Samsung I8190 Galaxy S III Mini Unlocked Android Smartphone – White

3 thoughts on “Samsung I8190 Galaxy S III Mini Unlocked Android Smartphone – White”

1. Encrypted11 says:

   October 25, 2013 at 11:35 am

   Affordable GS3 in a smaller form factor! UPDATE 22 June ’13¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯If your screen/digitizer is slightly unresponsive in registering your finger movements or that it gets stuck i.e. with the lock screen at times, update to the latest firmware via (Settings->About Device-> Software Update). The latest firmware is “I8190XXAMG1” in Europe or “I8190XXAMB1” outside of Europe and it fixes the issue with the out-of-the-box firmware. Both are based on Android 4.1.2.UPDATE 3 Mar ’13¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯A Titan Grey, red and black version of the Galaxy S III Mini i8190 is also available with some of the very same Amazon sellers now!So I bought this phone to replace an iPhone 4. Been having it for 2 years and the antennagate issue’s been getting worse especially this year… So I thought I’d make a small phone upgrade and I got the S3 Mini.My thoughts on this phone after using it for 3 months.BEWARE: Before buying this phone, CHECK YOUR MOBILE CARRIER’S NETWORK BROADCASTING FREQUENCY BEFORE BUYING THIS PHONE, THIS IS A POTENTIAL INCOMPATIBILITY IF YOU HAVEN’T CHECKED. THIS IS A GSM PHONE. GSM GSM GSM!¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯==========Main Review==========Pros¯¯¯-Very light for its size, isn’t too big-3.5G is pretty fast (Btw the power saver feature can throttle your bandwidth aka internet “speed” apart from the processor)-Android 4.1 preloaded-Very smooth UI-Still has the good multitasking feature on GS3-(Call Quality) So I tested its battery life with voice calls. On one occasion, I had a 1 hour long call and it battery was down from 100% to 90%. So that equates to probably a 10 hr continuous talktime with a full charge. Very clear speaker-Touching/Pointing is accurate-Sensitive screenNeutral¯¯¯¯¯¯-Battery Life (expected it to be better, still pretty decent though)-Rendering lag on certain websites that contain a lot of images-Screen resolution (Though the resolution isn’t high, pixelation isn’t obvious from viewing distance. Its not grainy and still very clear-Direct Call isn’t always responsive. I think the camera doesn’t see your ear always while you’re messaging or in the contact list. It might take 1-2 more tries.-Screen contrast & brightness – Excellent indoors, good outdoors (without direct sun). Could have done better under direct sunlight (“By design” of AMOLED).Cons¯¯¯¯-“Actual” Free internal memory is about 4.5GB/8GB-Contains some bloatware that autostarts and clogs the system by Samsung & Other parties I’ll list them below.-Minijack is a little soft with the volume.-MAJOR CONS: You can’t put your apps on the SD card without rooting it.. Firmware limitation on Samsung’s side most probably :(-There is no LED notification blinker light like on the big brother Galaxy S3 (on the left of the front speaker). You have to wake up the screen to check if you’ve received messages (Pointed out by Nelson Wong).Bloatware in my opinion (These apps can autostart and they “revive” when you attempt to kill them) They clog RAM, have a toll on the battery life as they attempt to communicate with the internet or use the processor mainly.To disable these services/apps -> Application Manager -> All -> Locate them -> Uninstall updates/Disable -> Disable -> Restart your phone1.SNS (Facebook integration stuff)2.Samsung Kies3.Samsung Account4.Samsung Chat On5.S Voice (If you don’t need a voice assistant)6.Help7.GTalk (You gotta be in the right context menu to sign out of GTalk/Gmail Chat)8.Google Search app (there’s already a Chrome)9.Google Plus10.Flip Board11. All Share12.Polaris viewer 4.1 (It keeps popping up the dialogue asking you to purchase the pro version.. I disabled it and got adobe reader and a free office app)13. Samsung’s “Music Player” (Not a bloatware but its quite clunky). “VLC for Android Beta”, Videolan’s Opensourced media player from the play store’s a lot more easier to use and integrates better to the notification screen. Like the PC version, it plays lots of media/compression formats. It is the swiss knife of video players.Conclusion:This phone’s great for my use. As an ex-iOS user, I found the Android OS to be a lot less restrictive and apps were better integrated. Good call quality, good reception.Out-of-the-box experience was 3/5 imo largely due to high amounts of bloatware that are turned on by default, if you tweaked these stuff by disabling them you should be able to optimise RAM usage and increase your battery life by a noticeable margin.I bought a 16GB Micro SD for this phone because I thought apps would run on it but unfortunately, no. I do hope this feature…

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2. Daisy S "Daisy S" says:

