s4 mini lcd panel free sample

Knowledge of cell phone parts:Because of the assembled Lcd material are different. There are several kinds of quality for Samsung Lcd complete. Please tell us which quality you prefer.

This a great phone for a great price. If you have no special cravings for huge screens, and can stand TouchWiz (or alternatively, are willing to flash a new ROM) the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is a great buy.

With the iPhone excitement slowly cooling down, it"s time to take a look at the other side of the fence. Release cycles being as they are, the Samsung Galaxy S4 seems old to us already, despite being released a mere 6 months ago. But did you know about the S4"s little brother?

Released back in July, the Galaxy S4 Mini is Samsung"s newest major release, and claims to pack most of the goodies you know from the regular S4 into a smaller, lighter, and more affordable package. For half the price of the Galaxy S4, you get a shrunken version of the phone, which nonetheless looks almost identical. Is this the bargain everyone"s been missing, or do they just look alike?

I"ve been using the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini as my primary phone for the past week, and I have some answers. What"s more, one of you will be lucky enough to win this $400 Galaxy S4 Mini for free!

There are tons of Android devices out there, but if you"ve decided to go with Samsung, you"re probably curious how the Galaxy S4 Mini shapes up next to its siblings, the Galaxy S4 and the older Galaxy S3 Mini. Without getting too technical, we"ll go over several major features, and look at some prominent differences between these three devices.

Display:The Galaxy S4 Mini features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen with a 540x960 resolution and a pixel density of around 256 ppi. This is considerably better than the Galaxy S3 Mini with its 4-inch 480x800 pixel display, but is obviously inferior to the Galaxy S4"s 5-inch 1080x1920 display. On paper, the Galaxy S4 Mini"s resolution is not very impressive, and falls far behind that of the iPhone 5, which has a similar sized screen.

Camera:The S4 Mini"s camera is 8 megapixels, with a 1.9 MP front-facing camera to boot. It comes with a LED flash, produces images up to 3264x2448 pixels in size, and can shoot 1080p HD videos. The Galaxy S4"s camera is only somewhat better at 13 MP with a 2 MP front-facing camera, but includes several software features such as smile recognition and dual-shoot that the S4 Mini doesn"t. The S3 Mini features a pretty weak 5 MP camera, and an even weaker 0.3 MP front-facing camera. It can only shoot 720p videos.

Memory and CPU:The Galaxy S4 Mini comes in a 8 GB version only, but includes a microSD slot which supports up to 64 GB. It comes with 1.5 GB of RAM, and runs a dual-core 1.7 GHz CPU. In this too, it sits between the Galaxy S4"s 16-64 GB storage, 2 GB of RAM and quad-core CPU, and the S3 Mini"s 1 GB of RAM and 1 GHz dual-core CPU. Unlike the S4 Mini, though, you can buy the S3 Mini with 16 GB of storage, but you can only use a 32 GB or less microSD card in it.

Price:When deciding on a smartphone, price is one of the most important aspects most people consider. It"s obvious that the S3 Mini is a far less powerful device that the S4 Mini, but at $230 it"s a very affordable option with adequate features. The Galaxy S4 is not very affordable, but for $600 you get a very competent device with almost anything you can ask for. The S4 Mini comes in two versions: a 4G LTE-enabled model (which we"re reviewing today), and a regular, non-4G model. The price for these ranges from $370-$400.

These are the technical details. They make a difference, but at the end of the day, numbers only tell half a story, and you"re probably curious how the device fairs in everyday use. So let"s dive in and see what the Galaxy S4 Mini is all about.

The Galaxy S4 Mini comes in the regular fake wood Samsung box, and with every basic accessory you could possible need for it. These include a wall charger, a USB cable, earphones with interchangeable earbuds, and an instruction booklet.

Unlike other smartphones in the market which are not made by Samsung, the Galaxy S4 Mini comes with another exciting accessory: a battery! The back of the S4 Mini comes off easily, so you can remove and change batteries in seconds. This is also where you"ll find both SIM and microSD card slots.

The S4 Mini runs Android 4.2.2 out of the box, with Samsung"s TouchWiz UI on top. This model comes with NFC, but the I9190 model of the same device (non-LTE) does not.

