Review iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX: the current 3.8-inch smartphone "for a hundred bucks"
The iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX smartphone will surely remain one of the most memorable models of this year for me, for one simple reason. Diagonal of 3.75 inches - I can not remember when the last time with a similar display tried to make the device on a fresh "hardware" and the actual release of Android. The average price tag in the region of 3-4 thousand rubles (~ $ 95) directly indicates that the smartphone claims including the purchase as an alternative to a new push-button "dialer". Moreover, the thing on the totality of my impressions does not pull on a frank compromise between price, screen size and the desire to get a smartphone without any special flaws.
The packaging of the smartphone is made in the traditional style of the brand, on the side there are explanations on the keys and connectors of the model. A set of accessories in the box is almost completely predictable - a power supply unit from the network, a microUSB cable, a headset “for a picky listener” plus instructions with a warranty card. A pleasant “bun” was the presence of a protective film, which is never superfluous - especially while we are looking for a freshly bought smartphone case.
')
I note that lately B-brands regularly please with such trifles - they will attach a film, then save a spare cover. Although you don’t have to look for a case, the blitz checker showed quite a good selection of suitable pockets. Still, from about 2010, HTC, Samsung and others like them managed to release enough 3.6-3.8-inch smartphones. I’ll say right away that it would not be superfluous for a smartphone to pick up a high-quality headset, so with the corresponding “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 changes the "code" of the smartphone, NT-3513M or NT-3514M, respectively. I think I will not be the only one with the appearance of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX who has caused quite definite associations with the “mini” models of one well-known South Korean manufacturer. However, in this case I will note this as a plus, because the borrowing turned out to be of very high quality - they did not save on materials and assembly.
The thickness of the case is 9.5 mm, which also appeals to me - the smartphone is easy to hold comfortably, 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 confirmed in my eyes that such minimalism was flawed 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’s not very convenient to work with a number of tasks, but the minimum space in your pocket and the complete lack of a feeling of “shoveling” are worth it.
It is good that the silver rim running through all the ends did not become glossy or “chrome-plated” - both of which look unfortunate and firmly associated with the word “cheap”. To its credit, iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX looks like a model, and it feels like a decent thing in your hands, rather than trying to hide some exterior flaws with the wording "excellent value for money and performance."
Covering the smartphone from the rear is quite interesting, something like gloss over 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 the fingerprints are not depressing - they are simply almost invisible, only with a reflection at a certain angle.
The set and style of the elements of the rear again causes persistent deja vu, but I repeat - against the background of the overall high level of performance of the apparatus, this did not cause any rejection to me.
There should be light and proximity sensors on the front side - I did not manage to recognize them on the body, 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 firmly planted and it didn’t play; the latter were often quite irritated by individual smarfons of the South Korean giant.
“They didn’t reinvent the wheel with the button layout - here you don’t have Sony Xperia Z. Plus, just the other day, the novelty of one second-tier brand reminded me how uncomfortable it was to stay on the top of the power button. Here, the keys on the sides, above the "equator", everything is in order.
Looking under the cover, remove the battery and gain access to a compact arrangement of slots for SIM-cards and microSD memory card. I call such a complete installation a “communal flat” and I don’t welcome it much - it’s not always clear what to insert from the first time. And even try to guess that one slot is for the microSIM card, and the second is for miniSIM.
What I always remember about the iconBIT devices are the great displays. The colors are saturated, the brightness is with enough supply for sunny weather. In relation to iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX, I had certain concerns, because the chips were chips, and for a “one 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 iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7. I would not like my screen score of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX to look overly positive, but with a correction for the price, the picture impressed - a year ago in dvuhimochnymi state employees about this and did not dream. The IPS-matrix is ​​the real one, especially against the background of cheap devices with pseudo-IPS, mediocre color rendering and, even worse, inversion. The display is covered with protective glass, of course, not Gorilla Glass.
For a 3.75-inch screen, the resolution of 800 x 480 pixels is almost a “top-end” choice, especially in comparison with 5 or even more than 7-inch WVGA devices. However, from time immemorial the same resolution was used in 3.8-inch smartphones of both HTC, Samsung, and Nokia. It is clear that the graininess is minimal, but the text on websites still has to be read almost always with zoom. Except for portals like bash.im or oper.ru optimized for mobile displays.
