SpecEagle review · Samsung

Galaxy S5 Mini review: Compact, water-resistant version of the Galaxy S5.

Item: Galaxy S5 Mini
Rating: 54
Author: SpecEagle Editorial

SpecEagle Editorial·Jul 2014·$450

Overall

54/100

Class rank

#1 of 1

Tier

Mid-range

Buy?

Look elsewhere

The verdict, up front

The S5, made small and tough.

Galaxy S5 Mini kept the flagship S5's IP67 water resistance, fingerprint scanner and heart-rate monitor in a compact 4.5" body — one of the few "mini" phones to retain real features rather than just shrink the shell.

01Display

66/100

66/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2014.

TypeSuper AMOLED

Size4.5 inches

Resolution720 x 1280 px

SensorHeart-rate monitor + fingerprint (from the S5)

02Camera

58/100

58/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2014.

Main8 MP, f/2.2, LED flash

Selfie2.1 MP

03Performance

50/100

50/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2014.

ChipsetExynos 3470 (quad-core 1.4 GHz)

GPUMali-400 MP4

04Battery

60/100

60/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2014.

Capacity2100 mAh removable

05Build

64/100

64/100 — right at the average for mid-range phones of 2014.

What works

IP67 water resistance + heart-rate sensor
Compact 4.5" / 120 g body
Removable battery + microSD

What doesn't

Weak Exynos 3470 + 1.5 GB RAM
qHD resolution
Mid-range internals despite S5 name

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 1-phone cohort of mid-range devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .