IconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 Review: The Only 6.5-inch Smartphone in Russia
IconBIT smartphones still almost never came across my eyes. Although there are already eight models in the brand portfolio in the “smartphones” tab, including the object of this review and the curious “trendy” smart watch iconBIT Callisto 100. The iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 model, which will be discussed, was first shown to the public at IFA 2013 in September, And in October, the news came on the arrival of new items on sale.
First of all, the device is notable for its phablet“shovel” form factor, combined with a 6.5-inch Full HD screen. A selection of offers on Yandex.Market by these two parameters (given diagonals from 6 to 7 inches) showed only four models. If we drop a couple of devices with dubious chances of having a “PCT” tag, Sony Xperia Z Ultra remains in competition with a price tag that exceeds 20,000 rubles (~ $ 625) - against 11,990 rubles (~ $ 375) for the iconBIT model. In general, a classic example of blitzkrieg in a free price niche.
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A smartphone is delivered (let's stop at this positioning option) in an inconspicuous box, which shows the model itself with a set of colored pencils on the screen. Such wallpaper, as I understand it, is an indispensable attribute of iconBIT devices. However, everything is logical: the brand is able to choose displays and is not particularly shy about it.
Open the box and first note the protective film - a rare and very useful accessory for a device in daily use. Instructions, headset, charging unit (with LED-indicator) - nothing special.
I liked the cable in two points: massive rubberized ends and a fixed adhesive tape for twisting the wire. For me, this decision is not particularly relevant, I preferred to put together my own and a half dozen cables together with an ordinary rubber band. But a "normal" consumer with one or two devices at home "chip" iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 should be like.
The first thing I want to say is not about the size. It turned out that on the front side “by default” a film was already pasted, which, if desired, could not be removed at all - there is no “tear it” label on it. At the same time, we keep in mind an additional complete “pad”. I nevertheless had to remove the film in order to better appreciate the screen, and the air bubbles somehow did not please the eye at all (if you wish, you can try to smooth them out, so that “plastic cards are in your hands”).
The model has dimensions of 178 x 92 x 9.8 mm, and these are normal parameters - with such and such a diagonal. Notice, the frame on the sides of the screen and the space under it did not become too big. Despite this, the device is objectively very large, but it should be taken for granted. In the end, it would be foolish to blame a 10-inch tablet for large sizes. I will not say anything bad about the weight of 272 grams, the smartphone doesn’t burden the hand very much. Especially when you consider that most of the time they still use two hands. In a telephone conversation, I personally wanted to change my hand after about 10 minutes of communication.
The design of the smartphone as such "budget" does not look, which is already good. Slightly rounded upper and lower platforms, as well as a small space from them to the screen, I personally called associations with Samsung models. However, we are not talking about any full borrowing - iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 "identifies" the ends, completely made "under chrome." By the way, all sides are angled, the largest slope is observed at the bottom. I don’t see any practicalities here, so I’ll leave this moment without comment.
On the front side are the usual touch buttons, light sensors / proximity and front camera. There is no such important element as an indicator of events - this is an unconditional omission.
I was amazed at the button illumination, for a long time (and that’s been there a long time ago) never seen one like that. Very bright light, so even with a large "area". Alas, the ability to adjust the brightness I have not found.
On the back cover - LED flash, camera and speaker slots. Pay attention to the raised strip between the slots, which prevents muting of the sound when the smartphone lies on a flat surface. The sound is loud, the body at the maximum does not rattle. The lid is glossy, but because of the white color, fingerprints do not catch the eye. The standard is such a plus combination of gloss with a white "substrate", a similar effect is observed not in the first smartphone.
The power and volume buttons are located on the ends to the right and left, respectively. In my opinion, this is the best option for a smartphone of any diagonal. The keys do not play, do not detect difficulties in pressing.
MicroUSB connector is located on the bottom. To be honest, I'm tired of the irrational desire of the B-brands to install this connector on top. Minus specifically iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 - pay attention to the large angle of inclination of the side, because of this, not every cable has a “plug” fully inserted into the connector. For example, my spare wire from Nokia was out of work.
Upstairs - only a 3.5 mm headset jack.
Under the cover are two slots for "full-size" SIM-cards and a slot for a microSD memory card.
Full HD resolution in smartphones and tablets today is so common that if iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 had “only” an HD screen, I would certainly note this as a flaw. And so - 1080 x 1920 points at 6.5 inches and ... Accurate information on PPI is missing, but it is clear that the value of this parameter is not the lowest. It seems to me useless to evaluate the graininess of the display - and so it is clear that everything is fine with clarity.
The IPS matrix is used, the image quality without reservation is high - it was just pleasant for me to look at colorful wallpapers or games with lush colors. The dignity of the screen turned out to be his, in a sense, disadvantage. Brightness - my respect, the question of the problems of readability in the sun is not worth it. But it upset that the variation in brightness adjustment is quite small. That is, even at the very minimum in a number of situations, I would not mind cutting down the level two times more.
Protects screen tempered glass. Not Gorilla Glass, but a surface withstood a couple of gentle “strokes” with a sharp knife. Plus heels energetic blows with a screwdriver. I do not observe oleophobic coating, but I did not think about the screen marbling during use.
It’s impossible to say anything special about the front 2-megapixel camera, so we’ll go straight to the 13-megapixel rear module. The maximum resolution of images is 4096 x 3072 pixels. It is clear that, according to the brand, as much as 13 megapixels will save the user "from having to carry a soap box with him, because with this smartphone you will be able to access any type of photo ...". I would not rush such serious words, because this is the third 13-megapixel smartphone of B-brands in my hands. And while I cannot say sincere "wow". The camera produces average quality shots, in a good sense of the word. That is, the elusive effect of the mobile camera (in the sense of pixelation) is still not observed, good detail is visible at middle and near distances. Even macro photography is the place to be. Mostly overexposure, as well as a narrow color range.
The shooting program is non-standard for “stock” Android, but it is found in almost every first smartphone with MediaTek MT6589. I do not know who the author of the application is, but the development gives me purely positive emotions. I would even give the program the highest rating if the left panel was customizable.
In the hardware characteristics of the brand leads "Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 1.5 GHz, PowerVR IMGSG 544", without specifying a chip maker. I will try to support the intrigue and will not say which processor with the “T” index can have such a clock frequency and a similar graphics accelerator. RAM - 1 GB, ROM - 8 GB (plus a slot for a memory card). I think this information is already enough for the protracted workers to figure out how the device behaves in games and what results it gives in benchmarks. I will give screenshots on the basis of synthetic tests.
Suddenly it turned out that the smartphone categorically refuses to be friends with the games of the infamous GLU, which for me was a complete surprise. In any case, the Eternity Warriors 2 and Contact Killer 2 shamelessly demonstrated something like 5 FPS. What is the reason for this is incomprehensible to me, but what I noticed, of course, refers to some kind of error, not to the performance problems of the smartphone. For comfort, the graphically more attractive Riptide GP 2, Real Racing 3 and Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour were tested. The whole troika shot out and retreated to "Hurray."
To study how a smartphone interacts with video files, I unscrupulously borrowed the IXBT technique - Respect the guys for putting test files into free access. The check was carried out at once in two directions: “omnivorousness” in relation to video formats and playing files with different bitrate and resolution options. As you can see, the regular player is good, but the "spare" in the form of an alternative application does not hurt.
The smartphone uses Android 4.2, some software revelations are not observed. Additionally, a file manager, a non-standard video player are pre-installed, there is a scheduler, a text notes program and a dedicated tool for Bluetooth connections. There is also a data backup program that does not want to work without a memory card. I have no complaints about the speed of the system, in this case, the Full HD-display did not add any "sores". I also note that the background of the main menu changes along with the wallpaper, which is good, since in 99% of smartphones in the “naked” Android, the last ever remains black.
Wireless standards, in addition to "telephone" (including 3G), are represented by Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth and GPS. I did not measure the GPS signal, since for almost a week of using the smartphone as a navigator, there were no problems with receiving the signal and its stability. Although after studying the forums I had big concerns because of the presence of MediaTek MT6589 (more precisely, MT6589T).
Management of two SIM-cards is performed using standard Android 4.2 methods, through the corresponding item in the settings. The application for making calls is also left unchanged.
2,800 mAh looks very modest given the fact that in smartphones with a diagonal of 5 inches and less, indicators of 3,000 mAh and higher are often encountered. In the autonomy test, the AnTuTu model yielded 591 points, not the most outstanding, but not the most modest achievement. In Epic Citadel, while cycling the demo, the smartphone was discharged after five hours. HD-file (4 Mbit / s) with average brightness and maximum volume planted the battery for 4 and a half hours. On average, with the “mixed” mode of operation, I charged my smartphone once a day, in the deep evening.
So far I do not see the model in the official retail, but we will proceed from the fact that the claimed 11,990 rubles (~ $ 375) will not change. Regarding the price, I cited the mini-study in the introduction and recall that I don’t observe very close competitors to iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7. If the budget for a new gadget is limited to the price of the model reviewed, I don’t see any particular alternatives. Kohl that missed - correct.
What did not like: a small range of adjusting the brightness of the screen, too bright buttons, incomprehensible problems with the games GLU, the average (expected more) camera. The advantages are a luxurious (exactly) screen, support for two SIM-cards, 8 GB of internal memory (I was waiting for 4 GB), and in general there are no serious complaints about both the design and the hardware characteristics. It is clear that the product is purely niche. And the more interesting is that in its parameter set, the competition for iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 is “none” for the time being. Let's see how quickly other B-brands will prepare their “answer”.
PS Most likely, in the comments a mention will be made of the products of the Chinese company ThL, whose devices "apparently, except China, apparently, are not supplied", as IXBT claims. I tend to agree with this, since I don’t see any evidence of certification of smartphones of this brand in Russia. And for me, it remains an absolute mystery, on the basis of which ThL models and a number of other local Chinese brands are added to the Yandex.Market catalog.
First of all, the device is notable for its phablet
')
Contents of delivery
A smartphone is delivered (let's stop at this positioning option) in an inconspicuous box, which shows the model itself with a set of colored pencils on the screen. Such wallpaper, as I understand it, is an indispensable attribute of iconBIT devices. However, everything is logical: the brand is able to choose displays and is not particularly shy about it.
Open the box and first note the protective film - a rare and very useful accessory for a device in daily use. Instructions, headset, charging unit (with LED-indicator) - nothing special.
I liked the cable in two points: massive rubberized ends and a fixed adhesive tape for twisting the wire. For me, this decision is not particularly relevant, I preferred to put together my own and a half dozen cables together with an ordinary rubber band. But a "normal" consumer with one or two devices at home "chip" iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 should be like.
Appearance and controls
The first thing I want to say is not about the size. It turned out that on the front side “by default” a film was already pasted, which, if desired, could not be removed at all - there is no “tear it” label on it. At the same time, we keep in mind an additional complete “pad”. I nevertheless had to remove the film in order to better appreciate the screen, and the air bubbles somehow did not please the eye at all (if you wish, you can try to smooth them out, so that “plastic cards are in your hands”).
The model has dimensions of 178 x 92 x 9.8 mm, and these are normal parameters - with such and such a diagonal. Notice, the frame on the sides of the screen and the space under it did not become too big. Despite this, the device is objectively very large, but it should be taken for granted. In the end, it would be foolish to blame a 10-inch tablet for large sizes. I will not say anything bad about the weight of 272 grams, the smartphone doesn’t burden the hand very much. Especially when you consider that most of the time they still use two hands. In a telephone conversation, I personally wanted to change my hand after about 10 minutes of communication.
The design of the smartphone as such "budget" does not look, which is already good. Slightly rounded upper and lower platforms, as well as a small space from them to the screen, I personally called associations with Samsung models. However, we are not talking about any full borrowing - iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 "identifies" the ends, completely made "under chrome." By the way, all sides are angled, the largest slope is observed at the bottom. I don’t see any practicalities here, so I’ll leave this moment without comment.
On the front side are the usual touch buttons, light sensors / proximity and front camera. There is no such important element as an indicator of events - this is an unconditional omission.
I was amazed at the button illumination, for a long time (and that’s been there a long time ago) never seen one like that. Very bright light, so even with a large "area". Alas, the ability to adjust the brightness I have not found.
On the back cover - LED flash, camera and speaker slots. Pay attention to the raised strip between the slots, which prevents muting of the sound when the smartphone lies on a flat surface. The sound is loud, the body at the maximum does not rattle. The lid is glossy, but because of the white color, fingerprints do not catch the eye. The standard is such a plus combination of gloss with a white "substrate", a similar effect is observed not in the first smartphone.
The power and volume buttons are located on the ends to the right and left, respectively. In my opinion, this is the best option for a smartphone of any diagonal. The keys do not play, do not detect difficulties in pressing.
MicroUSB connector is located on the bottom. To be honest, I'm tired of the irrational desire of the B-brands to install this connector on top. Minus specifically iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 - pay attention to the large angle of inclination of the side, because of this, not every cable has a “plug” fully inserted into the connector. For example, my spare wire from Nokia was out of work.
Upstairs - only a 3.5 mm headset jack.
Under the cover are two slots for "full-size" SIM-cards and a slot for a microSD memory card.
Screen
Full HD resolution in smartphones and tablets today is so common that if iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 had “only” an HD screen, I would certainly note this as a flaw. And so - 1080 x 1920 points at 6.5 inches and ... Accurate information on PPI is missing, but it is clear that the value of this parameter is not the lowest. It seems to me useless to evaluate the graininess of the display - and so it is clear that everything is fine with clarity.
The IPS matrix is used, the image quality without reservation is high - it was just pleasant for me to look at colorful wallpapers or games with lush colors. The dignity of the screen turned out to be his, in a sense, disadvantage. Brightness - my respect, the question of the problems of readability in the sun is not worth it. But it upset that the variation in brightness adjustment is quite small. That is, even at the very minimum in a number of situations, I would not mind cutting down the level two times more.
Protects screen tempered glass. Not Gorilla Glass, but a surface withstood a couple of gentle “strokes” with a sharp knife. Plus heels energetic blows with a screwdriver. I do not observe oleophobic coating, but I did not think about the screen marbling during use.
Camera
It’s impossible to say anything special about the front 2-megapixel camera, so we’ll go straight to the 13-megapixel rear module. The maximum resolution of images is 4096 x 3072 pixels. It is clear that, according to the brand, as much as 13 megapixels will save the user "from having to carry a soap box with him, because with this smartphone you will be able to access any type of photo ...". I would not rush such serious words, because this is the third 13-megapixel smartphone of B-brands in my hands. And while I cannot say sincere "wow". The camera produces average quality shots, in a good sense of the word. That is, the elusive effect of the mobile camera (in the sense of pixelation) is still not observed, good detail is visible at middle and near distances. Even macro photography is the place to be. Mostly overexposure, as well as a narrow color range.
The shooting program is non-standard for “stock” Android, but it is found in almost every first smartphone with MediaTek MT6589. I do not know who the author of the application is, but the development gives me purely positive emotions. I would even give the program the highest rating if the left panel was customizable.
