The HTC One (review) is one of our favourite smartphones here in the TechSmart offices, and the Taiwanese smartphone maker HTC has now announced a more compact version of this device for users looking for a more pocketable smartphone.  

As the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is to the Galaxy S4 (review), the HTC One mini (132 x 63.2 x 9.3 mm; 122 g) is to the HTC One (137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3mm; 143 g).

The One mini packs the same premium all aluminium design and HTC BoomSound experience available on its bigger brother, enabling a higher quality, louder sound via its dual front stereo speakers.

Features

This smartphone is powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor running at 1.4 GHz per core and sports 1 GB of RAM, compared to the One’s 2 GB of RAM and quad-core 1.7 GHz Snapdragon 600 CPU.

Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean handles the operating on the One mini along with the latest version of HTC’s Sense UI with features like HTC Zoe and BlinkFeed in toe. The One mini boasts a 4.3" (720 x 1280; 342 ppi pixel density) Super LCD2 capacitive touchscreen protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, which trumps the qHD (540 x 960) resolution available on the 4.3" Super AMOLED display of the Galaxy S4 Mini.

In terms of optics you get the same ‘Ultrapixel’ 4MP rear-facing camera at the back, which is complemented by a 1.6 MP front-facing snapper for taking selfies and making video calls.

Also onboard is a non-removable 1800 mAh battery, aGPS support with GLONASS, dual-band  Wi-Fi 802.11 n, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, and 16 GB worth of internal storage that unfortunately (like in the case of the One) is not expandable.

HTC stated that its One mini will be available in select markets as of August and will then be rolled out globally from September. No local release info is available yet.

“We are proud to be behind the market’s leading smartphone and now, with the addition of the HTC One mini, the best smartphone family in the world,” said Peter Chou, CEO of HTC Corporation. “The HTC One mini embodies everything that makes the HTC One a success on a smaller but equally eye-catching scale.”

In other smartphone related news, LG recently revealed that its Optimus G Pro smartphone will be locally available from 1 September from Vodacom and Cell C for a recommended retail price of R8 000.