IconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX review: up-to-date 3.8-inch smartphone for “one hundred bucks”
The iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX smartphone will probably remain for me one of the most remembered models of this year, for one simple reason. 3.75-inch diagonal - I can’t recall the last time they tried to make the device with a fresh hardware and the latest Android release with a similar display. The average price tag in the region of 3-4 thousand rubles (~ $ 95) directly indicates that the smartphone claims to be purchased, among other things, as an alternative to the new button “dialer”. Moreover, the thing in the aggregate of my impressions does not draw to a frank compromise between the price, screen size and the desire to get a smartphone without any flaws.
The packaging of the smartphone is made in the traditional style for the brand, on the side there are explanations of the keys and connectors of the model. The set of accessories in the box is almost completely predictable - a power supply from the network, a microUSB cable, a headset for the “picky listener” plus an instruction with a warranty card. The presence of a protective film has become a pleasant “bun”, it is never superfluous - especially while you are looking for a cover for a freshly bought smartphone.
I note that recently B-brands regularly please with such trifles - either they put a film, then they spare a spare cover. Although you don’t have to particularly look for a cover, a blitz test showed a pretty good selection of suitable “pockets”. Still, since about 2010, HTC, Samsung and others like them have released enough 3.6-3.8-inch smartphones. I must say right away that it will not be superfluous for a smartphone to choose a high-quality headset, so with the appropriate "ears" iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX produces a very decent sound.
The model is available in two versions - in a black and white case, depending on this, the “code” of the smartphone, NT-3513M or NT-3514M, changes accordingly. I think I will not be the only one whose iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX appearance has caused quite definite associations with the “mini” models of one well-known South Korean manufacturer. However, in this case, I note this as a plus, because the borrowing turned out to be very high quality - they did not save on materials and assembly.
The thickness of the case is 9.5 mm, which also impresses me - the smartphone is trivial to hold, and the ends do not cut the palm. Currently, I am testing a pair of 5-inch dialers with a thickness of about 7.6 mm, which once again in my eyes confirmed the disadvantage of such minimalism for ergonomics.
This is how the model looks in comparison with a 4.5-inch smartphone - which in this case is equivalent in height to other 5-inch devices. In general, you quickly get used to the size of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX. Of course, it becomes not very convenient to work with a number of tasks, but the minimum space in your pocket and the complete lack of a “shovel” feel are worth it.
It is good that the silver rim, which runs along all the ends, was not made glossy or “chrome-plated” - both of them look unsuccessful and strongly associated with the word “cheap”. To the credit of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX - the model looks and feels like a decent thing, but does not try to hide some flaws in the exterior with the phrase “excellent value for money”.
The coverage of the smartphone from the rear is quite interesting, something like gloss on top of a barely perceptible mesh relief. I liked it more than the faceless white surface in the bulk of smartphones. There is no soft touch plastic, but fingerprints are not depressing - they are almost invisible, only with a glare at a certain angle.
The set and style of the rear elements again causes a steady deja vu, but I repeat - against the background of the general high level of performance of the apparatus, this did not cause any rejection for me.
On the front side there should be light and proximity sensors - I could not recognize them on the case, but both of them systematically confirmed their existence with a convincing fact of work.
The central physical button does not even require comments about the "source". But it was planted firmly and does not play, the last often just annoyed me were the individual smartphones of the South Korean giant.
They didn’t “reinvent the wheel” with the arrangement of buttons - here you are not Sony Xperia Z. Plus, just the other day, the novelty of a second-tier brand reminded me of how uncomfortable the power button is at the top. Here, the keys on the sides, above the "equator", everything is in order.
Looking under the cover, we remove the battery and get access to a compact arrangement of slots for SIM cards and a microSD memory card. I call such a complete installation a "communal apartment" and do not really welcome it - it is not always clear the first time what to put in. Yes, try to guess that one slot is for a microSIM card, and the second is for miniSIM.
