Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini Launches With Android 4.1.2, JellyBean

By Vincent Funaro, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, January 01, 2013

Samsung has just begun shipping the Galaxy S3 Mini with Android 4.1.2, JellyBean.

The company began offering the device with the new software pre-installed in Asia, Indonesia, Vietnam, with more regions coming soon.

This version will have all Premium Suite options of the regular Galaxy S3. Current owners of the Galaxy S3 Mini will also receive a notification to receive the update for Premium Suite which brings new features to the device such as Page Buddy, Multi Window, Paper Artist, Group Cast, Smart Rotation, and a new customizable notification panel.

Samsung released the Galaxy S3 Mini at a media event in Germany earlier this year.

"The Galaxy S3 introduced a new concept of smartphone that has proven hugely popular around the world. We're now delighted to bring its revolutionary design, intuitive usability and intelligence to the Galaxy S3 mini in a more compact form," said JK Shin, Samsung's President and Head of IT and Mobile Communications.

"We continue to make every effort to provide extraordinary mobile experiences to meet a wide variety of user needs," he added.

The smaller version of the hit smartphone features many of the same specs found on the original S3.

The device comes with a 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, dual core 1GHz chipset, support for Wi-Fi, NFC (near-field-communications), Bluetooth 4.0, and 1,500mAh battery. It is also equipped with a 5-megapixel VGA front-facing camera with LED flash, 720p video recording and playback, 8GB RAM, and MicroSD up to 32GB.

The Galaxy S3 Mini with JellyBean packs some of the same features as the original, including the Siri-like S Voice feature that allows users to perform tasks by speaking commands to the device.

It also features Smart Stay, which uses the handset's cameras to track the eyes of the user and keeps the screen lit as long as they are looking at it.