If the Galaxy S4 Mini looks uncannily like the Galaxy S4 in these pictures, it"s because it truly is very similar. In fact, you can"t help but wonder if the only difference is in size, despite knowing better.

Like all Samsung phones, the Galaxy S4 Mini sports a plastic back that doesn"t give you that "premium" feel you get from the Nexus 4, HTC One, or the iPhone. It doesn"t feel bad to hold, but it is incredibly slippery. Together with the smaller size, the S4 Mini has a tendency to slip out of your hand at the worst moments.

Like all modern Samsung phones, the Galaxy S4 Mini includes a micro-USB port for charging. While it seems usual enough, I found it extremely difficult to plug the phone into any charger. It may be an issue with my unit, but I actually had to use force to get the connector to plug in. This happened every single time I wanted to charge the phone.

As you can see, the Galaxy S4 Mini comes with a tiny screen bezel. This leaves lots of room for a bigger screen on a small device. This combination gives us a small device that"s very easy to use with one hand, but that nonetheless has a nice sized screen.

The S4 Mini may be small, it may be less powerful than other premium devices, but when it comes to display and sound this little phone packs a surprising punch.

From the moment I started using it, I was highly impressed with the display. I hadn"t expected it, but using the Galaxy S4 Mini made my Nexus 4"s display feel faded and colorless. This may be due to the difference between LCD and Super AMOLED screens, but the colors on the S4 Mini just seem to pop. The display is sharp and clear, and even simple apps such as Instagram look fantastic.

Sound-wise, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Galaxy S4 Mini is quite the audio animal. While it"s not great sound for audiophiles, it"s definitely loud, and you won"t have any trouble watching videos or holding audio chats and hearing every word. It"s loud enough to have it play music and enjoy it throughout the room.

Don"t get discouraged by the 8 MP specification. The S4 Mini"s camera is actually excellent, and unless you"re habitually shooting high-definition photos, you"re going to be very satisfied with what it can produce. The camera interface is the usual Samsung fare, with 10 shooting modes to choose from, including panorama, night, and HDR.

The S4 Mini comes with a watered down list of Samsung apps (compared to the Galaxy S4), but you"ll still find a surprising number of apps you"ve never asked for, will probably never use, and can"t really get rid of using conventional methods. These include:

From here, you can quickly enable or disable modes such as Smart stay (screen shouldn"t turn off while you"re looking at it, doesn"t work well in low light), Blocking mode (only certain notifications get through), Driving mode (for hands free calling and texting), and more. You can customize which buttons appear on top of the notification panel, and change their order as you wish.

Going into this, I had no special expectations of the S4 Mini. Turns out this is not only a capable and affordable phone, it"s in some ways better than what I was used to. To start, the smaller size is somewhat a relief. Texting and browsing with one hand is a breeze, and you can barely feel it in your pocket. I"ve become so accustomed to huge phones, spending a week with a smaller one felt a little like going back to the "good old days".

This a great phone for a great price. If you have no special cravings for huge screens, and can stand TouchWiz (or alternatively, are willing to flash a new ROM) the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is a great buy.

The location of the item is not decisive for this, as is shown at the top of Ebay, but the company headquarters / tax number of the seller, which can be found at the bottom of the imprint. You can find the model numbers in different ways, for example on the battery cover (small writing on the underside), on the packaging or under the battery if it is removable. Samsung devices have the model number written on the battery cover (small writing on the bottom), or under the battery (if the battery is removable).  IMPORTANT! The devices are very sensitive. Before you glue your purchased display, please test the functionality of the display again, 1x original Samsung Galaxy S4 Display I9500 Service Pack LCD screen pink pink 1x tool tool set 1x invoice according to §25a UStG (differential tax.

THE SAMSUNG GALAXY S4—a svelte, elegant phone—is an enticing gadget, and the first time you hold it in your hands, you’ll immediately want to put it through its paces: calling friends, browsing the Web, checking your email, and more. As you’ll see in the rest of this book, it can do some remarkable things that make you feel as if the phone has superpowers.

To help you unlock all those powers, though, you need a solid understanding of how the Galaxy S4 works and familiarity with all its different parts. You’ll want to know where all its buttons, keys, and ports are located, for example—not to mention how to get to your Home screen and panes, and use some of the device’s amazing new features, like its ability to let you navigate by merely moving your eyes.