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 the 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 there is no real pleasure. But the situation is wonderful with everything that is based on the accelerometer - Asphalt 8, Riptide GP2 and others like them.
2 Mp from the rear and 0.3 Mp from the front. Here comes the classic dilemma, because on the one hand, the very unassuming quality of the picture is striking against the background of more expensive state employees. On the other - in front of me all the same start-up "for a hundred", and the resulting photos fully correspond to the model's price tag. There is even autofocus, although with the general low sharpness you hardly remember its presence. I would not recommend taking photographs of the 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, this is a painfully familiar shell in the performance of MediaTek. High-quality development, and even more so with the best functionality and convenience compared to the stock program Android.
In this section, you should first be happy for MediaTek. Taiwanese are progressing, and this can not be overlooked. In fact, a 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 a focus on low-end devices. But the power expressed at least in games has gone far ahead, although here the cumulative merit of the Cortex A7 with 28 nm versus the previous Cortex A9 at 40 nm, and the Mali-400MP looks more preferable than PowerVR SGX 531. Another would be more RAM, and you have to put up with limitations of 512 MB of RAM. The ROM is 4 GB, so I immediately provided the smartphone with a 16 GB card.
In benchmarks results are predictable, the smartphone of stars from the sky is not enough. However, iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX is the case when it will not work to boast points in AnTuTu, but the model does not disappoint outside synthetic tests in real-world problems.
In games, the smartphone behaves relatively well. “Comparatively” - because not all price competitors fail to launch any Asphalt 8 at all. The positive news is that lags in resource-intensive games are present, but they do not turn the game process into a slide show. Although I once considered it comfortable to play Doom 3 with 15 FPS on my GeForce4 MX 440, so I can be somewhat biased in such judgments :)
Android 4.2 is our everything, although the more current release 4.3 Jelly Bean is already well underway among the "middling". Plus the other day, one Russian B-brand rolled out a new thing 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 is devoid of deep software improvements. But - I would like to note in plus the fact that the brand did not suit the parade of any “Classmates”, “Yandex” and other domestic and not-so-great services. Even if from the point of view of the consumer-teapot, I welcome such out-of-the-box kits. Because many people will not find such programs on Google Play, but they cannot even register for the service. From the experience of acquaintances "salespeople" I know that in cell stores, sellers still work well enough to help users in mastering smartphones.
Additional programs are represented by the file manager, and the data backup program. The latter still requires a memory card. In a separate shortcut Bluetooth connection is highlighted, a couple of it would not prevent fast access to the organization of the Wi-Fi point. I would especially note the memory monitoring tool, I didn’t need to download ES Task Manager with it.
Managing calls, SMS and SIM-card settings as two drops of water are similar to those in other dual-purpose smartphones. Here I just remember that the loudspeaker volume of the speaker was enough for me both when talking on the road and in the subway. I would like a more saturated due to the low frequencies of the sound - usually the voice sounded a little dry. However, this did not affect the intelligibility of speech, which is much more important. I would especially note the support of all “Russian” 3G frequencies, in particular, 2100/900 MHz, as well as HSPA +. Knowledgeable comrades suggest that in the diagonal-price analogs of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX, this is not very common.
Considering the technical process and screen size, 1,200 mAh seems to me a justified choice. One charge with more or less intensive use is enough for one smartphone-day. If we reduce the multimedia load and confine ourselves to calls with rare 3G outings to the Internet, we fix one and a half to two days. Solo tasks: video with maximum brightness and volume - 4 hours 30 minutes, telephone conversations (3G active) - 8 hours, music - 32 hours 10 minutes, Internet 3G - 3 hours 15 minutes. In general, if you are already used to putting your smartphone on charge every evening, you will not have any complaints about iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX. But I would advise you to purchase a spare battery or get an external battery-keychain at 2,000 mAh.
Very good model. The problem of such "super-cheap" smartphones is that the acceptable characteristics can hide an army of different magnitudes of trouble. Here is a decent device, which I could easily recommend to acquaintances. There is only one significant disadvantage - the camera, I would not mind paying a thousand or another for a higher-quality module. It seems to me that iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX will appeal to males who are not enthusiastic about big smartphones, but at the same time are not eager to give 5,990 rubles (~ $ 163) for the “white” morally and technically outdated Samsung I8160 GALAXY Ace II and its analogues. Meanwhile, the average price for Yandex.Market is iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX - 3,290 rubles ($ 90).
