HTC One Mini is dual-core and 720p in leaked photos

Pics of the thorougly rumoured HTC One Mini have popped up online, alongside screenshots that apparently confirm the specs of the metallic mobile's scaled-down sibling.

The One Mini, like the S4 Mini, is not merely a scaled-down version of the company's flagship HTC One, but has markedly inferior specs too, according to German tech blog Android Next, which claims it bagged the above pics from an anonymous source with access to a model used by an unnamed network for testing.

It's packing a 1.4GHz dual-core processor and a 4.3-inch, 1,280x720-pixel screen -- much less impressive than the powerful One's quad-core chip and Full HD 1080p display.

Android 4.2, the latest version of Google's mobile software, and HTC Sense 5, the company's bulky interface, are both said to be on board. Other specs gleaned from the mobile's innards include a mediocre 1GB of RAM and a middling Adreno 305 graphics processor. There's 16GB of storage, 12GB of which is actually available.

As Android Next points out, it's not much improvement over last year's HTC One S, just with a slightly better screen. That doesn't quite square with HTC saying it won't be bothering to update the One S because its meagre specs can't handle the new hotness.

Nevertheless, the One Mini's a good-looking little fella and likely to be carried with pride by all manner of phone fans. We found with the S4 Mini that although its specs are pretty disappointing, its performance is perfectly palatable, running 3D games such as GTA: Vice City with few troubles. Our biggest gripe with the S4 Mini is its price: £380 SIM-free is too much for a mid-range mobile.

What do you make of the One Mini? Would you plump for a lower powered blower like this to shrink down the screen size? Or would it have to be cheaper than chips? Give your preliminary verdict in the comments, or over on our fun-sized Facebook page.

Image credit: Android Next