THREE-QUARTERS OF THE WAY up on the right side of the Galaxy S4, you’ll find a small, rectangular silver button. It may be only a single button, but it’s a hardworking one, and it performs multiple functions. Press it with your S4 turned off, and your S4 springs to life. Press and release it when your S4 is turned on and active, and it puts the phone into Standby mode. If your S4 is turned on, press and hold it and a screen appears that lets you do the following:

When you put the Galaxy S4 on Standby using the Power/Lock button, the screen stops responding to touch. It blacks out, indicating that the screen is locked. Always lock the screen before putting the Galaxy S4 in your pocket or bag to avoid accidental screen taps and potentially embarrassing unintended phone calls. In fact, every time you leave the phone untouched for a certain amount of time—as little as 15 seconds to as much as 10 minutes (Brightness)—the screen automatically locks itself.

While the screen is locked, the Galaxy S4 still operates behind the scenes, checking email and Facebook on schedule. You can still get phone calls and text messages, and even listen to music while the screen is locked.

When you again want to use the Galaxy S4, you’ll need to unlock it. Press the Power button or the Home key. Then put your fingertip on the screen and slide it to the right or left. Your Galaxy S4 is now ready to do your bidding. You’ll get notifications about missed calls, text messages, and so on. If you’ve set up a PIN on your phone so that only someone with a password can use it, you’ll have to type in the PIN before you can use your phone. (See Screen lock for details on how to set up a PIN.)

You can adjust the amount of time it takes for the Galaxy S4 to lock itself. You can also turn off Locked mode entirely. And for added security, you can also require that a password be used to unlock your S4, or even that a specific finger swiping motion be performed on the keyboard before it can be unlocked. For details, see Screen lock.

AT THE TOP OF the Galaxy S4, you’ll find a 3.5-millimeter headset jack. Notice that it’s a head set jack, not just a garden-variety head phone jack. It doesn’t just let you listen; it accepts incoming sound as well. That’s so you can plug a headset (like an earbud headset) into it and use it for making phone calls.

THE SCREEN IS WHERE you and the Galaxy S4 do most of your communicating with each other. Compare the Galaxy S4’s screen to that of almost any other phone, and you’ll immediately notice how roomy it is—5 inches, measured diagonally (technically, that’s 1920 x 1080 pixels). It’s got extremely high resolution (443 pixels per inch, for the techie crowd). When you turn it sideways, it switches to a widescreen TV and movie format.

Proximity sensor. Have you ever noticed that when you’re talking on your S4, the screen often goes blank? That’s thanks to the proximity sensor. It senses when your face is close to it during a phone call and automatically turns off and blanks the touch screen as you keep talking. It does this to save power, and so you don’t accidentally touch the screen while talking and perform some unwanted task.

Accelerometer. As its name implies, this sensor measures acceleration and motion. The Galaxy S4 uses the accelerometer to sense the orientation of the screen and turn it to either landscape or portrait mode. But clever app makers use it for other things as well, such as automatic collision notification, which detects when you’re in an accident and then automatically makes a call for assistance for you. There’s even an app that works with the phone’s magnetometer to detect potholes as you drive, and create a log about their locations, which you can then email to your local department of public works. (It’s called Pothole Agent. Search for it on Google Play, as described on Using Google Play Store.)

Gyroscope. This measures motion and is used for a host of features. For example, the S4 uses the gyroscope in concert with the accelerometer to interpret motion gestures you make and let you operate the phone by waving your hands.

Infrared gesture. This sensor uses infrared light to sense your gestures so that you can control the S4 without touching it. Yes, you read that right. You can control it by waving and other gestures thanks to this sensor. And as you’ll see later in this chapter, you can even control scrolling by moving your eyes. (You’ll learn all about these tricks later in this chapter on Pinch and Spread.)

THE GALAXY S4 MAKES sure to keep you updated with information about its current status and any news, updates, and information it thinks is important. It does so by displaying a variety of icons in the status bar at the top of the screen. The status bar is divided into two parts. On the right side, you’ll find icons that inform you about the current state of the Galaxy S4, such as signal strength, 3G or 4G connection status, the time of day, and so on. At left is the Notification area, which alerts you when you have email or voice messages waiting, an event on your calendar is about to occur, and more.

