Mercury Maestro Review: A basic dual-SIM mobile phone
The mobile phone terrain in India is picking up exemplary momentum as companies are now chipping out splendid gizmos. We have observed that the dual-SIM segment has been offering the best growth potential, thereby inspiring manufactures to conceptualize entry-level phones which embrace distinct requirements of various consumers across the globe. Companies like Samsung, LG and Motorola assuredly made expeditious entries with innovative mobile phones to ward off redundant competition. While new entrants like Onida, Maxx Mobiles, Lava Mobiles and Mercury are carving out basic phones to satiate the requirements of many entry-level users. By incorporating the latest trends in technology and design, Mercury’s Maestro mobile phone made a graceful appearance in the Indian market way back in November. We picked up this handset which knocked our doors in a white box to jot down a complete review and offer you more insights on the overall functionality and performance.
The Mercury Maestro handset packs in a warranty card, a charger, a USB cable, a user manual and a pair of earphones. The build quality was not appealing and the phone’s cheap elements are camouflaged with its lustrous black finish. On the right edge lies a dedicated USB slot. The top edge accommodates a lanyard loop, a 2.5mm audio jack and a frequency antenna. Music aficionados who love their peppy tunes played out loud can use the speaker grill which completely covers the lower edge. On flipping the handset, we were allured to see the eye-catchy design with elegant stripes. It also comes entrenched with Maestro, and houses a 1.3 megapixel camera as well as torch. Designed to be simple in looks, the phone seems to be designed for simple use like calling and messaging. The interface is user-friendly and we could easily control, play, pause and stop the music player as per our liking.
The screen and the keypad are surrounded with a striking black hue. The four-way navigation pad is precisely positioned right below the screen. We could navigate through different functions and apps without any glitches. The right side of the navigation pad sports dedicated music player, soft key and call end buttons while on the left side we spotted SIM 1, SIM 2 and left soft keys. The keypad feels sturdy as we could scrupulously use it for a long duration. While typing messages you can use the # key for symbols or to easily swap between various text input methods. Long pressing this key, we could switch from silent to general mode with ease. The keypad is not flimsy and the material doesn’t seem like it will worsen with rigorous usage.
The phone’s 2.2-inch ultra bright LCD screen is quite pedestrian. The resolution was low and the screen darkened when we moved slightly away from the center. The topmost left corner of the screen highlights the signal strength for both SIM 1 and SIM 2 while the rightmost corner comes with a battery meter. The handset does not bundle together any advanced functions. Personalizing the keys on this pad was an effortless experience and we could assign several functions. The UI includes 12 icons namely File manager, Phonebook, Fun & Games, Call center, Messaging, Multimedia, Organizer, Settings, User profiles, Extra, Services and Shortcuts. Well, amidst its simple specification sheet are conventional tools such as Calendar, Tasks, Alarm and World clock.
The Multimedia icon comes along with a slew of options like camera, image viewer, video recorder, video player, audio player, sound recorder and FM radio. We used the embedded 1.3 megapixel camera to capture few images indoors as well as outdoors. In the camera interface, the left soft key presents an extensive range of options such as photos, camera settings, image settings, white balance, scene mode, effect settings, storage and restore default. We could easily tweak these settings as per our requirements. However, the video quality and entire recording experience were quite poor. The image quality is satisfactory in bright light but gets tarnished in dim conditions. The audio player was good and efficiently played music. Moreover, the audio quality through the included pair of earphones was clear and loud. The integrated speaker and audio effects enhanced our experience as we could enjoy popular tracks with superior acoustics.
The Settings icon offers Dual SIM open, Only SIM 1 open, Only SIM 2 open and Flight mode options. We could further personalize our mobile experience with the pre-loaded colorful themes and wallpapers. The security settings helped us setup both the SIM card 1 and SIM card 2 security options to restrict unauthorized usage, we appreciate this inclusion. The handset’s Bluetooth capabilities enabled us to transfer few images and music files without any flaw. Using the eBook reader function, you can read files stored in Maestro’s internal storage or memory card. User profiles include many options like General, Meeting, Outdoor, Indoor, Headset and Bluetooth.
The handset also occupied us for a while with its basic Fruit game which can be played seldom for a light hearted experience. The offering has been crafted mainly for basic usage, so the features integrated by the company seem to be quite mediocre. We were delighted to spot a memory card slot which lends support to around 4GB storage space. The internet capabilities weren’t exceptional since most of the pages wouldn’t upload and we could view only a small portion due to the phone’s limited screen size. The browsing experience was deficient as our review unit was not competent to load most of the web pages. The file manager lowers the undesired clutter and accordingly stored all audio, image, video and eBook files. You can seamlessly keep a track of the storage space since the file manager highlights the total handset memory and available storage capacity left. The phone is powered by a 1200mAh battery and it functioned efficiently for one complete day on a single charge.
To round it up, the Mercury Maestro is a decent phone to purchase considering its gorgeous appearance. By offering minimalistic features in an aesthetic yet affordable package, this handset proffers a magnificent balance between features and performance. This lightweight device is inevitably an admirable gizmo for many entry-level users who want to bulge out their pockets with an affordable dual-SIM phone. Priced at 2,990, the handset manages to get a rating of 6 on a scale of 10 from us.
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