MSI Primo 81 (Snow White) 8in Tablet Review

Today we are going to take a look at the Primo 81 from MSI. Priced at only £138, it targets the large user base who can't afford a high end model from the likes of Samsung or Apple. The Primo 81 features a 7.8" IPS display, the same LG panel used on the last generation iPad Mini. Is the product tempting enough to warrant a purchase? MSI may not be the first manufacturer that comes to mind when thinking of tablets, however they already have a comprehensive range of Android models, in addition to a couple of Windows based units. It offers an impressive specification which includes a quad-core processor and 16 GB of memory which can be expanded if desired. Features Android 4.2 platform. Allwinner A31s Quad core. 7.85" 1024x768 (4:3), IPS Panel. Full High Definition 1080p Playback. Thin 7.82mm, Light Metal Housing 330g. Two-way camera. Micro-USB with OTG (On-The-Go) Support. Mini-HDMI Support. Micro-SD Support. The Primo 81 is supplied in an attractive white box which features a large image of the tablet on the front. It is decorated in a white livery which reflects the white colour of the tablet within. Turning the box over reveals a list of the specifications of the tablet, alongside a another image depicting the front and rear of the tablet. The box itself feels high quality and should do a good job of protecting the tablet in transit. In the box we find a fairly limited bundle of accessories which includes a quick start guide, warranty card, micro-USB cable, USB OTG adapter and a power adapter. Even though the general design ethics behind tablets lead to a degree of homogeneity between competing models, the Primo 81 bears a distinct resemblance to the iPad Mini. This particular model is only available in 'snow white' and features an iPad-esque white bezel surrounding the screen. The similarities between the Primo 81 and the iPad mini aren't only skin deep. The two models use the same 7.85" LG IPS screen which is becoming a fairly common size. This form factor puts the Primo 81 in direct competition with the likes of the Acer Iconia A1 which we reviewed a few months back. We are impressed with the screen itself as it is vibrant and clear, especially when compared with the Acer Iconia A1. The 1024 x 768 (XGA) resolution isn't ideal for watching high-definition content, though, as the resolution is limited and the 4:3 aspect ratio results in thick black bars straddling movies. The glass that MSI have used for the touch-screen provides a little more resistance than most, but you get used to it after a few hours use. Like most low-end tablets, the Primo 81 features a 0.3 Megapixel front-facing camera. This is a fixed-focus sensor which will just about suffice for occasional Skype calls. We wouldn't recommend it for taking self-portraits, though as the quality is less than great. The back panel of the tablet is constructed from a single piece of aluminum and gives the Primo 81 a high-quality look and feel. In fact, the Primo 81 almost matches the iPad Mini in terms of build quality. Along the bottom edge of the tablet, we find all of the connections. From left to right, we find a 3.5 mm headset jack, a micro-USB connector, a mini-HDMI connector and a micro-SD card slot. There is also a small speaker grille cut into the back of the tablet in the bottom right-hand corner. For some reason, MSI has chosen to locate the power and volume buttons together along the top edge of the tablet. The problem with this is that they are all the same size and aren't labelled, so it can be quite confusing when trying to use them for the first time. There is a 2.0 Megapixel rear-facing camera which offers slightly better image quality than the front-facing camera, but it's still rather terrible when compared to even a mid-range smartphone. The MSI Primo 81 is supplied with a vanilla version of Android Jelly Bean (4.2.2) which is quite recent. MSI pre-install a few apps on the tablet, though, some of which could come in useful. These include ES File Explorer and ES Task Manager which will help you keep control of your files and applications. We ended up removing 4KPlayer, though, replacing it with the superior VLC Media Player. The MSI Primo 81 has an unusual storage configuration which consists of a 1 GB module for the operating system and 16 GB of on-board storage. There was, however, only around 11 GB of usable space available when we received the tablet. This should be plenty for most users, however there is a Micro-SD card slot should you want to expand the memory. MSI haven't customised the browser at all, however the standard Android interface is very intuitive. We would recommend installing Chrome, though, as it offers a superior experience. The on-screen keyboard is also a standard Android affair, however there are plenty of other keyboard styles available on