When you see a notification on the left side of the status bar, drag down the Notification panel to see more details. You can also act upon the notification by tapping its icon after you drag it down—like checking your email or running an app that you’ve just downloaded. There’s also a Clear button that makes all notifications go away.

Most of the time you use your Galaxy S4, you’ll be tapping on virtual buttons on the keyboard. But down at the bottom of the Galaxy S4, there are three keys, one fat, black physical one and two virtual ones that light up only when you touch them. From left to right, here’s what they do.

Repeat after me, Dorothy: There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.…Wherever you are on the Galaxy S4, press the Home key and you’ll come back to the familiar Home screen. You won’t even need to tap your ruby slippers together.

Now, take a look back to the screen you get to when you hold down the Home key. Tap the Google icon at center bottom and you enter the world of Google Cards—a series of compact panels that give you any information important to you. Google Cards can keep you apprised of the weather, any trips you have coming up, what the traffic is like on the way to work, and more. See Using Cards in Google Now for details.

FOR TRANSFERRING FILES AND syncing music and movies between your computer and the Galaxy S4, there’s a micro USB port at the bottom of the phone. A micro USB port is much smaller than the normal one on devices like printers. To connect the S4 to your computer, you’ll need a micro USB cable, one of which comes in the Galaxy S4 box. The S4 can connect to both Macs and PCs. When you connect your S4 to a computer by USB cable, your phone gets power and charge from the computer. But it charges at a much slower rate than when you use the normal charger.

The Micro USB port is also a charger port. Connect the charger attachment to one end of the USB cable and the other end to your phone to start the charging process. If you use power-hungry features like video and GPS, you may have to charge the S4 every night. If you stick to mostly phone calls and text messages, you may be able to get by with charging only two or three times a week.

You can use the Galaxy S4 while it’s charging, unless the battery has run down completely. In that case, it’ll need to build up a charge before you can turn it on.

This port does one more thing as well. The S4 may be small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, but it’s still a big-time entertainment machine. That’s because it’s HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) capable. With it, you can view videos and photos taken on your Galaxy S4 right on your computer or TV screen—as long as they also have HDMI ports. Plug one end of the cable into your Galaxy S4, the other into your PC or TV, and you’re ready to go. What does that have to do with the USB port? Plenty: You can buy a special attachment to connect your phone to an HDMI device. See Connecting to the TV by Cable for details.

When you connect your Galaxy S4 to a PC for the first time, your PC may not recognize it. That’s because your PC may need special drivers (small pieces of software) to communicate with the Galaxy S4. Windows will try its mightiest to find the drivers, but there’s a chance it won’t be able to locate them. If it doesn’t, you can go over to the Samsung help website (www.samsung.com/us/support/) and search for Samsung Galaxy S4 drivers. Then download the drivers and follow the instructions for installing them.

IS YOUR RINGER TOO loud? Too soft? Get it just right by using this long silver key on the S4’s upper left. Press the top part to make the volume louder, and the bottom one to make it softer. When you press, a ringer volume app pops up on your screen, showing you how much louder or softer you’re making the ring.

THE GALAXY S4 HAS a battery cover. Yes, that’s right, an actual battery cover—you can remove the battery and replace it with a new one, unlike some other cellphones. To remove the battery, flip the S4 over, put your finger underneath the small plastic slot on the upper left and pull off the battery cover. You’ll see the battery, which you can easily remove by putting your finger into the slot at the bottom and gently pulling up. Don’t pull it hard or yank it.

The Galaxy S4, despite its large screen and considerable capabilities, can go a reasonably long time on one battery charge. But if you use a lot of power-sucking features, you may not even be able to get through one whole day without having to recharge. In addition to turning off the screen or putting it into Standby mode when you’re not using it, there’s a lot you can do to make your battery last:

Be smart about email fetching. The more often the Galaxy S4 checks email, the faster the battery runs down. Either check email manually only when you need to, or increase the interval at which the phone checks. Launch the Email app, press the Menu key, and then select Settings and tap the name of your email account. Tap “Sync schedule”→“Set sync schedule.” You can choose from intervals between 15 minutes and 12 hours, or manually.

Use “Power saving mode.” Power saving mode turns your Galaxy S4 into a power-sipper. To do it, from the Home screen, tap the Settings button, select Settings→“My device” and then turn on “Power saving mode.”

