Why "mini" isn't necessarily a bad thing anymore

As an interest in a phablet market has continued to surge, and ordinary smartphone screen sizes are progressively stretching more and more - a trend that's starting to take off, at least amongst OEMs, is manufacturing a smaller companion handset to be available alongside a larger brother.

With Motorola's current Droid Mini, and the purported Sony Xperia Z1f - we're starting to see handsets pack more and more into less. It's astonishing to think only two years ago, Samsung's Galaxy SII flagship had a 4.3 inch display, and that nowadays its considered "mini". Also that the mere sight of an iPhone 4S, and even iPhone 5 user's screen inspires cute sentiments when matched up against Galaxy SIIs, SIIIs, S4s and HTC Ones that many more users are toting nowadays. But what's more is phones such as the Droid Mini and Z1f (provided it will release) are reminding us why bigger doesn't necessarily have to mean better.



The choice in branding a product "mini" has seen its application to an array of devices in the past, but recently Samsung brought back the name, only adding it to its then flagship Galaxy SIII. The SIII Mini's name was likely spurred by the iPhone 5's 4 inch display - and while the two featured quite different display resolutions and specs, the Mini's objective was supposed to be a less than subtle poke at Apple and their fans.

I didn't appreciate this. Sure, at the time Samsung proposed a new handset dubbed "mini", and that it would feature a 4" screen like an iPhone 5, I chuckled (a lot) - but attaching an SIII badge to it somehow ruined the Galaxy S series in the process. The S series, along with the Note series, are supposed to showcase the best Samsung has to offer, and if they want to make room for a mini variant, it should be with little compromise.

That's not to say a mini which accompanies a flagship model should be near identical to its bigger brother, but it certainly shouldn't suffer some of the same flaws other mid-range phones possess in comparison to high-end devices. They should have an edge to place them between the mid and premium.

It's no wonder then that when the S4 Mini was introduced, with a 4.3" qHD display, immediately I was disappointed once again. In an age of 1080p panels in Android flagships, 720p should theoretically become the new standard for handsets with displays ranging from 4-4.7 inches. HTC's 4.3" One Mini, released some months later didn't disappoint on this front, and it slammed a crisp 720p display into its mostly aluminium gorgeous body. It also has some of that wonderful BoomSound goodness, and that "Ultrapixel" shooter - albeit without OIS - to give consumers enough reason to still choose the One if they wanted the better camera. It's a shame however that it relies on an 1,800mAh non-removable battery to sustain that richer display, and while the S4 Mini's Snapdragon 400 chip is clocked higher than the One Mini - a 1,900mAh removable battery and weaker display (resolution wise) means it survives longer.

Then before the hotly anticipated Motorola Moto X was launched, Motorola and Verizon, (though the latter's enthusiasm was expressed much clearer than the former's) unveiled the Droid Mini, along with the Droid Ultra and Maxx. Unlike other minis on the market, the Droid Mini is really the only mini currently available with absolutely no compromise, when compared with its bigger siblings. That's of course helped by the fact the Ultra and Maxx both feature 720p panels themselves, and apart from the shaved battery (2,000mAh) and an LCD panel (instead of AMOLED) - the Droid Mini is in every sense of the word identical underneath all its horrendous plastic. That's a real feat, and while the new Droid line aren't particularly desirable against the likes of the Moto X, the Droid Mini is cheaper and more pocketable than the Ultra and Maxx, and provided one can live without the extra juice from the Maxx, it undoes the point of having the Ultra in the middle, aside from having something thin to hold on to.

But if ever there were a mini that doesn't skimp out on all that makes its larger sibling a fantastic device, the Sony Xperia Z1f would be the mini that leaves the others choking on a trail of dust. A couple of days ago, a rumoured specs sheet from Japanese carrier, NTT DoCoMo detailed measurements and specs of this smaller variant to Sony's next flagship in their Z line. Following the trend of other minis of late, you can hazard a guess at what size display could very well feature on this phone - and of a 720p resolution. Unlike however the S4 Mini and One Mini, the buck pretty much stops there, and while this mini does look set to have a smaller 2,300mAh slugger in comparo to the Z1's 3,000, - everything else, including that heavy-hitting Snapdragon 800 chip, and enhanced 20.7 Exmor RS rear camera sensor will feature in this variant.

On the page then, and if this were to be released - it does beg the question: "why?" I'm personally not against the idea of releasing a smaller variant of a flagship, particularly when the specs its packing are just as good as the "better" version - but when a decrease in display resolution to better suit a smaller panel, and a smaller battery are the only cuts that are made to a phone, it makes you wonder why you'd want something bigger if it's only going to perform on par with something that'll be far more portable and manageable.

We mightn't think nowadays that a phone with a display size this "mini" wouldn't be all that easy to use, particularly if coming from say, a 4.7-5+" handset, and it's partly true - but that's only because we've allowed ourselves to become used to these larger handsets. I recall some months ago, looking at my Galaxy Nexus and thinking it was "too small". Heck, moving from an HTC One's 4.7" display down to a Motorola Defy's 3.7" does pose challenges while typing, but those challenges never existed before I had the freedom of a more generous display.

Remember once upon a time, Motorola's Droid X was regarded as gargantuan? It was perceived as something other worldly and on occasion, unwieldy, because we weren't familiar with something so large. It had a 4.3 inch display, and when stacked up against the rumoured measurements of the Z1f - it matches almost exactly. Once users came to accept that a "big" 4.3" phone was manageable, the sizes grew more adventurous and we've now relegated a size once associated with being monstrous and eye-catching, to something that's almost an embarrassment to behold.

It shouldn't be like this though, because these minis have an awful lot to offer, and provided you're not crazy obsessed with full HD (something I could easily do without on the One), and you're responsible with your battery usage - there's a real gain to be had in some of these smaller handsets.