Samsung GALAXY S III Mini with NFC Arriving in the UK in Late January

Although Samsung launched the Galaxy S III mini back in November, the smartphone lacked NFC (Near Field Communication) support.

However, this is about to change as Samsung has announced the upcoming availability of an NFC-enabled Galaxy S III mini this month.

Initially launched in Malaysia, the smartphone has been confirmed to arrive in the UK by the end of January, for around £270/€320/$430 off contract.

The so-much-needed NFC technology will help Samsung add new services for Galaxy S III mini owners, including S Beam and mobile wallet.

According to Slashgear, other than that, the NFC-enabled Galaxy S III mini does not come with anything new in terms of software and hardware, so expect the same specs as the standard model.

Software-wise, the Galaxy S III mini NFC will be powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean operating system out of the box.

Obviously, it will come pre-loaded with specific Samsung apps and services that will enable users to pair the phone via NFC and Wi-Fi Direct.

On the inside, the smartphone is equipped with 1GHz dual-core NovaThor U8420 processor, a Mali-400 graphics processing unit and 1GB of RAM.

The Galaxy S III mini NFC is said to come with either 8GB or 16GB of internal memory, which can be further expanded up to 32GB via microSD memory card.

It also sports a decent 4.0-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display that supports 480 x 800 pixels resolution.

On the back, the smartphone features a 5-megapixel photo snapper with autofocus, LED flash and HD (720p) video recording, while on the front there’s a secondary VGA camera for video calls.

Last but not least, the Galaxy S III mini NFC will pack a 1500 mAh Li-Ion battery that should provide up to 450 hours of standby time (430 hours in 3G mode) or up to 14 hours of talk time (7 hours in 3G mode).