- Conclusion Get the lowdown
- Features How it compares
- Performance Real world benchmarks
- Differences Technical showdown
- Reviews Word on the street
- Competition Others to consider
- Discussion Answers and opinions
Huawei M886 Mercury
- Android 2.3 Gingerbread
- 3G
- 4"
- 1.4 GHz
Released December, 2011
Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)The Mercury has an HDR (high-definition range) option, which is a very nice touch.
Conclusion Check out the Huawei M886 Mercury
First reviewed April, 2012
Features Key features of the Huawei M886 Mercury
1.4 GHz
Android 2.3 Gingerbread 3G
Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)Still, with fine call quality, a 4-inch screen, and nice outdoor photo quality, Cricket's Android options are looking up.
screen size
4"
4.7"
4.7"
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)To the naked eye, colors will look bright enough and icons will appear sharp for the most part.
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)These include a theme called Magic Light, and animation that presents swiping through your five customizable home screens as if you're turning a cube.
screen resolution
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)Photo quality was pretty good when viewed on the Mercury's screen and on a desktop screen, especially for shots taken outdoors in bright or even lighting.
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)A phone's screen is its main event, and at 4 inches, this one won't disappoint.
memory
| 0 GB | 1 GB  | 2 GB |
processor
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)The Mercury first wheeled into our CNET offices as the Huawei Honor, and the Mercury keeps most of the Honor's attributes, like the 4-inch display, 1.4GHz processor, and 8-megapixel camera with HD video capture.
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)The Mercury's 1.4GHz processor is definitely adequate in this way.
camera resolution
| 0 MP | 5 MP  | 8 MP |
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)This outdoor shot with the Mercury's 8-megapixel camera is pretty good.
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)While not all promises for the battery and camera pan out quite to the expected degree, the Mercury is nevertheless a nice package for Cricket's off-contract customers, and the price is comparable to what you'll find on other similar carriers.
Performance Real world tests of Huawei M886 Mercury
talk time
390 min
900 min
900 min
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)The Mercury has an impressively large 1,900mAH battery and a rated battery life of up to 6.5 hours of talk time and up to almost 16 days of standby time.
M886 Mercury by c|net (Jan, 2012)Unfortunately, however, the battery life was nothing out of the ordinary, and in fact, the charge barely seemed to last a day during my testing period.
Our analysis How does it stack up against its top 10 competitors
pros
-
3.5 mm -
Android Market (Android) -
Capacitive -
8 MP -
Many games and videos on the Internet require Adobe Flash -
1.4 GHz -
Listen to music and news from local radio stations -
8 MP -
1,900 mA·h -
Play games and use applications that take advantage of device rotation -
Share your cellphone's data plan with other devices
cons
-
Single core -
Android 2.3 Gingerbread -
Some newer payment by phone methods require NFC -
61 x 122 x 13 mm -
2 GB -
Doesn't support the fastest, most reliable networks -
-
13 mm -
2.1 Mb/s (1xEV-DO rev. 0) -
Dec, 2011
Reviews Word on the street
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|
|---|---|
Operating System
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)By now it should be pretty apparent what you get with an Android 2.3 Gingerbread phone, but I'll summarize just in case.
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)The Mercury is a quite decent Android phone in its own right, perhaps with a few issues here and there, but on Cricket, it knocks out the rest of the lineup to become the carrier's most advanced smartphone.
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)I should mention that although the Mercury won't get an official Ice Cream Sandwich update until Cricket is ready to push that out, Huawei is offering Android 4.0 for the Huawei Honor (again, Mercury is a rebrand), but only from its Web site, and it probably works best if the phone is unlocked rather than tied to a carrier.
Apps
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)The Huawei Mercury is easily Cricket's top phone, unless you've got your heart set on access to Muve Music.
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)You'll see a host of Cricket apps for managing your account and backups, most of them practical and useful.
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)This isn't the phone (or network) that avid Web surfers should latch onto, and be forewarned that the Mercury isn't eligible for Cricket's Muve Music plan.
Screen
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)If you'd rather apply some Android standards, you can switch the onscreen controls to the Gingerbread default, choose two other animation actions, and dip into other settings to set the home screens.
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)In addition, the skin includes stylized home screen navigation controls and a stylized app tray view that resembles Samsung's TouchWiz iconography, with horizontal scrolling through your pages of apps, and blocky visuals surrounding each app icon.
Camera
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)Self-portraits taken with the front-facing camera were pretty poor-grainy, off, and hard to look at-but if you must use it, it'll work.
Carrier
Huawei M886 Mercury | Rated 73% by by c|net (Jan, 2012)Trickle-down economics is alive and well, especially when it comes to the prepaid market, where no-contract carriers like Cricket can offer phones like the Huawei Mercury.
Competition What else you should consider
 | 1 | LG Nexus 4 Most built-in storage LG Nexus 4 vs Huawei M886 Mercury |
 | 2 | Nokia Lumia 820 Screen uses OLED technology Nokia Lumia 820 vs Huawei M886 Mercury |
 | 3 | LG Optimus L9 Better than usual battery capacity LG Optimus L9 vs Huawei M886 Mercury |
 | 4 | Motorola DROID X 3-way tie: Outputs video to TV Motorola DROID X vs Huawei M886 Mercury |
 | 5 | HTC EVO 4G Least latency on actual networks HTC EVO 4G vs Huawei M886 Mercury |
 | 6 | HTC Desire C Lightest HTC Desire C vs Huawei M886 Mercury |
 | 7 | LG Optimus Black Middle-of-the-pack browser performance LG Optimus Black vs Huawei M886 Mercury |
 | 8 | ZTE Engage 6-way tie: Average resolution front camera ZTE Engage vs Huawei M886 Mercury |
New duel?
Let the battle continue or dare to compare.
