Smart Phones by stefan @ 2013-09-02
The NETTAB Mercury XL (NT-3504M) smartphone from iconBIT is powered by a Quad-Core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU, with PowerVR IMGSGX544. The 4.5’’ screen comes with a 1280x720 resolution and we also have a 2MP sensor for the frontal camera and 8MP for the back.
At first we would like to thank iconBIT for offering a sample of their NETTAB Mercury XL (NT-3504M) mobile phone for testing and reviewing.
"iconBIT team is focused on multimedia solutions for content recording, storage, editing and playback: music, photo and video... Our ultimate idea is to integrate effective and easy way an "digital lifestyle" environment around modern open platforms and hardware components. At home, on the road, or while working -- iconBIT didn't push You towards one exact product, but ensures freedom of selection among best possible technologies and solutions, at best price/performance/feature value."
Quad Core processor ARM Cortex-A7 + PowerVR IMGSGX544
IPS 4.5” 1280x720 display (326 ppi)
GPS navigator function
2 cameras (8.0 Mpix and 2.0 Mpix, autofocus)
SKYPE support
3G mobile access to Internet
Mobile communication + SMS + MMS
Support of Google Play apps
Full HD video/audio player and FM radio
Ultrathin 8.6 mm
Headset, charger and USB cable
The Mercury XL mobile phone from iconBIT is offered in a quite compact packaging, which is also comes fully sealed:
On the frontal side of the box we will be able to see some photos of the actual product, along with several icons, highlighting the hardware capabilities:
The icons we have just seen earlier are also present on the back, but this time with explanations and here we will also get to see a small product description along with some serial numbers and the IMEI for both SIM slots:
The front also opens even further in order to reveal some more product photos:
Moving on, we will find the phone along with the accessories sitting in a protective foam mold:
Besides the usual charger and USB cable, we also get a small User Manual and we really have to appreciate the inclusion of a free protective screen. There is only one, remember, so we need to be really careful when applying it since no extra cleaning cloth is offered or a squeegee. We would recommend applying it right from the beginning, after the removal of the stock printed protector and if we still see residues, we should try to remove them with a soft cloth:
The charger is compact and resembles the ones which come with the Iphones:
On its bottom we will be able to see the manufacturer along with the power Input/Output ratings:
Inside the manual we will find most info to get things started:
Some people are not really careful on which stuff is printed on the box, so the manufacturer has again included the software specs on the stock screen protector. The placement of the capacitive buttons is slightly different than on the Gigabyte phone, with the Back button shifted to the left:
On the side of the phone we will find a chromed plastic frame which gives it a premium look but we are not exactly sure how resistant it would be in the long run. The right side comes with the Volume rocker, which is easily accessible:
The USB port is present on the left side of the device:
On the bottom we will easily spot the Microphone port:
On the top we have a larger Power/Standby button along with the hands-free jack:
In the upper screen area we will get to see the speaker along with the frontal camera lens and the light sensor:
Let’s look on the back side of the phone too, shall we? Well, here we will get to see a shiny plastic back and the overall design looks like a hybrid between the Samsung Galaxy S2 combined with the S3:
In the lower area we have the speaker port which has the middle area a little bit raised and acts like a foot:
The back cover is molded in such a way so it can be removed in an easy manner:
The camera has 8MP, features Auto Focus and also comes with two Flash LEDs:
Further down we get to see separate slots for the SIM cards, the SIM1 slot supporting WCDMA+GSM while the second one GSM. The grid contacts must face down when inserting the cards. Also here we have the microSD slot:
The phone was supplied with the battery placed into the socket but the manufacturer has also sealed the contacts in order to prevent accidental discharges. On the back side of the battery we get to see the power ratings of the supplied battery:
With the battery removed, we will be able to see the sticker which shows us again the IMEI numbers for both SIM slots and also the mobile phone serial number:
The phone connects to the battery via 3 contacts:
The Mercury XL comes with a similar hardware setup as the Gigabyte Maya M1 v2, but the screen is with a higher resolution of 1280x720 which results in a 326ppi. The phone welcomes us with one predefined wallpaper showing rich colors and some of the usual application icons are brought from the drawer to the desktop:
By going to the drawer, we will recognize many apps we have presented before, but also some additional ones:
The preinstalled Backup application will only work if we have a SD card installed inside the phone:
Next we have the Camera application which is very similar to the one from the other MTK phone:
Google Drive is preinstalled for accessing our files from the cloud:
The default file manager lets us navigate through the internal storage space and also the external SD card if we have it installed; we can see from the beginning that the phone does not have a lot of space left so purchasing an additional SD card is kind of mandatory:
The FM Radio application allows us to listen to the local stations, but only when we have the headset connected, which will act as an antenna:
For checking various areas or locking on to our location we have available the Google Maps application:
Both Contacts and Phone applications are stock and we can also modify the color theme (by default it was blue and we switched it to green):
A few moments after we log in with our Google account, the Play Store will be updated to the latest version:
Believe it or not, this phone comes pre-rooted, with Superuser available through the installed apps:
A Task Manager application is also present by default from which we can force close the applications we are not using in order to free up RAM:
We also have available a ToDo app for setting up reminders:
As on the Gigabyte phone, here we also have a Flashlight application:
Wireless peripherals can be added easier with the dedicated application:
Now going back to the Settings application, we can see that the menu icons have been reworked with some colorful variants:
From the SIM Management menu we will be able to work with the settings of the two SIM cards, enable Data connection and so on:
The Wi-Fi menu allows selecting and connecting to one of the detected networks:
Some advanced options can be also selected; the Wi-Fi optimization setting was also available on the Gigabyte phone:
Bluetooth menu is self-explanatory; we have encountered the same issue with the Sony Smartwatch as on the Gigabyte Maya M1 v2 (before upgrade), so we need to wait for iconBIT to issue an update for their model too:
The Data Usage tab shows us the traffic status for both mobile and Wi-Fi connections:
Some additional settings like Tethering & portable hotspot are accessible from the extra menu:
The Audio Profiles menu will allow us to select one of the predefined ones and customize; here we also enable an audio enhancement feature:
The Display menu allows customization of the current theme, wallpaper, adjusting the screen brightness, enable Daydream and more:
The Storage menu allows us to see the remaining free space and how the current occupied one is organized. When a microSD card is installed, we can switch the software installation directly on it so the low space issues should be gone:
From the Battery menu, we will be able to see the status and which process has consumed more:
The Apps menu is self-explanatory and shows the currently installed/downloaded applications, which are running and so on:
The Location access menu allows us to enable/disable the hardware GPS and assists:
The regular Security options are available in the menu with the same name; in order to be able to install non-Play Store applications, we should tick on “unknown sources”:
Language & input settings can be customized from the next menu:
The Backup & reset menu allows us to work with the backup/restore options but also to perform a full reset:
The Date & time menu is also self-explanatory; on the last mobile phone that was tested we have encountered the same bug when the time zone was not detected correctly and has to be set manually:
MTK phones also have the Schedule power on & off menu available:
The Accessibility menu comes with the default options:
The Developer options menu, by default, comes with only 3 options. In order to get access to the full set of options, we will need to do the shortcut thing through the “About” menu:
Finally, we have the About phone menu, where we can check the Baseband version, Kernel version or Build number:
The iconBIT NETTAB Mercury XL mobile phone is equipped with Quad-core Cortex-A7 processor at 1.21Ghz while the GPU is a PowerVR SGX 544MP as reported by the latest version of CPU-Z:
The System tab will supply us more information regarding the phone model, board, display or CPU, which is a MediaTek MT6589:
The next tab will show current status of theLi-Ion, 1750 mAh battery:
To test out the performances of the iconBIT NETTAB Mercury XL mobile phone, we have installed some freeware benchmark apps from the Internet in the internal memory (did not transfer them to the Sdcard). Afterwards, the applications were ran one-by-one, and we recorded the final results; the obtained scores were also compared with the previously tested systems, to spot the performance differences.
With this review we will introduce two new benchmarks, by also comparing with some of the latest samples:
In order to have an idea over the actual viewing angles, we have taken some several photos in the same environment:
The latest Mercury XL mobile phone from iconBIT is available in two colors and looks quite good. As the GSmart Maya M1 v2 Quad, this phone is also powered by an ARM Cortex-A7 Quad Core at 1.2GHz, while the GPU is a PowerVR IMGSGX544. Regarding the display, we have an IPS screen with a 1280x720 resolution and a total of 326 ppi; the glass is Japan AGC, a Gorilla Glass equivalent which should be resistant to scratches. As an additional safety measure which we surely appreciate, the phone is also shipped with a screen shield, which we can install by ourselves. The other features are to be found on most phones like the Bluetooth 3.0 interface or GPS. Mercury XL also comes with an 8MP camera sensor on the back and 2MP camera sensor in front for video conferences; speaking of the camera sensor, we have taken some sample photos which you have probably seen in one of the latest pages and we have observed that it does not focus optimally all the time, resulting in a blurry image. We are unsure if this has to do with the sensor or it is a software issue. Both GSmart Maya M1 v2 Quad and Mercury XL have about the same Camera software, but on the Gigabyte terminal we did not experience such issues, most of the photos being quite sharp.
We have also tested the GPS capabilities to lock-in; while the Gigabyte phone needed about one minute to connect to the satellites and provide a position on the map, the Mercury XL barely detected them. After a few tries, we have observed that with the Mercury XL the angle which we hold the phone at is important; we have got much better results while holding the phone at angles higher than 45.
The Mercury XL is based on the same software version we had on the Gigabyte Maya M1 v2 Quad at launch, so we have encountered the same issue with the Sony Smartwatch not being able to be paired. Gigabyte has recently issued an update which fixed this issue and many others, while updating the baseband; we are sure that iconBIT will follow in order to improve the smartphone features even more.
Speaking of the battery life, the screen time really depends on how much we stress out the phone; with heavy usage, the battery can get discharged quite quickly (GPS on, notifications, taking photos, playing games, browsing the web, watching photos, watching Youtube and so on).
These being said, we really enjoyed how the phone performs and how it is built, being a variant we could take in account when deciding to purchase a mainstream terminal, without breaking the bank.
The recommended retail price of Mercury XL for Europe is 279.95 Euros.
We would like to thank again to iconBIT for making this review possible!
