HTC launches new One Mini smartphone with pre-order price of £379.99

New handset set to rival Samsung's Galaxy S4 Mini - the stripped down version of Samsung's flagship device

HTC have officially unveiled the HTC One Mini – the miniaturized version of the flagship HTC One that the Taiwanese manufacturers are hoping will rival Samsung’s Galaxy S4 Mini.

To give the stats in short, the HTC One Mini gives you 1GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage (of which 12GB is actually available and there’s no) and a 1.4GHz dual-core processor. The screen is 4.3-inches with 720p resolution – a slight downgrade of the HTC One’s 4.7-inch 1080p offering – but it does offering the same 4MP UltraPixel camera as its bigger brother, and a 1.6MP front camera.

So, there’s the expected hit to general all-round performance, but the Mini seems to be holding its own with the full-sized One when it comes to build quality. There’s some differences of course, the most notable being the plastic frame that edges the Mini – though HTC have tried to mitigate this by saying it saves consumers money through quicker manufacturing times.

Apart from this, there’s the same aluminium front and back, and in SlashGear’s review of the handset they still declared it “leagues ahead in aesthetics” when compared with the Galaxy S4 Mini (though HTC loses points for describing their colour choices as “Glacial Silver” and “Stealth Black” in the press release).

In comparison with the S4 Mini the One Mini the HTC option is slightly bigger and slightly heavier but offers a better screen (720p and 341 PPI to the S4 Mini’s 540p/256 PPI). Samsung’s offering has slightly more RAM (1.5GB) half the internal memory (8GB), but also offers the option of extending capacity via microSD.

The main difference between the two seems to be the general feel for the handsets – with the S4 Mini’s plastic chassis taking away from its appeal - and until you can go into a store and hold both in your hands we don’t recommend pre-ordering one over the other just yet.

The HTC One Mini is set to hit UK stores August 9 and though prices through carriers is not yet known, mobile retailers Mobile Fun have started taking pre-orders for the device at £379.99 SIM-free, a smidgeon above the S4 Mini's SIM-free price of £350.