Performance
In the hardware characteristics of the brand leads "Quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 1.5 GHz, PowerVR IMGSG 544", without specifying a chip maker. I will try to support the intrigue and will not say which processor with the “T” index can have such a clock frequency and a similar graphics accelerator. RAM - 1 GB, ROM - 8 GB (plus a slot for a memory card). I think this information is already enough for the protracted workers to figure out how the device behaves in games and what results it gives in benchmarks. I will give screenshots on the basis of synthetic tests.
Suddenly it turned out that the smartphone categorically refuses to be friends with the games of the infamous GLU, which for me was a complete surprise. In any case, the Eternity Warriors 2 and Contact Killer 2 shamelessly demonstrated something like 5 FPS. What is the reason for this is incomprehensible to me, but what I noticed, of course, refers to some kind of error, not to the performance problems of the smartphone. For comfort, the graphically more attractive Riptide GP 2, Real Racing 3 and Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour were tested. The whole troika shot out and retreated to "Hurray."
To study how a smartphone interacts with video files, I unscrupulously borrowed the IXBT technique - Respect the guys for putting test files into free access. The check was carried out at once in two directions: “omnivorousness” in relation to video formats and playing files with different bitrate and resolution options. As you can see, the regular player is good, but the "spare" in the form of an alternative application does not hurt.
System and all-all-all
The smartphone uses Android 4.2, some software revelations are not observed. Additionally, a file manager, a non-standard video player are pre-installed, there is a scheduler, a text notes program and a dedicated tool for Bluetooth connections. There is also a data backup program that does not want to work without a memory card. I have no complaints about the speed of the system, in this case, the Full HD-display did not add any "sores". I also note that the background of the main menu changes along with the wallpaper, which is good, since in 99% of smartphones in the “naked” Android, the last ever remains black.
Wireless standards, in addition to "telephone" (including 3G), are represented by Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 b / g / n, Bluetooth and GPS. I did not measure the GPS signal, since for almost a week of using the smartphone as a navigator, there were no problems with receiving the signal and its stability. Although after studying the forums I had big concerns because of the presence of MediaTek MT6589 (more precisely, MT6589T).
Management of two SIM-cards is performed using standard Android 4.2 methods, through the corresponding item in the settings. The application for making calls is also left unchanged.
Autonomous work
2,800 mAh looks very modest given the fact that in smartphones with a diagonal of 5 inches and less, indicators of 3,000 mAh and higher are often encountered. In the autonomy test, the AnTuTu model yielded 591 points, not the most outstanding, but not the most modest achievement. In Epic Citadel, while cycling the demo, the smartphone was discharged after five hours. HD-file (4 Mbit / s) with average brightness and maximum volume planted the battery for 4 and a half hours. On average, with the “mixed” mode of operation, I charged my smartphone once a day, in the deep evening.
Conclusion
So far I do not see the model in the official retail, but we will proceed from the fact that the claimed 11,990 rubles (~ $ 375) will not change. Regarding the price, I cited the mini-study in the introduction and recall that I don’t observe very close competitors to iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7. If the budget for a new gadget is limited to the price of the model reviewed, I don’t see any particular alternatives. Kohl that missed - correct.
What did not like: a small range of adjusting the brightness of the screen, too bright buttons, incomprehensible problems with the games GLU, the average (expected more) camera. The advantages are a luxurious (exactly) screen, support for two SIM-cards, 8 GB of internal memory (I was waiting for 4 GB), and in general there are no serious complaints about both the design and the hardware characteristics. It is clear that the product is purely niche. And the more interesting is that in its parameter set, the competition for iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7 is “none” for the time being. Let's see how quickly other B-brands will prepare their “answer”.
PS Most likely, in the comments a mention will be made of the products of the Chinese company ThL, whose devices "apparently, except China, apparently, are not supplied", as IXBT claims. I tend to agree with this, since I don’t see any evidence of certification of smartphones of this brand in Russia. And for me, it remains an absolute mystery, on the basis of which ThL models and a number of other local Chinese brands are added to the Yandex.Market catalog.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/199514/
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