Progress is a wonderful thing. Take computing for example. Just a scant few years ago we were all lugging around very heavy, cumbersome lunchbox computers which couldn’t compute their way out of a paper bag, and now look at us. Sneak a peek at your fellow coffee shop patrons next time you’re in for a check up, and chances are a good third of them will be doing some sort of tablet computer dance over their Latte with Sprinkles.

The fact is that the increased power of these beasties, along with the humungous number of apps has really made them very appealing, especially if you’re only going to use them to access your Facebook stream, enjoy some Solitaire and check emails now and then. So we’re happy to report that if you’re in the market for a good solid tablet computer, at an attractive price, then this Versus Touchtab 10.1 Tablet Computer should fit the bill very nicely.

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The dual core 1.66GHz processor powered tablet comes with 16GB of internal storage, supports up to 32GB of extra storage via a microSD slot, and features all the bells and whistles you’d expect from a mid-range tablet computer. There’s WiFi, a 2 megapixel camera (plus a 0.3 mp front camera for video chat etc), HDMI out, a 1280×800 capacitive touchscreen and a 7000mAh battery which delivers up to 8 hours of running time per charge.

In operation
The real surprise is how well built this device is for the price, and also how nice it is to use. The Versus has a beautifully silky smooth screen, which is bright and ultra responsive. There’s none of that cheap flexing in the main body either, and you can tell that build quality was a key part of the design spec. The computer runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and there’s full access to the Google Play app store as well as support for Flash and full gaming fun. The only thing we felt could be improved was the speakers, which were a bit quiet and rattly. But that can be easily fixed with a decent external speaker of some sort.

As usual it’s extremely hard to judge battery life, because it varies so much depending on what you’re doing, but we can say that it easily lasted for a good four hour session out of the box, and once the battery beds in a little more we would expect that figure to increase significantly. Of course the run time is also likely to change for the worse with some serious movie watching, but again that’s normal for all of these tablet computers.

Check out our hands on video review to get an idea of the product details.

One of the nice things about these generic tablet computers is the fact that you can buy accessories for them all over the place, since they tend to conform to a standard size and layout. So it was nice to confirm that a cheap but serviceable USB Keyboard Case for 10.1 inch tablets which we found on Amazon worked perfectly with the Versus. It was priced at just £8.99 and worked out of the box with no problems. Plug and play.

Conclusion
There’s no shortage of cheap tablet computers on the market, but for the most part you have to put up with several compromises in build quality and operation when you buy one. The ones we’ve tested have provided basic functionality along with one or two inevitable quirks such as random power drains or screens which are not as sensitive as they should be.

This Versus Touchtab is a superb example of a product which manages to deliver a great experience while at the same time not breaking the bank. The fact that the product is also on sale at reputable high street retailers (we picked ours up from Maplin) is another factor that encourages trust, because the one thing these stores don’t need is a bucket load of returns because of shoddy workmanship.

Would we recommend this product to your auntie who thinks she needs a tablet computer for her important little tasks? Unquestionably. With a price of just £179.99, this is a fraction of what you’d pay for a big brand product, and yet the functionality is almost identical. Sure it’s not got the latest quad core processor in it, but then again, it runs perfect smoothly without it.