the Google Play Store should this not be to your taste. The Primo 81 was able to handle all of the major video formats through the 4KPlayer App which is pre-installed on the tablet by MSI. We would highly recommend installing VLC or MX Player instead, though, as they are much more competent apps. We weren't particularly impressed with Flash video playback through the browser. We would certainly recommend downloading the YouTube app rather than watching online as we found the video stuttered when playing directly through the browser. We downloaded Netflix onto the tablet to test the multimedia performance. This ran without issue and video quality was impressive. The Primo 81 is supplied with both a 'Music' app and 'Play Music'. The 'Music' app is frankly terrible and clearly hasn't been properly optimised for a tablet as the buttons are small and unevenly distributed across the screen. The 'Play Music' app is much better, though, so we would recommend using this. The quality of sound produced from the inbuilt speakers is acceptable for a tablet, however we would recommend pairing it with a decent set of headphones for the best experience. Hardware Performance MSI have chosen to use a Allwinner A31s quad-core 1.0 GHz processor to power the Primo 81 which is a budget-focused quad core chip. This is partnered with 1 GB of RAM and a PowreVR SGX544MP2 GPU. We can see that the Primo 81 performs better than the Acer Iconia A1 in the more graphics intensive tests, whereas the Acer performs better in the more CPU intensive tests. Camera App The camera app is fairly standard, but has some interesting features. There is a toggle on the right hand side of the screen to switch between photo and video capture. Moving over to the left we can switch between front and rear cameras using the top icon. The icon below this lets us toggle fast snap mode which takes a series of pictures close together. The camera also has a panorama mode which can be activated by pressing the middle icon. There are a number of camera effects to choose from if you would like to put an artistic spin on your photos. Finally, we can access all of the standard camera settings by pressing the bottom icon. These include picture resolution, saving location and face detection. Camera Samples Rear Facing Camera: Front Facing Camera: The photo quality is poor from both front and rear facing cameras. The Primo 81's 3500 mAh battery has a significantly smaller battery than the Acer Iconia A1 which boasts almost 5000 mAh. As a result the battery life is also considerably less. In our battery life test we ran a 30 minute MKV video clip with the display at full brightness and Wi-Fi (and notifications) switched on. We recorded the decrease in battery capacity over this 30 minutes (8% decrease) and then calculated the time it would take to completely discharge the battery from this. We can see that the small battery in the Primo 81 has a negative impact on battery life. Overall we have mixed feelings about the MSI Primo 81 tablet. We admire the excellent build quality and sleek aesthetics which outclass many competing products at a similar price point. The 7.8 inch LG panel (also used in the iPad Mini) is a step above those found in many of the budget tablets currently available today. Unfortunately when you start to use the Primo 81 it becomes clear where MSI have cut corners to drop the price. The photo quality is below par, delivering grainy images from both front and rear-facing cameras. The battery is also fairly small, leading to a shorter battery life than competing tablets. MSI haven't made any significant customization to the Android UI, although they have installed a few apps including a video player and a file explorer. That said, some people may like the fact that this is basically a 'naked' Android operating system install without any proprietary MSI or third party UI bloatware. We would recommend using the Play Music app as the standard Music app isn't optimised for tablet use. We can't see why MSI included it to be honest as it's one of the worst we've ever seen. The Primo 81 features a generous 16 GB of internal storage as well as the option of expanding this with a micro SD card. We also appreciate the inclusion of a mini-HDMI connector and USB OTG support. The quad-core processor isn't state of the art, but it will offer enough power for the target audience. At a price of around £138 from Scan, the MSI Primo 81 is reasonably inexpensive. If you can live with the weak battery life and terrible camera quality then it has plenty to offer. Discuss on our Facebook page, over here. Pros: Attractive Design. Feels well put together. Good screen. Cheap. Cons: Poor camera quality. Short battery life. No android customisations. KitGuru says: A nice looking tablet, but it is clear that MSI have had to cut corners to achieve such a low price.