What I remember about iconBIT devices all the time are great displays. Colors are saturated, brightness is with a sufficient margin for sunny weather. Regarding iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX, I had some concerns, because chips are chips, and for “a hundred bucks” on the matrix can save in the first place. Fortunately, my “hopes” did not materialize - the display is not inferior in quality to what I saw, say, in the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7. I would not want my assessment of the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX screen to look unnecessarily positive, but adjusted for the price, the picture was impressive - a year ago they did not dream of such a thing in dual SIM cards. IPS-matrix is the real one, especially against the background of cheap devices with pseudo-IPS, mediocre color rendition and, even worse, inversion. The display is covered with a protective glass, of course, not Gorilla Glass.
For a 3.75-inch screen, the resolution of 800 x 480 pixels is almost the "top" choice, especially in comparison with 5 or even more 7-inch WVGA devices. However, “from ancient times” the same resolution was used in 3.8-inch smartphones and HTC, and Samsung, and Nokia. It is clear that the graininess is minimal, but the text on websites still has to be read almost always with a zoom. With the exception of portals optimized for mobile displays such as bash.im or oper.ru.
In order not to wait for the "Performance" section, I will immediately share my impressions of how such a small screen relates to games. Very ambiguous. You can forget about shooters almost immediately, since with one thumb you immediately block all the shot / reload / grenade / etc buttons. There too - titles with an abundance of small interactive details, in Cut The Rope you can not get real pleasure. But things are great with everything based on the accelerometer - Asphalt 8, Riptide GP2 and others like them.
2 megapixels from the rear and 0.3 megapixels from the front. Here the classical dilemma arises, because on the one hand, the very unpretentious quality of the image is very striking against the background of more expensive state employees. On the other - in front of me is the very same start-up phone "for a hundred", and the photos I received completely correspond to the price tag of the model. Even there is autofocus, although with a general low sharpness, you hardly remember its presence. I would not recommend photographing notes with iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX, but the camera copes with large print information on the stands with a bang.
I see no reason to describe in detail the interface of the shooting program, it is a painfully familiar shell by MediaTek. Solid development, and even more so with better functionality and convenience compared to the stock Android program.
In this section, you should first rejoice at MediaTek. Taiwanese are progressing, and this cannot be overlooked. In fact, the segment of decent smartphones with a low price recently opened the 2-core MediaTek 6577. In the fresh MTK6572 there are also two cores, also focusing on budget devices. But the power expressed even in games has gone far ahead, although here is the combined merit of the Cortex A7 with 28 nm against the previous Cortex A9 at 40 nm, and the Mali-400MP looks more preferable than the PowerVR SGX 531. Still, there would be more RAM, and you have to put up with it with limitations of 512 MB of RAM. ROM - 4 GB, because I immediately provided the smartphone with a 16 GB card.
In benchmarks, the results are predictable, smartphone stars from the sky are not enough. However, the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX is the case when it will not work to boast points in AnTuTu, but the model does not disappoint outside of synthetic tests in real tasks.
In games, the smartphone behaves relatively well. “Comparatively” - because not all price competitors can launch any Asphalt 8. It’s good news that lags in resource-intensive games are present, but they don’t turn the game process into a slide show. Although I once thought it was comfortable playing Doom 3 at 15 FPS on my GeForce4 MX 440, I can therefore be somewhat biased in such judgments :)
Android 4.2 is our everything, although the more current release 4.3 Jelly Bean is already in full swing among the middle peasants. Plus the other day, one Russian B-brand even rolled out a new update for its tablets to a version whose name is dedicated to one famous chocolate bar with a crispy waffle. It is clear that iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX lacks in-depth software improvements. But - I would like to note in plus that the brand did not arrange a parade of any "Classmates", "Yandex" and other domestic and not very services. Even if from the point of view of a consumer-teapot I welcome such sets out of the box. Because many people don’t find such programs on Google Play, but they won’t even be able to register on the service. From the experience of acquaintances "sales people" I know
Additional programs are represented by a file manager, and a data backup program. The latter still requires a memory card. A Bluetooth connection is highlighted in a separate shortcut, coupled to it, quick access to organizing a Wi-Fi point would not hurt. I especially note the tool for monitoring the state of memory, with it I did not need to download the "ES Task Manager."
Managing calls, SMS and SIM-card settings as two drops of water are similar to those in other dual-SIM smartphones. Here I just remember that the volume of the speech speaker was enough for me both on the road and in the subway. I would like more saturated due to the low frequencies of sound - usually the voice sounded a bit dry. However, this did not affect the intelligibility of speech, which is much more important. I especially note the support of all “Russian” 3G frequencies, in particular, 2100/900 MHz, as well as HSPA +. Knowing comrades suggest that in diagonal-price analogues of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX this is not found too often.
Given the manufacturing process and screen size, 1,200 mAh seems to me a reasonable choice. One charge with more or less intensive use is enough for one smartphone-day. If we reduce the multimedia load and limit ourselves to calls with rare 3G attacks on the Internet, we fix one and a half to two days. On solo tasks: video with maximum brightness and volume - 4 hours 30 minutes, telephone calls (3G active) - 8 hours, music - 32 hours 10 minutes, 3G Internet - 3 hours 15 minutes. In general, if you are already used to putting your smartphone on charge every night, you will have no complaints about the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX. But I would advise buying a spare battery or having an external 2,000 mAh key fob.
Very fit model. The problem with such “super-cheap” smartphones is that an army of various sizes of troubles may be hidden behind acceptable characteristics. Here is a decent device, which I, with a calm mind, could recommend to my friends to buy. A significant drawback is exactly one - the camera, I would not mind paying a thousand or two for a better module. It seems to me that the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX will appeal to males who are not enthusiastic about large smartphones, but at the same time are not eager to give 5,990 rubles (~ $ 163) for the “white” morally and technically obsolete Samsung I8160 GALAXY Ace II and its analogues. Meanwhile, on Yandex.Market the average price of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX is 3,290 rubles ($ 90).
In my opinion, the model will be a good choice for our soul mates, who often do not feel enthusiasm for 5-inch smartphones. Small, “cute” (in a white case), but with a sufficient supply of power and a decent screen - such an iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX at least provokes sympathy.
Equipment
The packaging of the smartphone is made in the traditional style for the brand, on the side there are explanations of the keys and connectors of the model. The set of accessories in the box is almost completely predictable - a power supply from the network, a microUSB cable, a headset for the “picky listener” plus an instruction with a warranty card. The presence of a protective film has become a pleasant “bun”, it is never superfluous - especially while you are looking for a cover for a freshly bought smartphone.
I note that recently B-brands regularly please with such trifles - either they put a film, then they spare a spare cover. Although you don’t have to particularly look for a cover, a blitz test showed a pretty good selection of suitable “pockets”. Still, since about 2010, HTC, Samsung and others like them have released enough 3.6-3.8-inch smartphones. I must say right away that it will not be superfluous for a smartphone to choose a high-quality headset, so with the appropriate "ears" iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX produces a very decent sound.
Design and controls
The model is available in two versions - in a black and white case, depending on this, the “code” of the smartphone, NT-3513M or NT-3514M, changes accordingly. I think I will not be the only one whose iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX appearance has caused quite definite associations with the “mini” models of one well-known South Korean manufacturer. However, in this case, I note this as a plus, because the borrowing turned out to be very high quality - they did not save on materials and assembly.
The thickness of the case is 9.5 mm, which also impresses me - the smartphone is trivial to hold, and the ends do not cut the palm. Currently, I am testing a pair of 5-inch dialers with a thickness of about 7.6 mm, which once again in my eyes confirmed the disadvantage of such minimalism for ergonomics.
This is how the model looks in comparison with a 4.5-inch smartphone - which in this case is equivalent in height to other 5-inch devices. In general, you quickly get used to the size of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX. Of course, it becomes not very convenient to work with a number of tasks, but the minimum space in your pocket and the complete lack of a “shovel” feel are worth it.