In my opinion, the model will be a good choice for our second half, who often do not enjoy the delight of 5-inch smartphones. Small, “pretty” (in a white case), but with an adequate supply of power and a decent screen - such an iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX is at least sympathetic.
Equipment
The packaging of the smartphone is made in the traditional style of the brand, on the side there are explanations on the keys and connectors of the model. A set of accessories in the box is almost completely predictable - a power supply unit from the network, a microUSB cable, a headset “for a picky listener” plus instructions with a warranty card. A pleasant “bun” was the presence of a protective film, which is never superfluous - especially while we are looking for a freshly bought smartphone case.
')
I note that lately B-brands regularly please with such trifles - they will attach a film, then save a spare cover. Although you don’t have to look for a case, the blitz checker showed quite a good selection of suitable pockets. Still, from about 2010, HTC, Samsung and others like them managed to release enough 3.6-3.8-inch smartphones. I’ll say right away that it would not be superfluous for a smartphone to pick up a high-quality headset, so with the corresponding “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 changes the "code" of the smartphone, NT-3513M or NT-3514M, respectively. I think I will not be the only one with the appearance of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX who has caused quite definite associations with the “mini” models of one well-known South Korean manufacturer. However, in this case I will note this as a plus, because the borrowing turned out to be of very high quality - they did not save on materials and assembly.
The thickness of the case is 9.5 mm, which also appeals to me - the smartphone is easy to hold comfortably, 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 confirmed in my eyes that such minimalism was flawed 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’s not very convenient to work with a number of tasks, but the minimum space in your pocket and the complete lack of a feeling of “shoveling” are worth it.
It is good that the silver rim running through all the ends did not become glossy or “chrome-plated” - both of which look unfortunate and firmly associated with the word “cheap”. To its credit, iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX looks like a model, and it feels like a decent thing in your hands, rather than trying to hide some exterior flaws with the wording "excellent value for money and performance."
Covering the smartphone from the rear is quite interesting, something like gloss over 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 the fingerprints are not depressing - they are simply almost invisible, only with a reflection at a certain angle.
The set and style of the elements of the rear again causes persistent deja vu, but I repeat - against the background of the overall high level of performance of the apparatus, this did not cause any rejection to me.
There should be light and proximity sensors on the front side - I did not manage to recognize them on the body, 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 firmly planted and it didn’t play; the latter were often quite irritated by individual smarfons of the South Korean giant.
“They didn’t reinvent the wheel with the button layout - here you don’t have Sony Xperia Z. Plus, just the other day, the novelty of one second-tier brand reminded me how uncomfortable it was to stay on the top of the power button. Here, the keys on the sides, above the "equator", everything is in order.
Looking under the cover, remove the battery and gain access to a compact arrangement of slots for SIM-cards and microSD memory card. I call such a complete installation a “communal flat” and I don’t welcome it much - it’s not always clear what to insert from the first time. And even try to guess that one slot is for the microSIM card, and the second is for miniSIM.
Screen
What I always remember about the iconBIT devices are the great displays. The colors are saturated, the brightness is with enough supply for sunny weather. In relation to iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX, I had certain concerns, because the chips were chips, and for a “one 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 iconBIT NetTAB Mercury Q7. I would not like my screen score of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX to look overly positive, but with a correction for the price, the picture impressed - a year ago in dvuhimochnymi state employees about this and did not dream. The IPS-matrix is ​​the real one, especially against the background of cheap devices with pseudo-IPS, mediocre color rendering and, even worse, inversion. The display is covered with protective glass, of course, not Gorilla Glass.
For a 3.75-inch screen, the resolution of 800 x 480 pixels is almost a “top-end” choice, especially in comparison with 5 or even more than 7-inch WVGA devices. However, from time immemorial the same resolution was used in 3.8-inch smartphones of both HTC, Samsung, and Nokia. It is clear that the graininess is minimal, but the text on websites still has to be read almost always with zoom. Except for portals like bash.im or oper.ru optimized for mobile displays.
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 the 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 there is no real pleasure. But the situation is wonderful with everything that is based on the accelerometer - Asphalt 8, Riptide GP2 and others like them.
