Looking to get Samsung's Galaxy S3 Mini minus the two-year obligation? The downsized mobile phone is currently available on Amazon, CNET said on Tuesday, but stocks are running very low.

That means you cannot wait for Christmas time if the craving for the smaller S3 has been bugging you for some time. Last time CNET checked, Amazon's inventory is down to two units and it was unclear if the giant retailer intends to replenish its online shelf for the new Samsung gadget.

But for the price listing of $US410, is the S3 Mini worth buying unlocked?

The one-off payment can be seen as less financial burden for buyers on a tight budget but still want to get a feel of Samsung's smartphone environment, which like in all its Galaxy lines is flavoured with Android.

In the case of S3 Mini, buyers would get the JellyBean that Amazon has packaged without the worries of a regular monthly phone bill over the course of the 24 months to come. Users will get to enjoy the net on their own terms, with only the dictates of their wallet as the main concern.

The S3 Mini, however, is not for high-speed wireless internet access as Samsung deployed it with all major connectivity options except LTE. New owners will have to make do with 3G, fast enough especially for those not willing to spend that much.

And the little sibling of the regular Galaxy S3 is really not that much of cash hole. But its lower tag price also meant that Samsung tweaked its hardware specs to make it more affordable but not entirely cheap.

Amazon is selling a handset with the entire familiar Samsung imprint but tempered a bit. The S3 Mini has a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, which is decent enough when compared with the upsized version, and is powered by a dual-core 1.5GHz processor with 1GB of RAM to complement its overall performance.

Also, users should be delighted to discover that the lighter (but not thinner) S3 is armed with a rear camera sensor of 5MP, which this time is more than decent in producing high-quality images and videos.