Bush MyTablet
At first glance, you wouldn’t think that the MyTablet costs £99. It has a similar design and level of build quality to a Nexus, with no obvious corner cutting. It has an 8in IPS screen, 32GB of storage and a quadcore Intel Atom processor.
One of the reasons for the low price is that this tablet runs Windows 8.1 with Bing. This is a free version of the operating system, which means there’s no cost for a manufacturer to install it on its tablet. To all intents and purposes, this is a normal 32-bit version of Windows, so you can do almost everything you can do on your laptop or PC with it.
We say almost because the MyTablet doesn’t have a mouse or physical keyboard, nor a standard USB port to connect a printer. However, the Micro-USB port that’s used for charging also works with OTG gadgets, such as flash drives, and you can connect a keyboard and other devices.
Next to the USB port is a microHDMI connector, which means it’s easy to hook up the tablet to a big screen. Just behind this, sunk into the top of the rear cover is a microSD slot, which can be used to add storage up to 32GB. Inside is single-band 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4, but no GPS or NFC. Most buyers will be unphased by those latter two absentees, and more welcoming of the free year’s access to Office 365 and the 1TB of online storage in OneDrive.
Display
The 8in screen has a resolution of 1280x800 – the norm for budget tablets – and it’s a reasonable example. Colours are generally accurate and the touchscreen is responsive, but it isn’t the brightest nor does it have the best viewing angles. It’s a huge step up from the worst screens we’ve seen on tablets that use TN panels, though.
The Intel BayTrail processor makes the MyTablet quicker than you should reasonably expect for £99. Windows runs surprisingly well with no stuttering or annoying delays as you go about your business in either the Modern UI (more on that in a minute) or the traditional desktop.
It completed the browser-based SunSpider test in dead on 500ms. Geekbench 3 revealed scores of 711 and 2078 in the single- and multicore tests respectively. These aren’t too far behind more expensive tablets: the iPad mini 3 scored 2484 in the multicore test (even if it roundly beat the MyTablet in the single-core test with 1374).
Intel HD Graphics are integrated into the Atom, and they’re also more powerful than you might think. GFXBench returned scores of 19fps in the T-Rex test and 11fps in Manhattan, and while these are by no means the highest we’ve seen, they’re still good at this price.
Battery life is pretty much what Bush claims: our HD video looped for six hours eight minutes over Wi-Fi. That’s not quite as long as the more expensive Tesco Hudl 2 (which also has an 8in screen) and is one of the main weak points of the Bush MyTablet.
Software
As we’ve said, you get full Windows 8.1, albeit the 32-bit version rather than 64-bit. You can install and run any Windows 32-bit software you like, although trying to use Excel with only your fingers is frustrating.
Really, though, this isn’t meant to be a mini Windows PC but a tablet. The fact that you have access to the old Windows desktop is almost irrelevant. Instead, you’re supposed to use the Modern UI and install apps from the Windows Store.
This is where the cracks begin to show. We’ve never liked the ‘Metro’ interface and things are worse when you get down to an 8in screen. Buttons and icons aren’t scaled up to make them easier to use: everything is just smaller. The only bonus is live tiles. Plenty of people dislike them because they’re distracting, but we think some are genuinely useful, such as the News app, which scrolls through the headlines. But compared to Windows Phone 8, which was designed to be used on small screens, Windows 8 is a poor alternative to Android or iOS.
Worse still, the choice of apps is limited. Yes, the big names are largely present, but you won’t find an official app for Amazon Prime Video, for example. There are no official Google Apps – a limitation shared with Amazon devices – and while there are Xbox Video and Music apps, there’s no Spotify app.
In essence, you’ll have to rely on a web browser for a lot of the time – a sub-par experience compared to the well-designed apps you’d find on Android and iOS.
Finally, remember that you can’t connect a Windows tablet to your PC or laptop and transfer files with a standard USB cable. You either have to buy a special OTG cable or share files over a home network using Windows file sharing (Homegroup) or a cloud service such as OneDrive.
There are front and rear cameras, but they’re poor quality. The 0.3Mp front camera is a webcam for Skype use, and the rear one (2Mp) is best left unused except in emergencies as the photo quality is utterly dire.
Verdict
Since the MyTablet comes with 1TB of online storage and year’s subscription to Office 365, plus a second install for another device, it’s a great bargain if you were going to buy 365 anyway. The tablet itself is good for the money, but we simply don’t like Windows 8.1 as a tablet operating system.