Both the S4 Mini and the Core Advance are Samsung devices that were released in 2013, with the Core Advance coming a few months later in December and the Mini being released some time in July, with both the phones being priced at under $400.
The S4 Mini is mainly aimed at the affordable segment, being an affordable alternative to buying the S4 flagship model, bringing almost all the features found in the bigger sibling. The Mini has a better processing speed and memory and more external storage with a higher resolution camera. The S4 Mini also offers dual SIM options not available in the Core Advance.
Display
The S4 Mini surely has a better display with a Super AMOLED screen and a higher pixel density. Moreover, the screen of the S4 is protected by the Gorilla Glass 2, which saves it from scratches. The S4 Mini is also lighter and slimmer, being more compact.
Specs Compared
Both these smartphones run on the Android OS, with the Mini running on Android 4.2.2 TouchWiz and the Core Advance on Android 4.2 version. The Core Advance is much bigger with dimensions of 5.25 x 2.78 x 0.38 inches, with the Mini at 4.91 x 2.41 x .35 inches. The Mini also weighs much less and is lighter at 107 g compared to the 145 g of the Core Advance. As the name suggests, the Mini has a smaller display screen of 4.3 inches compared to the 4.7 inches of the Core Advance. The resolution of the Mini is, however, higher at 540 x 960 p offering a pixel density of 256 ppi, compared to the 480 x 800p of the Core Advance with a pixel density of 199 ppi. The Mini has a super AMOLED screen with that of the Core Advance being a TFT one.
Hardware
Both the devices function on the same system chip of Qualcomm Snapdragon, with the Core Advance having an S4 MSM8960 and the Mini a 400 MSM8930. Both phones use a Dual Core processor, with the Mini having a higher 1700 MHz and the Core Advance a lower 1200 MHz. The Graphics processor in both the phones is the same Adreno 305, with a greater system memory in the Mini with 1536 MB of RAM compared to the 1024 MB RAM in the Core Advance. The inbuilt storage in both the devices is the same at 8 GB, expandable up to 64 GB with the use of a micro SD card. The Core Advance has a better battery capacity of 2000 mAh, compared to 1900 mAh of the Mini. As for connectivity, both the devices offer support for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth v4.0 as well as NFC.
Verdict
Thus, we see that the display size of the Core Advance is bigger by about 9%. The Core Advance, scores over the Mini, as the Core has a better battery capacity, a bigger screen size and every pixel has three subpixels. It is able to play Adobe Flash, with support for sound and video found in the browser of the phone. The Core Advance also runs on the advanced Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, with API level of 17.
However, the S4 Mini has a better rear camera of 8 MP compared to the 5 MP camera of the Core Advance. The memory in built in both the devices is the same, but the RAM of the Mini is about 512 MB more when compared to the Core advance. The pixel density is better and the CPU clock speed is also better at 2 x 1.7 GHz, whereas that of the Core Advance is 2 x 1.2 GHz, making the Mini faster by almost 41%. In addition, the Mini has an FM radio and has manual exposure for setting exposure along with a HDR mode for shooting pictures in a high dynamic range. It is also lighter and thinner than the Core Advance.
Related ItemsSamsung Galaxy Core AdvanceSamsung Galaxy S4 Mini
