UPDATED 06:35 EDT / OCTOBER 10 2012

Samsung Galaxy SIII Mini Launches Tomorrow, Ahead of iPad mini

In today’s mobile news roundup: Samsung Galaxy SIII mini confirmed; iPad mini could be WiFi only; and new devices unveiled at MobileCon 2012.

Samsung Galaxy SIII mini confirmed

A week after Samsung sent out invites for an event on October 11, Samsung mobile chief JK Shin confirmed that the company will indeed unveil a mini version of the popular Galaxy SIII tomorrow.  The mini version will have a smaller screen, at 4 inches, but the technical specs are expected to be the same as the original version.  The reason for releasing a smaller version is because of the high demand in European market.

“There’s a lot of demand for a 4-inch screen device in Europe. Some may call it an entry-level device, but we call it ‘mini’,” Shin stated.

iPad Mini could be WiFi only

According to some sources, the soon-to-be-launched iPad Mini will only be available in a WiFi version, but Apple is said to be releasing a new version of the iPad 3 that will be compatible with UK’s 4G.  The iPad Mini is Apple’s answer to the affordable, smaller Android tablets available in the market today such as the Nexus 7, Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet.

Unfortunately, a WiFi only iPad would seem nearly useless, especially for people who are on the go and who’d want a smaller iPad for travelling.  The iPad Mini and the updated iPad 3 are both expected to sport the new Lightning connector.

New devices unveiled at MobileCon2012

MobileCon 2012, the Mobile IT Conference, kicked off yesterday at the San Diego Convention Center and will run until tomorrow.  Manufacturers and carriers showed off their new devices at the conference.

T-Mobile introduced the Nokia Lumia 810 which features a 4.3-inch touchscreen, 8MP camera with Carl Zeiss technology, 1.2-megapixel front-facing camera, interchangeable backplates for wireless charging and it’s a Window Phone 8 device.

Sprint unveiled a 4G LTE USB hotspot stick, the 10-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 and the LG Mach, which features a 5 megapixel camera, dual-core processor and a five-row slide out keyboard.

AT&T did not unveil a new handset but introduced the first LTE hotspot equipped with a touchscreen and a user interface, known as the MiFi Liberate, made by Novatel Wireless.

Verizon did not unveil any gadgets, but they did announce that they’ve reached their goal of  covering 400+ markets with their 4G LTE network two months early.


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