Ever since Microsoft dropped its OS licensing fees for small Windows devices earlier this year, the floodgates have been opened to a seemingly endless wave of brands – large and small, global and local – launching their first Windows phones and tablets. More than fifty companies have joined Microsoft in launching Windows tablets, with over two dozen of these launching Windows Phones.
As WPCentral reports, the latest brand to join in the Windows action is Bush, a company that our friends and followers in the UK may well be familiar with. Indeed, many of our UK readers may have owned a Bush DVD player, or perhaps a Bush Freeview box, at some point. These days, Bush is part of the Home Retail Group, which also owns high street retail giant Argos, which is the main retailer for the Bush range.
Argos is now selling two new devices under the Bush brand running Microsoft’s operating systems. Spec details on the handset are somewhat incomplete on the Argos site – there is no indication of how large the display is, for example, and the camera resolution is given as 0.3MP, which is more likely the front-facing camera resolution, rather than that of the rear.
The display has 800x480px resolution and the device includes 4GB of onboard storage (plus microSD support up to 64GB), and costs just £69.95, with free UK delivery, making it one of the most affordable handsets available in the UK.
Alongside the phone comes the Bush MyTablet, a decent-looking 8-inch slate running Windows 8.1, including a quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Bay Trail processor, 1GB RAM and 16GB storage. Despite its modest specs, it comes in a reasonably stylish and very slim body, just 8.6mm-thick, but the most interesting feature is its price tag: the Bush MyTablet which costs just £129.99, and is also available with free delivery.
Exactly what kind of user experience these entry-level devices can deliver remains to be seen, of course, but for now, many will no doubt be focused solely upon cautiously welcoming another brand to the Windows family.
Source and images: Argos > Bush Windows Phone / Bush MyTablet | via WPCentral