It is good that the silver rim, which runs along all the ends, was not made glossy or “chrome-plated” - both of them look unsuccessful and strongly associated with the word “cheap”. To the credit of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX - the model looks and feels like a decent thing, but does not try to hide some flaws in the exterior with the phrase “excellent value for money”.
The coverage of the smartphone from the rear is quite interesting, something like gloss on top of a barely perceptible mesh relief. I liked it more than the faceless white surface in the bulk of smartphones. There is no soft touch plastic, but fingerprints are not depressing - they are almost invisible, only with a glare at a certain angle.
The set and style of the rear elements again causes a steady deja vu, but I repeat - against the background of the general high level of performance of the apparatus, this did not cause any rejection for me.
On the front side there should be light and proximity sensors - I could not recognize them on the case, but both of them systematically confirmed their existence with a convincing fact of work.
The central physical button does not even require comments about the "source". But it was planted firmly and does not play, the last often just annoyed me were the individual smartphones of the South Korean giant.
They didn’t “reinvent the wheel” with the arrangement of buttons - here you are not Sony Xperia Z. Plus, just the other day, the novelty of a second-tier brand reminded me of how uncomfortable the power button is at the top. Here, the keys on the sides, above the "equator", everything is in order.
Looking under the cover, we remove the battery and get access to a compact arrangement of slots for SIM cards and a microSD memory card. I call such a complete installation a "communal apartment" and do not really welcome it - it is not always clear the first time what to put in. Yes, try to guess that one slot is for a microSIM card, and the second is for miniSIM.
Screen
What I remember about iconBIT devices all the time are great displays. Colors are saturated, brightness is with a sufficient margin for sunny weather. Regarding iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX, I had some concerns, because chips are chips, and for “a hundred bucks” on the matrix can save in the first place. Fortunately, my “hopes” did not materialize - the display is not inferior in quality to what I saw, say, in the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7. I would not want my assessment of the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX screen to look unnecessarily positive, but adjusted for the price, the picture was impressive - a year ago they did not dream of such a thing in dual SIM cards. IPS-matrix is the real one, especially against the background of cheap devices with pseudo-IPS, mediocre color rendition and, even worse, inversion. The display is covered with a protective glass, of course, not Gorilla Glass.
For a 3.75-inch screen, the resolution of 800 x 480 pixels is almost the "top" choice, especially in comparison with 5 or even more 7-inch WVGA devices. However, “from ancient times” the same resolution was used in 3.8-inch smartphones and HTC, and Samsung, and Nokia. It is clear that the graininess is minimal, but the text on websites still has to be read almost always with a zoom. With the exception of portals optimized for mobile displays such as bash.im or oper.ru.
In order not to wait for the "Performance" section, I will immediately share my impressions of how such a small screen relates to games. Very ambiguous. You can forget about shooters almost immediately, since with one thumb you immediately block all the shot / reload / grenade / etc buttons. There too - titles with an abundance of small interactive details, in Cut The Rope you can not get real pleasure. But things are great with everything based on the accelerometer - Asphalt 8, Riptide GP2 and others like them.
Camera
2 megapixels from the rear and 0.3 megapixels from the front. Here the classical dilemma arises, because on the one hand, the very unpretentious quality of the image is very striking against the background of more expensive state employees. On the other - in front of me is the very same start-up phone "for a hundred", and the photos I received completely correspond to the price tag of the model. Even there is autofocus, although with a general low sharpness, you hardly remember its presence. I would not recommend photographing notes with iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX, but the camera copes with large print information on the stands with a bang.
I see no reason to describe in detail the interface of the shooting program, it is a painfully familiar shell by MediaTek. Solid development, and even more so with better functionality and convenience compared to the stock Android program.