Turn off antennas you’re not using. If you’re not using a Bluetooth headset, and don’t need WiFi or GPS services at the moment, by all means turn them off. They use up tons of power. Pull down the Notification panel, and you’ll find widgets for turning off (and back on) WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth. Putting the Galaxy S4 into Airplane mode turns off all these settings at once, as well as turning off the radio that connects you to the cellular network. Find the Airplane mode widget by sliding the widgets to the left.

JUST ABOVE THE BATTERY, you’ll also find a small slot for the MicroSD card, which is about the size of a fingernail—and much smaller than the normal SD memory cards used in cameras. Your Galaxy S4 may not have come with an SD card, so you may have to buy one. The S4 can use one that stores up to 64 GB of data. Place the card in the slot with the arrow facing in. You’ll hear a click when it’s in place. After that, replace the battery cover.

After you install the card, and you turn on the phone, you’ll see a notification that the S4 is preparing the microSD card for your use. Then, go to the Home screen and press the Menu key. Select Settings→Storage. Scroll down, and you’ll find a new group of settings under “SD card,” listing information like how much total space is on the SD card and how much space remains. (If that information doesn’t appear, it means that your SD card hasn’t been formatted properly. There’s a simple solution: tap, “Mount SD card.” If your phone doesn’t recognize it after that, tap “Format SD card.” That should do the trick.)

When you’ve done that, turn off the phone’s power and remove the battery cover. You can then slide out the MicroSD card. Then insert a new MicroSD card and follow the instructions in this section for telling your Galaxy S4 to recognize it.

YOUR SAMSUNG GALAXY S4 includes not one, but two cameras, both capable of taking videos as well as photos. The camera on the back, which is the one you’ll normally use for taking photos and videos, has a whopping 13-megapixel resolution. The camera that faces you is primarily designed for video calling and video chat, although you can also take photos with it (self-portraits mostly). It’s got a 2-megapixel resolution. Don’t look for a physical camera button for taking photos; instead, you tap an onscreen button (Taking Still Photos).

TO ENJOY ALL THE services your Galaxy S4 is capable of delivering, you need to have a Google account, and possibly a Samsung account as well. On your smartphone, an account is a central location for managing all the services you can get. The Google one is absolutely necessary, but you may want to set up a Samsung one as well. This section tells you what you need to know about each.

In order to use your S4, you need a Google account. That’s because the S4’s underlying software is made by Google, and uses many Google services, such as Maps, Gmail, and more. If you already have a Google account—if you’ve ever used Gmail, for example—great! You can use that account and all the information and settings you’ve stored in it. Or, you can create a new Google account when you sign in to your S4 for the first time and start fresh.

Dock. Just below the app icons is a row of five icons. They sit in an area called the Dock, and they’re different from the app icons. Unlike the app icons, you can’t delete them. As you’ll see in a little bit, there are other screens you can move to, called panes or panels, but the icons in the Dock stay in place no matter which pane you visit. (The app icons change according to what pane you’re on.) The Phone icon launches the Phone app; the Contacts icon shows you your contacts; the Messaging icon lets you send and receive text messages (it shows how many messages you’ve got waiting); the Internet icon launches your web browser; and the Apps icon reveals a whole new screen called the App Drawer, filled with apps, apps, and more apps.

Press the Launcher icon, and up pops the App Drawer, which includes all the Galaxy S4’s preinstalled applications, plus any apps that you’ve downloaded and installed. There’s more than can fit on one screen, so swipe your finger to the right to get to another screen filled with them. Tap any icon to run the app.

Look up at the top of the App Drawer. There are three tabs: Apps, Widgets, and Downloads (represented by a down-arrow icon). The Apps tab, naturally, shows all your apps. Tap Widgets, and you’ll see all the widgets on your S4—these are handy little gadgets that accomplish tasks for you, like displaying weather or traffic information.

Tap the Download icon, and you’ll see just the apps that you’ve downloaded to your S4. Those apps also show up in the Apps tab, which lists every app on your S4, whether built in or downloaded.

