Early view: Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini vs Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini: what's new?

Samsung's Galaxy S4 Mini was a popular little smartphone and one we were rather fond of too, but it's had its time to shine and soon it will be taking a back seat to the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini (although we all know it'll be on the shop shelves for the next 7,000 years still).The question is, just what has changed in the new handset? And is it really much better than its predecessor? Well strap in, and prepare your brain for answers to both of those questions... plus, there will also be some pictures too. Keep your hands and arms inside the carriage.DesignThe Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini is basically just a shrunken-down Samsung Galaxy S5, so the name is rather fitting. It has a perforated plastic back cover and a shiny metallic edge, but don't be fooled, it's plastic through and through. At 131.1 x 64.8 x 9.1mm and 120g it's obviously smaller and lighter than the Galaxy S5, but it's not exactly tiny.The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini takes the same approach (funnily enough), being as it is a smaller version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, at least on the surface, with a plastic back and faux-metallic edge. In fact it looks a lot like the Galaxy S5 Mini too, except slightly more rounded and less industrial looking. At 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.9mm and 107g it's also smaller, lighter and ever so slightly slimmer than its successor.However the Galaxy S5 Mini is definitely the more durable of the two, as it's IP67 certified dust and water resistant, which the Galaxy S4 Mini isn't.ScreenThe Galaxy S4 Mini has a 4.3 inch 540 x 960 Super AMOLED display with a pixel density of 256 pixels per inch. It's a decent, bright screen but the resolution is a little on the low end.Not so in the Galaxy S5 Mini with its 4.5 inch 720 x 1280 Super AMOLED display. OK, so that's still not Full HD, but it's a substantial improvement over the S4 Mini, and gives it a much sharper 326 pixels per inch, despite the increased size.PowerSamsung's tucked a fair bit of power away behind the Galaxy S5 Mini's diminutive shell. It has an own-brand 1.4GHz quad-core processor and 1.5GB of RAM, which puts it close to high-end, although without all the power and efficiency of the Snapdragon 801 that resides in the full-fat Galaxy S5.Assuming Samsung's in-house processor is any good that's quite an upgrade over the Galaxy S4 Mini which is lumbered with a 1.7GHz dual-core Snapdragon 400 processor, though it manages the same amount of RAM at 1.5GB.Operating systemThese are both Android handsets and both use Samsung's TouchWiz interface. However while the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini is launching with Android 4.4, the Galaxy S4 Mini is currently still on Android 4.3.We wouldn't be surprised if the S4 Mini gets an upgrade, but the S5 Mini is likely to be supported with software updates for longer, and will be earlier to get a taste of Android L when it launches later in the year.CameraThere's very little different on the camera front. Both phones have an 8 megapixel rear snapper complete with an LED flash, but selfie fans can rejoice as the Galaxy S5 Mini fares slightly better with a 2.1 megapixel front-facing camera, compared to the Galaxy S4 Mini's 1.9 megapixel offering.We were quite impressed by the Galaxy S4 Mini's camera both for its photo quality and variety of modes and options and we expect the same will be true of the Galaxy S5 Mini. It's a shame that the megapixel count hasn't been upped, but if Samsung has improved the sensor and software then the amount of pixels is irrelevant, as 8MP is more than enough to get a good picture.BatteryThe Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini has a 2100mAh battery, which is a reasonable size for a mid-range phone. We haven't had a chance to put it through its paces yet but we're cautiously optimistic that it will fare well, particularly with the help of Samsung's Ultra Power Saving mode.The Galaxy S4 Mini has a smaller 1900 mAh power pack, but then it has a smaller screen to power, fewer pixels and just a dual-core processor. In practice we found that it easily lasted a day or more, so it's got a decent amount of life, but for the time being it's hard to say just how well the Galaxy S5 Mini will compare.ConnectivityBoth the Galaxy S5 Mini and the Galaxy S4 Mini support Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC and they're even both equipped with IR blasters so it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they're fully loaded with connectivity options.On the storage front the Galaxy S5 Mini has 16GB built in, while the Galaxy S4 Mini has just 8GB. However both phones also have a microSD card slot with support for cards of up to 64GB.Extra featuresThis section is necessary purely for the Galaxy S5 Mini's sake, as we could hardly fail to mention its fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor. These are exactly what they sound like, and will presumably be every bit as useful/gimmicky as they were on the Galaxy S5. Whether they're a significant selling point is debatable, but the S5 Mini has them, while the S4 Mini doesn't, and it shows that Samsung sees the S5 Mini as a real brother to the S5, where the Galaxy S3 Mini from a couple of years ago was just a re-badged budget phone - hats off, Samsung.PriceSamsung hasn't yet confirmed how much the Galaxy S5 Mini will sell for but we're wagering that it will be around £350-£400 SIM free.That's a whole lot more than the Galaxy S4 Mini which can currently be picked up for around £250 without a contract. But then the Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini is a newer, and almost certainly better, phone, so it might just be worth the extra outlay.Early verdictThe Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini looks to be a marked improvement on the Galaxy S4 Mini in a number of ways, from its larger, higher resolution screen, to its dust and water resistant build, its quad-core processor, its extra storage and its fingerprint scanner and heart rate monitor.Of course it's also likely to be a lot more expensive and not everything's been upgraded compared to the S4 Mini. Both phones are plastic, they both have similar cameras and the same selection of connectivity options.The Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini is certainly the better phone but whether it's £100-£150 better could be debatable - but you know what we're all about here, so the best review and versus verdicts will be appearing here on TechRadar in the next month or so - stay tuned!Samsung's been making mini's since the Galaxy S3 Mini.

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