Performance and system
In this section, you should first rejoice at MediaTek. Taiwanese are progressing, and this cannot be overlooked. In fact, the segment of decent smartphones with a low price recently opened the 2-core MediaTek 6577. In the fresh MTK6572 there are also two cores, also focusing on budget devices. But the power expressed even in games has gone far ahead, although here is the combined merit of the Cortex A7 with 28 nm against the previous Cortex A9 at 40 nm, and the Mali-400MP looks more preferable than the PowerVR SGX 531. Still, there would be more RAM, and you have to put up with it with limitations of 512 MB of RAM. ROM - 4 GB, because I immediately provided the smartphone with a 16 GB card.
In benchmarks, the results are predictable, smartphone stars from the sky are not enough. However, the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX is the case when it will not work to boast points in AnTuTu, but the model does not disappoint outside of synthetic tests in real tasks.
In games, the smartphone behaves relatively well. “Comparatively” - because not all price competitors can launch any Asphalt 8. It’s good news that lags in resource-intensive games are present, but they don’t turn the game process into a slide show. Although I once thought it was comfortable playing Doom 3 at 15 FPS on my GeForce4 MX 440, I can therefore be somewhat biased in such judgments :)
Android 4.2 is our everything, although the more current release 4.3 Jelly Bean is already in full swing among the middle peasants. Plus the other day, one Russian B-brand even rolled out a new update for its tablets to a version whose name is dedicated to one famous chocolate bar with a crispy waffle. It is clear that iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX lacks in-depth software improvements. But - I would like to note in plus that the brand did not arrange a parade of any "Classmates", "Yandex" and other domestic and not very services. Even if from the point of view of a consumer-teapot I welcome such sets out of the box. Because many people don’t find such programs on Google Play, but they won’t even be able to register on the service. From the experience of acquaintances "sales people" I know
Additional programs are represented by a file manager, and a data backup program. The latter still requires a memory card. A Bluetooth connection is highlighted in a separate shortcut, coupled to it, quick access to organizing a Wi-Fi point would not hurt. I especially note the tool for monitoring the state of memory, with it I did not need to download the "ES Task Manager."
Managing calls, SMS and SIM-card settings as two drops of water are similar to those in other dual-SIM smartphones. Here I just remember that the volume of the speech speaker was enough for me both on the road and in the subway. I would like more saturated due to the low frequencies of sound - usually the voice sounded a bit dry. However, this did not affect the intelligibility of speech, which is much more important. I especially note the support of all “Russian” 3G frequencies, in particular, 2100/900 MHz, as well as HSPA +. Knowing comrades suggest that in diagonal-price analogues of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX this is not found too often.
Offline work
Given the manufacturing process and screen size, 1,200 mAh seems to me a reasonable choice. One charge with more or less intensive use is enough for one smartphone-day. If we reduce the multimedia load and limit ourselves to calls with rare 3G attacks on the Internet, we fix one and a half to two days. On solo tasks: video with maximum brightness and volume - 4 hours 30 minutes, telephone calls (3G active) - 8 hours, music - 32 hours 10 minutes, 3G Internet - 3 hours 15 minutes. In general, if you are already used to putting your smartphone on charge every night, you will have no complaints about the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX. But I would advise buying a spare battery or having an external 2,000 mAh key fob.
conclusions
Very fit model. The problem with such “super-cheap” smartphones is that an army of various sizes of troubles may be hidden behind acceptable characteristics. Here is a decent device, which I, with a calm mind, could recommend to my friends to buy. A significant drawback is exactly one - the camera, I would not mind paying a thousand or two for a better module. It seems to me that the iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX will appeal to males who are not enthusiastic about large smartphones, but at the same time are not eager to give 5,990 rubles (~ $ 163) for the “white” morally and technically obsolete Samsung I8160 GALAXY Ace II and its analogues. Meanwhile, on Yandex.Market the average price of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX is 3,290 rubles ($ 90).
In my opinion, the model will be a good choice for our soul mates, who often do not feel enthusiasm for 5-inch smartphones. Small, “cute” (in a white case), but with a sufficient supply of power and a decent screen - such an iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX at least provokes sympathy.