HTC One Mini review, update (Last updated 12/21/2013): Android 4.3 Jelly Bean for HTC One Mini is here and with it comes the HTC’s Sense 5.5 UI update. According to Trusted Reviews, the new OS updates will boost the HTC One mini’s performance and improves the Blinkfeed news aggregator home screen.

Trusted Reviews also noted that HTC has introduced the ability to lock focus and exposure in camera app and added a new video highlights reel with customization options.

The display of the HTC One Mini is 0.4 less than it’s the original flagship, making it handy and smaller enough to pass a “mini.” Other specs for the HTC One Mini include a 4MP UltraPixel camera, 1GB of RAM and 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor. Though it’s specs have been trimmed, possibly for its size, the HTC One Mini is still a decent buy.

Display-wise, the original HTC One has a 1080P resolution, which makes the HTC One Mini’s 1280 x 720 display with 341ppi a downgrade. But according to a review of the NZ Herald, the Mini’s display is not a step down. The newspaper notes that the compact version has better retina and delivers accurate colors, decent contrast levels with solid viewing angles.

In a review by Gizmodo, the UltraPixel camera found in the HTC One Mini and HTC One has just as large imaging sensor as other smartphone cameras, but it has large pixels. It actually is twice as large as most competitors. This means that it would perform much better in low light and can capture more detail in the darker areas of even well-lit images.

The HTC One Mini also has one of the biggest smartphone lens aperture on the market, notes Gizmodo. With it’s f/2.0 lens that lets 44 percent more light than the f/2/4 lens of the iPhone 5 and other smartphones. This allows the HTC One Mini to capture picture quicker than its competitors with a faster shutter speed, which means less camera shake and no blurry images.

Performance-wise, HTC One Mini has under the hood a dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage.The one downside is the lack of a MicroSD support which could expand storage, but according to NZ Herald, despite the lack of additional storage its lower spec CPU didn’t noticeably impact performance at all. The HTC One Mini functioned well with most day-to-day chores (i.e., email, SMS, games) running smoothly. HTC One Mini also has 4G connectivity and BoomSound speakers.

Battery-wise, despite the HTC One Mini having only 1800mAh battery, the unit was able to last a full day.

Though in terms of performance, the HTC One Mini didn’t fail, it seems that the only advantage it actually provides is the smaller display. A quick look at eBay shows the device being sold for as low as $350.00 for a factory unlocked version.