Camera
2 Mp from the rear and 0.3 Mp from the front. Here comes the classic dilemma, because on the one hand, the very unassuming quality of the picture is striking against the background of more expensive state employees. On the other - in front of me all the same start-up "for a hundred", and the resulting photos fully correspond to the model's price tag. There is even autofocus, although with the general low sharpness you hardly remember its presence. I would not recommend taking photographs of the 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, this is a painfully familiar shell in the performance of MediaTek. High-quality development, and even more so with the best functionality and convenience compared to the stock program Android.
Performance and system
In this section, you should first be happy for MediaTek. Taiwanese are progressing, and this can not be overlooked. In fact, a 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 a focus on low-end devices. But the power expressed at least in games has gone far ahead, although here the cumulative merit of the Cortex A7 with 28 nm versus the previous Cortex A9 at 40 nm, and the Mali-400MP looks more preferable than PowerVR SGX 531. Another would be more RAM, and you have to put up with limitations of 512 MB of RAM. The ROM is 4 GB, so I immediately provided the smartphone with a 16 GB card.
In benchmarks results are predictable, the smartphone of stars from the sky is not enough. However, iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX is the case when it will not work to boast points in AnTuTu, but the model does not disappoint outside synthetic tests in real-world problems.
In games, the smartphone behaves relatively well. “Comparatively” - because not all price competitors fail to launch any Asphalt 8 at all. The positive news is that lags in resource-intensive games are present, but they do not turn the game process into a slide show. Although I once considered it comfortable to play Doom 3 with 15 FPS on my GeForce4 MX 440, so I can be somewhat biased in such judgments :)
Android 4.2 is our everything, although the more current release 4.3 Jelly Bean is already well underway among the "middling". Plus the other day, one Russian B-brand rolled out a new thing 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 is devoid of deep software improvements. But - I would like to note in plus the fact that the brand did not suit the parade of any “Classmates”, “Yandex” and other domestic and not-so-great services. Even if from the point of view of the consumer-teapot, I welcome such out-of-the-box kits. Because many people will not find such programs on Google Play, but they cannot even register for the service. From the experience of acquaintances "salespeople" I know that in cell stores, sellers still work well enough to help users in mastering smartphones.
Additional programs are represented by the file manager, and the data backup program. The latter still requires a memory card. In a separate shortcut Bluetooth connection is highlighted, a couple of it would not prevent fast access to the organization of the Wi-Fi point. I would especially note the memory monitoring tool, I didn’t need to download ES Task Manager with it.
Managing calls, SMS and SIM-card settings as two drops of water are similar to those in other dual-purpose smartphones. Here I just remember that the loudspeaker volume of the speaker was enough for me both when talking on the road and in the subway. I would like a more saturated due to the low frequencies of the sound - usually the voice sounded a little dry. However, this did not affect the intelligibility of speech, which is much more important. I would especially note the support of all “Russian” 3G frequencies, in particular, 2100/900 MHz, as well as HSPA +. Knowledgeable comrades suggest that in the diagonal-price analogs of iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX, this is not very common.
Autonomous work
Considering the technical process and screen size, 1,200 mAh seems to me a justified choice. One charge with more or less intensive use is enough for one smartphone-day. If we reduce the multimedia load and confine ourselves to calls with rare 3G outings to the Internet, we fix one and a half to two days. Solo tasks: video with maximum brightness and volume - 4 hours 30 minutes, telephone conversations (3G active) - 8 hours, music - 32 hours 10 minutes, Internet 3G - 3 hours 15 minutes. In general, if you are already used to putting your smartphone on charge every evening, you will not have any complaints about iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX. But I would advise you to purchase a spare battery or get an external battery-keychain at 2,000 mAh.
findings
Very good model. The problem of such "super-cheap" smartphones is that the acceptable characteristics can hide an army of different magnitudes of trouble. Here is a decent device, which I could easily recommend to acquaintances. There is only one significant disadvantage - the camera, I would not mind paying a thousand or another for a higher-quality module. It seems to me that iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX will appeal to males who are not enthusiastic about big smartphones, but at the same time are not eager to give 5,990 rubles (~ $ 163) for the “white” morally and technically outdated Samsung I8160 GALAXY Ace II and its analogues. Meanwhile, the average price for Yandex.Market is iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX - 3,290 rubles ($ 90).
In my opinion, the model will be a good choice for our second half, who often do not enjoy the delight of 5-inch smartphones. Small, “pretty” (in a white case), but with an adequate supply of power and a decent screen - such an iconBIT NetTAB Mercury LX is at least sympathetic.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/216515/
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