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Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini Value Edition to be Launched Soon?

The Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini is still selling strong. With the advent of the “Mini Me”-of-premium-flagships phase, the Galaxy SIII Mini was launched way back in November 2012, as the lighter and younger sibling to the then Samsung flagship, the Samsung Galaxy SIII. The device was based on the design principles of the Galaxy SIII but with a 4.0 inch AMOLED display offering a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, a dual-core Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1.2 GHz with a sufficient 1 GB RAM.  At approximately $230 for an unlocked device, the Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini is value-for-money.

In a somewhat baffling move, Samsung plans on releasing a ‘Value Edition’ of the Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini, which they are unoriginally naming the Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini VE (Value Edition). The news was initially released by SamMobile, that the Galaxy SIII Mini VE has a model number GT-I8200 which is a slight bump up from the model number of the original SIII Mini which is GT-I8190.

The device has been certified by both the FCC and Bluetooth SIG, which implies that it is a brand new device. While sleuthing through the annals of Bluetooth SIG, we were able to identify two variations with the nomenclature GT-I8200N which seems to be designed for Europe, and GT-I8200L which could be intended for South America. The FCC has only tested the GT-I8200N variant and revealed that the device supports dual band Wi-Fi as well as 3G in the 1900 MHz spectrum band.

Currently there are no details neither pertaining to screen size nor processing power nor what innards these devices carry. However if the sketch of the GT-I8200N on the FCC website is anything to go by, the device is every bit similar to the original Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini; and it may share the other features and innards of the original Galaxy SIII Mini.

What is baffling is why Samsung would want to take us through time again and release a device which could very well be a year too late in the market. Also Samsung has quite a lot of devices getting ready to be unveiled during the CES – including a Galaxy Grand Lite and a Galaxy Note 3 Lite. Hopefully the Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini VE would also be announced then.

Given a choice, would you go in for this Value Edition at all or opt for the Galaxy Grand Lite or the Note 3 Lite? Do let us know in the comments below.