Rumors regarding the HTC One mini surfaced back in June and a month of waiting has finally paid off.

The device is HTC’s answer to the growing demand for something powerful, but which can easily slip into one’s pocket.

Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation, made their intentions clear:

“We are proud to be behind the market’s leading smartphone and now, with the addition132 x 63.2 x 9.25mm of the HTC One mini, the best smartphone family in the world. The HTC One mini embodies everything that makes the HTC One a success on a smaller but equally eye-catching scale.”

True to SiliconANGLE tradition, it’s time to battle it out once again.  Of course we’ll be pitting it against another mini, and what would be more appropriate than Samsung’s Galaxy S4 mini?  So let’s get right to it.

Design:

HTC One mini: Aluminum back cover with polycarbonate sides and front edges

Galaxy S4 mini: Special polycarbonate body, slim bezel, wide display, unique textured design

Dimensions:

One mini: Height 132 x Width 63.2 x Depth 9.25mm, Weight 122g

S4 mini: 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.9 mm, 107 g

Display:

One mini: 4.3” 1,280 x 720 (341 ppi) S-LCD3

S4 mini: 4.3 inches Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 540 x 960 pixels, ~256 ppi pixel density

Operating System:

One mini: Android 4.2, Sense 5 UI

S4 mini: Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean

Processor:

One mini: 1.4GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400,

S4 mini: Dual-core 1.7 GHz Krait, Qualcomm MSM8930 Snapdragon 400,

Battery:

One mini: non removable 1,800 mAh Li-Polymer

S4 mini: Li-Ion 1900 mAh battery

Capacity:

One mini: 16GB internal storage, no means to expand it, 1GB RAM

S4 mini: 8 GB (5 GB user available), 1.5 GB RAM (3G model), 2 GB RAM (LTE model)

Connectivity:

One mini: Radios – EMEA: 900/1900/2100 MHz with HSDPA up to 42 Mbps; Asia – 850/900/1900/2100 MHz with HSDPA up to 42 Mbps; GSM / GPRS / EDGE – 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, WiFi Dual-band, 802.11a/b/g/n, WiFi Direct

S4 mini: 2G – GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – all versions, GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 – GT-I9192 (SIM 1 & SIM 2), 3G – HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 – GT-I9190, GT-I9195, 4G – LTE – GT-I9195, EDGE, GPRS, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, infrared port

Camera:

One mini: front camera – 1.6MP BSI, rear camera – HTC UltraPixel camera 4MP, BSI, f/2.0, 1/3” sensor size, 2µm pixel size

S4 mini: rear camera – 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, features Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, HDR, panorama, takes 1080p@30fps videos, 1.9MP front camera

Miscellaneous features:

One mini: Dual front facing speakers, HDR dual microphones, 2.55V headphone amplifier

S4 mini: Stereo FM radio with RDS, loud speaker

Special features:

One mini: HTC BlinkFeed, HTC UltraPixel Camera and HTC BoomSound

S4 mini: No news yet if it will have the same Smart features as the original Galaxy S4.

So Who’s the King of the Mini’s?

Looking at the devices, we’re mildly surprised to see that the HTC One mini looks the nicer of the two, mainly because of the material used. Metal beats plastic every time, but on the other hand that does make it heavier than the S4 mini.  The two phones have the same screen size but the One mini has a better resolution, which means that it comes out top in all visual aspects.

As for the processor, the S4 mini’s packs more power, something that means it’ll almost certainly be a bit faster than the One mini.  The S4 mini also has a more powerful battery but that may be to compensate for the more powerful processor – until we see the One Mini in the flesh, we can’t say for sure.  One downside with the One mini is that you can’t expand its storage and so you’re stuck with the 16GB that comes with the device, unlike the S4 mini which come with 8GB and can be expanded to up to 64GB via microSD.

Overall though, we’d have to say that between HTC and Samsung’s offerings, the former might just edge it as it hasn’t strayed too far away from the original version, the HTC One.

The HTC One mini will be available in select markets from August and rolled out globally from September.  No news yet on the price.  As for the Galaxy S4 mini, no news yet when it will hit the US, nor do we know how much the device will cost.

The interest in upgrading to better smartphones is declining, but will these mini smartphones be able to revive it before wearable tech takes the spotlight?