Latin America. The S5 Mini is a mid-range model of its flagship Galaxy S5 smartphone and a successor to the Galaxy S4 Mini. It competes with the HTC One Mini 2 and the Sony Xperia Z1 Compact. The S5 Mini is the first mid-range smartphone to include Envelope Tracking to improve Power Amplifier efficiency thereby decreasing heat and increasing battery life. It has a similar design and software features to its high-end counterpart.

The S5 Mini uses an almost identical variant of the Galaxy S5's polycarbonate perforated faux-leather hardware design. Internally, it features a quad-core 1.4 GHz Exynos 3 Quad 3470 processor with 1.5 GB of RAM, 16 GB of expandable storage, and a 4.5 inch (1280x720 pixel) HD Super AMOLED screen with a pixel density of 326 PPI. The S5 Mini also includes a 2.1-megapixel (MP) front-facing camera, and an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera.

Below the screen are three buttons. The physical "Home" button in the centre contains a swipe-based fingerprint reader. The "Recent apps" and "Back" buttons are capacitive. In accordance with Android 4.0 human interface guidelines, the S5 mini no longer uses a "Menu" key like its predecessors, although its button layout is still reversed in comparison to other Android devices with the S5 mini's button layout (such as the HTC One X and Galaxy Nexus, whose "Back" buttons are to the left of "Home").

Similarly to the S5, the S5 Mini comes with Android 4.4.2 Kitkat and Samsung's TouchWiz software which includes almost all of the features of the S5.

The S5 Mini contains a 2100 mAh, NFC-enabled battery. Its software like the S5, also contains an "Ultra Power Saving" mode to further extend battery life; when enabled, all non-essential processes are disabled, and the screen switches to only rendering in white on black. Additional power efficiency features include R2 Semiconductor Envelope Tracking technology which dynamically adjusts the Power Amplifier voltage to improve efficiency thereby reducing heat and extending battery life.