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Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini UK price and release date revealed

The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini goes on sale on 2 November, with retailers quoting a price of £250.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read
Watch this: CNET News Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini launch

The itty-bitty new Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini goes on sale on 2 November. Phones4U is welcoming pre-orders on phone contracts, while online phone shop Clove is quoting a price of £250.

Phone4U is offering phone contracts for the 4-inch S3 Mini with Vodafone, Orange and O2 starting at £25 per month. Place your order now and you should get your phone in exactly three weeks.

The first 350 customers who order the sawn-off S3 from Phone4U also get a Samsung S Pebble MP3 player thrown in for free.

The £250 price for the unlocked SIM-free S3 Mini hasn't been officially confirmed yet, so could change. 

Reactions to the S3 Mini have been largely disappointed that the new phone isn't a smaller version of the S3, as the name suggests. "What a wasted opportunity," says CNET reader Stuart Perchard of the 480x800-pixel screen, 5-megapixel camera and 1GHz processor. "Wow. Cashing in on the trusted high performance mark of their flagship with a low end phone," says an underwhelmed Jamie Wallis. "I reckon some consumers are gonna be disappointed."

"When will Samsung, LG and HTC realize that small screen doesn't need to mean mid-range?" asks an exasperated Colm O'hÉalaithe. "Most people would have been hoping for the same GS3/OneX/Optimus/Nexus specs in a decent size screen, but instead they give us the equivalent to an iPhone 3GS in 2012! What are they thinking? And people wonder why these phones don't sell!"

Still, at least it's got Jelly Bean software built-in. 

What do you think of the Mini: perfect size or missed opportunity? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.