Software & updates

Similarly to the S4, the S4 Mini comes with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and Samsung's TouchWiz software, although certain features present on the S4 are not available (such as Air Gestures, Air View, Multi-window, Smart Pause, Smart Rotation, and Smart Scroll).^[8]

The S4 Mini received the Android 4.4.2 "KitKat" update in June 2014 (though not in all regions), bringing some minor UI changes as seen on the Galaxy S4 and S4 Active.

When asked about whether the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini would receive the Android 5.0 ''Lollipop'' update on the April 24, 2015, Three UK stated that it would not get the Lollipop update, blaming "memory limitations".^[9] However, Three Ireland stated later on the very same day that the S4 Mini would indeed get the Lollipop update and that it would start rolling out in the coming weeks.^[10] Though Samsung UK and US carrier Sprint had earlier stated that the S4 Mini would get the Lollipop update, several later retweets from Samsung itself suggest that this was misinformation, stating that it had failed the initial test for the update.^[11][12] The Galaxy S4 Mini ultimately did not receive an official Lollipop update in any region.

International variants

The S4 Mini version released in most of Europe, Latin America, South Africa and few Asian countries contains NFC connectivity, which came standard on all versions of the Galaxy S4. The Galaxy S4 Mini is made available in:

• GSM & HSDPA (GT-I9190);
• LTE (GT-I9195), with NFC;
  • GT-I9195L, exclusively for Latin America
  • GT-I9195T, exclusively for Australia
• Dual SIM (GT-I9192), with 16 GB of internal storage in some regions;
• LTE (GT-I9197), without NFC;
• TD-SCDMA (GT-I9198)
• Canadian AWS LTE (SGH-I257M)(No AWS Band 4)
• Verizon LTE (SCH-I435) ^[13]