Samsung confirms Galaxy S III Mini with NFC

Samsung Galaxy S III Mini

Samsung has announced that an NFC version of the Galaxy S III Mini is now available.

The device was announced with NFC in October 2012, but the first devices then shipped without the functionality. Now, says Samsung, a version of the S III Mini will be available with NFC — at least in some markets.

“Owners of the new Galaxy S III Mini will be able to share content, such as photos, videos and music, much faster and more easily,” says Samsung Mobile UK, which says it will be providing an NFC version of the device from the end of January. “Its S Beam feature allows a 10MB music file to be shared in just two seconds by simply tapping on another S Beam-enabled device, such as the Galaxy S III or Galaxy Note II, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. By combining NFC and Wi-Fi Direct, S Beam is capable of sending larger files between phones, such as images, videos and music tracks.

“The Galaxy S III Mini is powered by Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) and packed with many of the same features available on the Galaxy S III, including S Voice which people can use to tell the phone to wake up, answer an incoming call, or even take a photo, and Direct Call which allows customers to automatically call someone they’ve just received a text from by simply lifting the phone to their ear.”

“NFC technology and the digital wallet started to gain significant traction in 2012, particularly in the run up to the Olympics,” says Samsung UK’s Simon Stanford. “It’s an exciting time in the mobile market watching the next phase of its evolution take shape, so we’re happy to announce that we are bringing these new experiences to our customers through our growing number of NFC-enabled devices.”

• Find details of all current and upcoming NFC phones in our comprehensive NFC devices list.

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