The Galaxy S4 is powered by an operating system from Google called Android, as are many other phones, such as the HTC EVO 4G and HTC One. The Android operating system is constantly getting updated, and those updates are automatically sent to your phone when they’re available. So what you see on your S4 may vary slightly from what you see onscreen here, depending on the version of Android you have on your phone. At this writing, the Galaxy S4 comes with Android version 4.3, nicknamed Jelly Bean.

Also, it’s common for the manufacturer to tweak the phone’s interface, sometimes in significant ways. Samsung adds its own TouchWiz interface, which makes many changes to Android. So when you compare the Galaxy S4 to other Android phones, you’ll notice differences.

There’s still another reason why your Galaxy S4 may differ slightly from what you see in this book. This book happens to be written based on the Samsung Galaxy S4 sold for T-Mobile phones, so it may slightly differ from what you see on phones from other carriers.

HERE’S ONE OF THE many nice things about the Galaxy S4—it’s easy to put your personal mark on it. Wish there were different apps on the Home screen? No problem; you can easily add them. Want to change the location of apps, or move around widgets and add new ones to each of your panes and the Home screen? It’s a breeze. The rest of this section shows you how.

The Home screen and panes have limited real estate—there’s only so much you can put on them. In fact, when the phone is factory fresh, the Home screen and panes may already be full. If you try to put something new on them, like an app or a widget, the S4 won’t let you do it. Nothing happens when you hold your finger on the screen or pane. In that case, you have two options: delete apps or widgets (Folders) or create a new pane (Deleting and Adding Panes).

If you select a picture from the Gallery, you can crop the photo to fit the screen. The S4 suggests a crop for you. You can change it by moving any of the squares that define the crop. Make your selection, tap Done, and you’ll see only the cropped area fill your screen.

This option lets you add apps or widgets to your Home screen or any pane. A widget is an applet that performs a small, specific task, often grabbing and displaying information from the Galaxy S4 or the Internet. When you select this option, you get sent to the App Drawer, with the Home screen or a pane in the background. You’ll see the familiar tabs along the top—Apps, Widgets, and the download icon. Tap either Apps or Widgets, depending on which you want to add. Swipe to see more apps or widgets if there are more than can fit on one screen. If you want to add an app, hold your finger on it. Then drag it up into the brighter portion of the screen above it and let it go.

When you add an app to your Home screen or a pane, you’re not actually moving that app to the screen or pane. Instead, you’re adding a shortcut to the app, and that’s a good thing. When you tap the shortcut, you run the app, just as if you had tapped it in the App Drawer. But there’s a difference: If you delete the shortcuts on the Home screen or pane, you don’t delete the app itself. It still lives on. But, if you delete the app from the App Drawer, it disappears from your S4.

Folders hold information and files, the same way they do on computers. You’ve already got lots of folders on your Galaxy S4, like your folder full of contacts, and bookmarks from your browsers. When you install apps, they may create their own folders as well—the Pandora Internet radio app, for example, creates a folder of your radio stations. You type in a name before placing the folder.

WITH THE GALAXY S4, your fingers do the walking. They do all the work that you do on a computer with a mouse or keyboard. Here are the eight finger strokes you can use on the phone’s screen.

Tapping is as basic to the S4 as clicking is to a mouse. This simple gesture is how you press onscreen buttons, place the cursor for text entry, and choose from menus. Note that’s a finger tap; the screen is designed to detect a fleshy fingertip, not a stylus.

LOOK MOM, NO HANDS! No longer is that only the cry of a child showing off riding a bicycle without touching the handlebars. You can do the same thing with your S4. Amazingly enough, you can control it by just moving your hands without touching the screen, or more remarkably, simply moving your eyes.

These are probably the most mind-boggling new features added to the S4. All you need to do is move your eyes to control the screen. And it’s so easy, that you don’t really need to do anything except what comes naturally, because they follow the way you normally move your eyes when you read.

Smart Scroll. When this is turned on, the S4 uses its camera and software magic to let you scroll through screens and web pages by merely tilting your head. Tilt your head down to scroll down, and up to scroll up. You’ll know Smart Scroll is turned on when you see an eye icon in the status bar. If you prefer, you can instead tilt the S4 forward or back to scroll. But what fun is that?

Smart Stay. This fixes one of the most common annoyances with a smartphone. You’re doing something on the phone, but you haven’t touched the screen for a while, so the screen turns off. Smart Stay fixes that. As long as you’re looking at the phone, it stays on. (Smart Stay is the only feature that’s not brand-new with the S4. It’s been around since the S3, but it works better now.)

Smart Pause. Here’s another very cool feature. While you’re watching a video, if you look away from the screen, the S4 pauses the video. Look back and the video starts playing again.

Here’s another way to control the S4 without touching the screen. You just make gestures above it, like a magician on stage. Air gestures don’t work everywhere on the S4, since apps have to be built to recognize them. So you may need to do some experimentation before you find the ones that do. At this writing, that includes email and the browser.

Quick glance. If your S4 is on a flat surface, facing up, with its screen turned off move your hand to above the sensor and you’ll be able to see various pieces of status information, like missed calls, unread messages, your battery power, and others.

This feature, which originated on the Samsung Galaxy Note II, lets you hover your finger over the S4 to get information from it. For example, hovering over a web page magnifies it, hovering over a picture in the Gallery opens it, hovering over a Calendar event reveals more details about it, hovering over a truncated text message reveals the full message, and so on.

Multi Window is an S4 feature you could easily miss—but don’t. It lets you do more than one thing on the phone at the same time. For example, watch a video while your also checking your email. What could be handier?

Samsung pulled out all the stops for its flagship Galaxy S4, and now the company’s Galaxy S4 Mini aims to do the same for slightly smaller pockets. With the Galaxy S4’s 5in screen shrunk down to a more pocketable 4.3in, the Galaxy S4 Mini is set to go toe to toe with HTC’s own pocket-sized flagship, the HTC One mini.

First round, looks, goes to HTC. The One mini may not be quite such a thing of beauty as the full-sized One, thanks to its plastic chassis edges, but it still trumps the S4 Mini. Samsung’s phone looks like a smaller Galaxy S4, and is just as underwhelming visually. It is hewn from good-quality, silky-smooth plastics, at least, and it feels like it could survive everyday abuse – it just isn’t anything special.

The S4 Mini has an AMOLED screen, rather than the One mini’s LCD. This offers some power-saving benefits: when playing back a video on loop the S4 Mini lasted more than 13 hours, compared to the 8hrs 30mins from the One mini. However, in our 24-hour mixed-use test, we saw similar results; after the 24 hours was up, both phones had 60% charge remaining.

The S4 Mini’s screen quality isn’t quite up there with the One mini’s, though. For a start, it only has 540 x 960 pixels, compared to the 720 x 1,280 of HTC’s handset. While on the One mini you can easily read web pages in desktop mode when fully zoomed out, it’s much more of a struggle on the S4 Mini.

We also weren’t quite as impressed with the S4 Mini screen’s image quality. It has wide viewing angles and punchy colours, but brightness reaches a middling 250cd/m2. When compared side by side with the HTC’s screen – with its snowy, pure whites – the S4 Mini’s whites had a blue tinge. There was also a slightly grainy texture to the image, and the screen coating wasn’t quite as smooth to the touch as the One mini’s.

Fire up the S4 Mini, and Samsung’s usual tweaks to the Android operating system are evident. This divides opinion as to its attractiveness; we find it prettier than the rather dour stock Android 4.2, but you may find the eye-poppingly colourful icons off-putting. It isn’t as classy as Sony’s Android skin, for example, but you may find it preferable to HTC’s extensive OS modifications, where the home page is taken over by a giant newsfeed.

The S4 Mini has a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, which outshines the One mini’s 1.4GHz. It’s faster in our benchmarks, too, completing the Sunspider JavaScript benchmark in a quick 1,008ms, compared to 1,306ms for the One mini. However, subjectively we felt the One mini had the advantage. When using the default browser, the S4 Mini would occasionally show jerkiness when scrolling through complicated web pages. Things improved when we installed Chrome, but the One mini still had a slight smoothness advantage. The S4 Mini still copes well with web browsing, though, and we only really noticed the slight difference when we compared the phones side by side.Details

The Mini is offered by all the networks and is expected to be a smash hit like its predecessor, the Galaxy S3 Mini. You can get the phone free on contract, with the odd fancy deal thrown in for good measure: order your S4 Mini Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7-inch tablet to boot.

Are you planning to slip an S4 Mini into your pocket, or is it a pale shadow of the S4? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page?