My personal cellphone is a Sony Ericsson Xperia ray on AT&T, although it is severely obsolete I have hung on to it because I like it's small size. There is now however a problem where it will intermittently lose connectivity until I pull the battery. So it's time to move on...

At the moment the Telus Galaxy S3 Mini is on sale at Wal-Mart in Canada for $150

Has anyone formed any strong opinions of this model acknowledging the internal hardware differences and lower resolution compared to the full sized S3?

Size matters to me because I also carry around my work device, a Nokia Lumia 925 and sometimes my Canadian cell phone an iPhone 4S.

If you want to stay in the 4" category, then take a look at the Samsung Galaxy Light. It's a quad-core 4" phone. It's not the snappiest phone out there, but it's not bad. It was on sale at Wal-Mart for $50 last week, but it's available for $100 through T-Mobile with no contract.

http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phones/...axy-light.html

I thought the Xperia Z1 Compact was available through TMo, but don't see it on the site anymore. Has very positive reviews.

If you're already used to the Lumia 925, you might want to consider the Lumia 520/521 which is a 4" phone running Windows Phone 8 (and will be upgraded to 8.1 with Cortana). It can be had for anywhere from $50 - $70 from WalMart and online depending on the model (520 for ATT, 521 for TMobile). The dimensions of the 520 are nearly identical to the S3 Mini, while the 521 is slightly taller. A Nokia 520 from WalMart is always my backup plan if I have a catastrophic failure of my Galaxy S4 GPE since it's cheap, easy to find, and can do most everything I'd need in a pinch.

Moto G with or without lte would be. Great option. The gs3 came out two years ago and when the mini was introduced its specifications were less than the regular one. Plus e g is pretty cheap and is on sale at best buy unlocked I branded for within $$30 of the min

Thanks for the suggestions, unfortunately my experiences with low-end Samsung devices have been unequivocally terrible. While the Galaxy S3 Mini was once $500+

The Moto G is getting too large for my taste and I'm actually using a Lumia 520 at this very moment, but I'm inclined to stick with Android because it's what my parents use and I need to be at least familiar enough with it to help them.

I'd look at the Moto E then. It's still a bit bigger at 4.3" but has the upside of being cheaper as well. The main drawback is no LTE... but if you're OK with the data speeds of the Lumia 520, you should be OK with the Moto E as well. On the upside, you're guaranteed an upgrade to Android L.

I guess another question for the OP would be...

Why do you need a fourth phone? What purpose does the Nokia serve? Have you also thought about a dual-sim phone so that you can merge your personal and Canadian phone needs into one?

How do you feel about the size of the Nokia? On a scale of Grumpy to Happy dwarf, where would it fall?

It isn't actually a fourth phone. I borrowed the Lumia 520 from work when the Xperia started to flake out on me. The problem with dual-sim phones is pretty enduring, there are few any Westerner would want. They're oriented to the irrational Indian and Chinese wireless markets where many need multiple sim cards. There was supposed to be a dual-sim Lumia 630 with North American 3G but it doesn't appear to have materialized.

The 520 is only slightly smaller than the 925, which I find too big. I'm coming from total satisfaction with a 3.3" device. So I'm going to be a little grumpy no matter what.

Provided you can find one that is affordable the iPhone 4/ 4s would probably be a good fit, they're nice and small. (If you're interested in switching over to iOS)

I definitely know what you mean by having a phone that is too big, the G is about the size of an iPhone 5, nd the 925 feels a lot larger than the 521. I had been getting new phones and they had been creeping up in size until I ended up with a Galaxy S4 which was just too big. Wound up with an iPhone 5s. I have a "play phone" with T-Mobile, and of the devices I've had the G is about the right size, even though the 521 is smaller, it felt smaller though, it was partly due to the design of the device.

Forgot this, they're all about the size of the device you're looking for.
http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/com...4206,4430,4325

I'm definitely inclined to stick with Android just for familiarities sake for the inevitable "how do I..." calls from my parents.

I just perceive no value in these large devices. Maybe it would be different if I was riding the train an hour in each direction every morning and night, but for me my phones are still overwhelmingly voice devices. My data usage last month was 113MB.

But hey, I'm a dinosaur. I think Nextel was the best thing in the world.

I almost got the S3 Mini for my wife. Didn't in the end because I thought it was too under-powered. I got her the Samsung GS3 instead.

Personally, from a value perspective, I also think the Moto G is an excellent choice.

I ultimately bought the Galaxy S3 Mini at Wal-Mart in Canada, but I'm not entirely sure how I feel about it above and beyond liking it's small size. But I'm also not sure I would like any other Android 4.2 device better.

Next time I feel like killing some braincells I might try getting my Rogers iPhone unlocked again.