Adorable Galaxy S4 Mini

It really is a smaller version of S4: 4.3" vs. 5", 3.8 oz vs. 4.6:

Its dual-core loses nothing to it bigger brother's quad-core, in terms of responsiveness. Its smaller battery, 1900 mAh vs. 2600 mAh, lasts as long too, thanking to lower frequency and less core CPU, and smaller and less resolution screen. Other than smaller fonts, my old eyes cannot tell the quality difference between the two screens.

It is very much like the original Galaxy S(1), even significantly lighter and slimmer, with a larger battery and screen. Quite a progress, ha, after four generations.

Having used 5.5" and 5" for almost a year, this baby feels much more comfortable for one hand operation. If you don't want those large phones but do want their power, then this mini is the one. Both Verizon and Sprint offer this cute phone, but none of them is global. The one I got is a Sprint and I have made it work on either networks:

• First I root it with Kingo Android ROOT and removed the bloatware (see the list at the end).
• Got its MSL/SPC with SPCUtility.apk.
• Dialed ##3424# to get into diag mode and used DFS (Pwd 2012112120131219) to write PRL and configure data settings to get it on Sprint and Verizon EVDO (3G) networks. Wrote MIND, MDN and PCS (same as MDN) and got PagePlus voice to work. This procedure is very similar to Sprint S3.
• Installed WiFi Tether Router to use it as a hotspot.
• Installed Lumicall, VO3G worked like a charm, even louder than S4 and had to lower MIC input level.
• Installed Boat browser and watched online video for hours via Miracast (Screen Mirroring), no problem at all.
• Installed InstaTV Pro to watch local HDTV from HDHomerun, but HD channels are not watchable while SD channels are perfect. Seems its WiFi is not as strong as that of S4 and S3 (both are flawless on HD).

List of removed bloatware (Sprint stuff - those in black, must be removed for normal operation):

AccuweatherPhone2013.apk
AccuweatherPhone2013.odex
Activation.apk
AlarmWidget.apk
AlarmWidget.odex
AllShareCastPlayer.apk
AllShareCastPlayer.odex
AllshareControlShare.apk
AllshareFileShare.apk
AllshareFileShare.odex
AllshareFileShareClient.apk
AllshareFileShareClient.odex
AllshareFileShareServer.apk
AllshareFileShareServer.odex
AllshareMediaServer.apk
AllshareMediaServer.odex
AllshareMediaShare.apk
AllshareMediaShare.odex
AllSharePlay15_stub.apk
BasicDreams.apk
BasicDreams.odex
blot.txt
Blurb.apk
Books.apk
ChocoEUKor.apk
Chrome.apk
CHS_J_Device_only.apk
CloudAgent.apk
ConnectionManager.apk
ContainerAgent.apk
ContainerAgent.odex
CoolEUKor.apk
DigitalClock.apk
DigitalClock.odex
DirectConnect.apk
DirectConnect.odex
DirectShareManager.apk
DirectShareManager.odex
DroidSansSherifItalic.apk
Dropbox.apk
DropboxOOBE.apk
DualClockDigital.apk
DualClockDigital.odex
EasyFavoritesContactsWidget.apk
EasyFavoritesContactsWidget.odex
Flipboard.apk
FotaClient.apk
FotaClient.odex
FWUpgrade.apk
FWUpgrade.odex
Gmail2.apk
GoogleBackupTransport.apk
GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleFeedback.apk
GoogleSearchWidget.apk
GoogleSearchWidget.odex
GroupPlay_20.apk
Hangouts.apk
Hearingdro.apk
ID.apk
InteractiveTutorial.apk
InteractiveTutorial.odex
Kies.apk
Kies.odex
kieswifi.apk
kieswifi.odex
KLMSAgent.apk
KLMSAgent.odex
KNOXAgent.apk
KNOXAgent.odex
KNOXStore.apk
KNOXStore.odex
LocalFOTA.apk
Magazines.apk
MMAppFramework.apk
MMAppFramework.odex
MobilePrint2.apk
MobilePrint2.odex
MobilePrintSvc_CUPS.apk
MobilePrintSvc_CUPS_Backend.apk
MobilePrintSvc_Epson.apk
MobilePrintSvc_HP.apk
MobilePrintSvc_Samsung.apk
Music2.apk
MusicFX.apk
MusicFX.odex
MusicLiveShare.apk
MusicLiveShare.odex
MusicPlayerWT.apk
MusicPlayerWT.odex
NoiseField.apk
NoiseField.odex
PageBuddyNotiSvc2.apk
PageBuddyNotiSvc2.odex
Peel.apk
PhaseBeam.apk
PhaseBeam.odex
Phonesky.apk
PhotoTable.apk
PhotoTable.odex
PickUpTutorial.apk
PickUpTutorial.odex
PlayGames.apk
PlusOne.apk
RoseEUKor.apk
S-Voice_Android_phone_J.apk
SamsungAppsUNA3.apk
SamsungApps_hdpi.apk
SamsungGames_qHD.apk
SamsungHubUpdater.apk
SamsungHub_phone_qHD.apk
SamsungIME.apk
SamsungIME.odex
SamsungSans.apk
Samsungservice.apk
SamsungTTS.apk
SamsungWatchON.apk
SamsungWidget_ProgramMonitor.apk
SamsungWidget_ProgramMonitor.odex
SBrowserTry.apk
SBrowserTry.odex
SBrowser_SPR.apk
SBrowser_SPR.odex
sCloudBackupApp.apk
sCloudBackupProvider.apk
sCloudDataRelay.apk
sCloudDataSync.apk
sCloudQuotaApp.apk
sCloudSyncCalendar.apk
sCloudSyncContacts.apk
sCloudSyncSBrowserBookmark.apk
sCloudSyncSBrowserTabs.apk
sCloudSyncSNote.apk
SecEmail_J.apk
SecEmail_J.odex
SecExchange.apk
SecExchange.odex
SecLiveWallpapersPicker.apk
SecLiveWallpapersPicker.odex
SecSetupWizard2013.apk
SecSetupWizard2013.odex
SensorService.apk
SimpleWidget.apk
SimpleWidget.odex
SkyfireToolbar.apk
SlideShow.apk
SlideShow.odex
SmartBriefing4x2.apk
SmartBriefing4x2.odex
SMemo2.apk
SMemo2.odex
SNoteProvider.apk
SNoteProvider.odex
SNS.apk
SPlannerAppWidget_NAmerica.apk
SPlannerAppWidget_NAmerica.odex
SPPPushClient_Prod.apk
SprintAndroidExtension.apk
SprintDM.apk
SprintSyncMLSvc.apk
SprintTouch.apk
SprintVoicemail.apk
Sprint_Installer.apk
StoryAlbumStub.apk
StoryAlbumWidget.apk
StoryAlbumWidget.odex
Swype.apk
SyncmlDM.apk
SyncmlDM.odex
S_Translator_CSLi.apk
S_Translator_CSLi.odex
Tag.apk
Tag.odex
talkback.apk
TravelService.apk
TravelService.odex
TravelWidget.apk
TravelWidget.odex
TripAdvisor.apk
Velvet.apk
Videos.apk
VVM.apk
WeatherWidgetDaemon.apk
WeatherWidgetDaemon.odex
WfdBroker.apk
WfdBroker.odex
YahoonewsPhone2013.apk
YahoonewsPhone2013.odex
YahoostockPhone2013.apk
YahoostockPhone2013.odex
Zone.apk