   October 25, 2013 at 12:00 pm

   Samsung I8190 S3 Mini Unlocked White Android – A Detailed Review This superb phone with many features is just right to fit into my jean pocket or in a small purse with ease. Since this phone has EXCEEDED all of my expectations, here is my very detailed review of this very special and fun to use Mini S3 phone. My goal in this review is to help in your buying decision one way or the other regarding this phone.Update 8/24/13 – Just received today, the newest firmware/OS for the 4.1.2 OTA (on my phone directly) as it was updated from Samsung and this is very new at this date of Monday, August 5, 2013 and arrived in my phone’s Notification area today. After the upgrade completed, I noticed at once that this phone is lightning fast and the touchscreen is very, very fast and responsive! This is the THIRD update that I received since I purchased this phone in April 2013. Each update is not that large, however, it enhances the performance of this phone. Very encouraged as if the updates keep coming regularly, perhaps4.2.2 will be coming to the S3 Mini. And from my research, it is possible that the S3 Mini may receive the 4.2 OS but it will be a while longer…Till then, I shall keep on trying to update and keep you informed…PROS:- SIZE AND WEIGHT: Perfect size for me as it fits easily into my jeans pocket or smallest purse. And I purchased a leather vertical case that clips to my waistband so I take it with me to the gym to listen to my music or radio when I work out.- STANDARD REGULAR SIZE SIM CARD: The S3 Mini has a regular/standard Sim card slot. (Note the S3 regular phone and S4 phones accept a micro Sim. Good to know as I did not have to cut my Sim card, I just placed it into the S3 Mini and I was good to go, and I did not have to set up the APN settings for Internet and MMS as the setup did this for me automatically). This is good to know if you want to use your regular Sim card and not have to deal with settings yourself. What a great feature.- Phone call clarity etc. – No matter what my location using this phone for phone calls the clarity of calls is loud and clear whether on the phone’s speaker, headset etc. I even had to turn down the volume quite a lot as the calls come in so well.- WiFi/3G (Internet): Connects to any WiFi I have tried very quickly and easily. And when not near a WiFi, I use AT&T for data and easily get 3G and found the data to be very fast, almost as fast as my home WiFi is. (For browser, I installed Opera Mini free from Playstore and found it to be a very easy to use and fast browser).- Overall speed, performance, smoothness, picture quality of the screen–very fast and peppy. And I found a way to SAVE on both memory and on battery. What I did was to go into Apps/ Manage Apps and DISABLED the apps I don’t use. Without rooting the phone, you cannot uninstall pre-installed factory apps, but you can disable them. Disabling the ones you don’t use makes the phone run faster and frees more memory! Since I am a techie, I know which ones to disable and which ones not to disable, so if in doubt, please ask me in the comments and I will be glad to assist you in this.- BATTERY LIFE: This phone has given me the BEST battery life of ANY smartphone or that I ever owned. And I use 100% brightness. For me, even at 100 brightness, if I use WiFi or Data just when I need it and then turn it off, I get all day into the night on one single charge! (I charge nightly and the phone is at 100% ready to go the next morning).- EXTERNAL SLOT FOR MICRO SD CARD – This helped to sell me on this phone as I can add my personal music, photos, videos and more to this phone!And I placed a 32g in mine for music, files etc. *Keep in mind where External SD cards are concerned: They are JUST for your personal files: music, videos, photos, and other files. When you install apps from Playstore or other sources, they store either in INTERNAL Memory Card or sometimes in the phone area (most store in the INTERNAL SD AREA). This is the law of the land where Android is concerned and ALL newer Android devices (including Samsung) work this way when storing your downloaded apps are concerned.- INTERNAL STORAGE SPACE:This phone is advertised at 8GB of Internal space. The 8GB is the space BEFORE the drive was formatted, OS installed and then factory apps installed. So what I had on the phone BEFORE I installed any apps it had 4.75GB left. This is how it is on any flash drive, SD card, Hard Drive as formatting alone takes up space.Also, since 3.0 Android and above, you cannot save any apps to your personal SD card. Instead the apps are installed one way or the other to the INTERNAL SPACE. However, the good thing is that your personal files as photos, music, videos, and more can be installed to your EXTERNAL SD Card so you do have that space for yourself.**I have a few apps I downloaded from the Playstore, but no games so I still have about 4.08 GB…

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3. Tabin says:

   October 25, 2013 at 12:19 pm

   REVIEW Return Policy – BUYER BEWARE (for ShopEBest) I felt that my Samsung phone was a defective one. I have three phones in the family and mine gets dropped calls/inability to text/missed texts etc. I attempted to return this defective phone only to receive an email saying I can’t because it’s pass the 14 day period. If you review the return policy, you will see it’s EXTREMELY difficult (if not impossible) to make any kind of return even for a defective product. If you used the phone for more than 30min, you can’t return it without a 50% restocking fee. Wow. Chances are, you will use it for more than 30min. Honestly, I wouldn’t buy a phone after reviewing the policy. It is my fault for assuming amazon has a standard 30day return policy and for assuming amazon takes care of their customers. I would rather pay full price at a legitimate store for the warranty alone. Cell phones are never guaranteed to function properly. Do you want to take that $300 risk?Here’s the important stuff that I quote from the return policy:”All International phones are not USA manufacture warranty, and no our store warranty neither, including the accessoriesIf there is returned and refund needed, has to be return item within 14 business days from the delivery, and with buyer own expense. After 14 days there is no returned and refund acceptable no matter what problem on the phone.Our 14 days return period only effect for defective phone, or ShopEbest sends out wrong order. Any other reasons would cost buyer 20% to 25% of restocking fee.50% restocking fee will be charger, if buyer returning phone not as brand new condition and not in resell able condition , such as missing plastic bag, phone’s life time minute has been used more than 30 minutes, writing on the box, screen protector is missing on the screen, missing accessories, etc.All unlocked phone’s feature is not 100% guarantee suitable to all locked same network frequency carrier. Due to every carrier has their own network frequency and setting on their features. Please kindly check out if the phone’s 2G, 3G or 4G suitable for your phone carrier, before place the order.”UPDATE: Don’t get this if you plan to use T-mobile. T-mobile runs on a different frequency band that this phone doesn’t support. Your phone will WORK but it won’t be as good as a phone that also works with ALL of T-mobile’s frequency bands.

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