Samsung Galaxy Premier

Available now
4th November 2012

A marginal step down from the best-selling Galaxy S III, the Samsung Galaxy Premier is designed to offer similar features at a slightly lower price point.

The display is a little smaller than the S III, with a 4.65" 720 x 1280 pixel panel on the Premier, compared to a 4.8" one on the S III. Inside, the processor is a dual-core 1.5GHz CPU, compared to a quad-core 1.4GHz one in the S III. The rest of the features are pretty much the same, with an 8 megapixel camera on the back, a 1.9 megapixel one on the front, 8 or 16GB of internal memory plus a microSD slot, NFC support, GPS and GLONASS positioning systems plus of course WiFi, Bluetooth and USB connectivity. The Galaxy Premier will run Android 4.1 out of the box, although there is no mention of an upgrade path to Android 4.2.

Inside is the same large 2100 mAh battery as found in the Galaxy S III, and the Galaxy Premier is marginally smaller and lighter at 134 x 68 x 9mm and 130 grams. The Galaxy Premier supports HSPA+ high-speed data and also LTE in certain markets. In fact, it really does almost everything that the Galaxy S III does in a package that's only 2% lighter and probably not really much cheaper.

So how much will the Galaxy Premier cost? The price we've seen from Samsung puts it at around €530, which is actually more expensive that the Galaxy S III retails for. Realistically, we would expect it to retail for around €400 to €450 when it hits the market, which will be in November in Russia, followed by Ukraine, Korea, China and south-east Asia. Specialist dealers might also have it available in other regions.

Perhaps this handset should have been called the Galaxy S III Mini rather than the sub-standard device that Samsung actually announced. Or more accurately, it should be called the Samsung Galaxy R II, if Samsung actually bothered to stick to their naming conventions. Ranting aside, the Galaxy Premier looks like a fairly powerful device that should appeal if the Galaxy S III is out of your price range.. or won't quite fit in your pocket.