For a Rs. 6,000 tablet, the Mercury mTab7 is hard to recommend. To start with, the display and the performance isn’t the best and for a mere Rs. 500 more you are getting a tablet with a better display and better overall performance. The mTab7 doesn�t even boast of any unique feature like voice-calling capabilities or preloaded content. You are better off exploring other options before making your purchase decision, such as the Lava E-Tab Xtron, and WickedLeak Wammy Desire.
Today, we have with us the Mercury mTab7. In a day and age dominated with Jelly Bean-based tablets, this one runs on Android 4.0 ICS. Its innards are also pretty standard, run-of-the-mill. Does the mTab7 do anything to distinguish itself from the crowd?
Design and Build
From the get go the Mercury mTab7 looks like your run-of-the-mill every day Android 7-inch tablet. You have the 7-inch display in front of you with no physical buttons and the front facing camera in the top right corner (when held in landscape mode). This is an inconvenient place for the camera as you can easily cover it with your thumb if you hold the device with your right hand (with the tablet being held in landscape mode).
The rear of the Mercury mTab7 has a glossy white making it a fingerprint magnet. In terms of its connectivity options, the tab has all the ports laid out on one side. You have the power button, headphones jack, microUSB port, DC-in and the volume rocker neatly laid out.
For a tablet priced at Rs. 6,000, what you see is what you get with Mercury mTab7. There is nothing here out of the ordinary to impress you. For Rs. 6,500 we have seen the WickedLeak Wammy Desire and the Lava E-Tab Xtron that have a better design.
Features and Specifications
Here’s a quick look at the specifications of the Mercury mTab7 along with the E-Tab Xtron and the WickedLeak Wammy Desire.
| Tablet | Mercury mTab7 | Lava E-Tab Xtron | WickedLeak Wammy Desire |
| Display Size | 7-inch LCD display | 7-inch IPS display | 7-inch LCD |
| Display Resolution | 480×800 pixel | 1024×600 pixel | 800×480 / 1024×768 HD (See Configuration Options) |
| Processor | 1.2GHz Single-Core Cortex A8 | 1.5GHz Dual-Core | 1.5 GHz Dual Core ARM Cortex A9 |
| RAM | 512MB | 1GB | 1GB |
| Built-in storage | 4GB | 8GB | 8GB |
| Expandable storage | 32GB via a microSD card | 32GB via a microSD card | 32GB via a microSD card |
| Rear Camera | NA | NA | NA |
| Front Camera | 0.3MP | 2MP | 1.3MP front |
| OS | Android 4.0.4 ICS | Android 4.1 Jelly Bean | Android 4.1 Jelly Bean |
| Battery | 2300mAh | 3500mAh | 3000mAh |
| Price | Rs. 5,999 | Rs. 6,499 | Rs. 6,499 |
As you can see from the table above, the specifications of the Mercury mTab7 aren’t the best especially since you are getting much better specifications for a mere Rs. 500 more.
The Mercury mTab7 doesn’t come preloaded with any noteworthy apps but you do have access to the Google Play store to satisfy your app needs.
Performance
Considering the price point of the Mercury mTab7, we expected it to perform the bare basics. Starting with the display, it is average at best. The resolution is standard of an entry-level tablet at 480×800 pixels. We have seen the E-Tab Xton with a better display for Rs. 6,500. The mTab7 played SD videos well and smoothly but the viewing angles weren’t the best and the reproduction of colour, textures and content was mediocre at best. The device does support MKV files and displayed subtitles as well. YouTube ran well, but again, the lacklustre nature of the display hindered with our entertainment.
We played a few games on the tablet too, Angry Birds Space and Temple Run 2 to be specific. The performance of both the games was average on Mercury mTab7. There was a noticeable drop in the frame rate of Angry Birds at times, and Temple Run 2 occasionally froze, leading to an inevitable death.
We also ran a bunch of benchmarks on the Mercury mTab7. We compare it to the Lava E-Tab Xtron and the WickedLeak Wammy Desire. Here are the benchmark scores.
From the scores it is clear that the Mercury mTab7 is the lowest performer in all the benchmarks expect for the SmartBench, which didn’t run on the Wammy Desire. Here as well the MTab 7 scored really low, at least when compared to the E-Tab Xtron.
The overall performance of the Mercury mTab7 is smooth when there are no apps open in the background. Start a bit of multitasking and the device will stutter quite a bit. You would do better to quit apps as often as you can.
A 2300mAh battery powers the Mercury mTab7. In our continuous video playback test the devices lasted for three hours. For this test, we had the brightness cranked up to full and the volume on max. The battery life is the same as the E-Tab Xtron and it isn’t the best.
Bottom Line
For a Rs. 6,000 tablet, the Mercury mTab7 is hard to recommend. To start with, the display and the performance isn’t the best and for a mere Rs. 500 more you are getting a tablet with a better display and better overall performance. The mTab7 doesn’t even boast of any unique feature like voice-calling capabilities or preloaded content. You are better off exploring other options before making your purchase decision, such as the Lava E-Tab Xtron, and WickedLeak Wammy Desire.
