Kids tablet

[JCLW]

My daughter turns 7 in January and we're considering a tablet for her.

Looking for something with parental controls, and ideally want it to be a mix of both educational and fun.

Are tablets with their own educational software worth it? Like the Nabi tablet with their Wings Learning program? https://www.nabitablet.com/elev-8

She already has access to DreamBox and code.org through school.

Another popular option seems to be the Amazon Fire Kids edition, although it seems more media and less educational focused.

Or just something like a Galaxy Tab Kid, or an iPad mini? I've heard the parental controls in iOS are not that great from other iPad mini owners.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

Amazon has the best parental controls on the market.

 

[ssjwizard]

I got my son a Nabi 2 a couple years ago and it was very ruggedly built, and the parental controls were top notch.

 

[Janus67]

We got our son (2) a Kindle fire kids edition, he likes it well enough when we let him use it . I think ultimately an iPad would be better but having a 2 year anything goes no questions asked return policy on a sub-100 device was hard to pass up.

 

[JCLW]

Thanks everyone for the replies,

I got my son a Nabi 2 a couple years ago and it was very ruggedly built, and the parental controls were top notch.

Was the learning software it came with useful? Did you sign up for the $5/month subscription?

We got our son (2) a Kindle fire kids edition, he likes it well enough when we let him use it . I think ultimately an iPad would be better but having a 2 year anything goes no questions asked return policy on a sub-100 device was hard to pass up.

You think an iPad would be better because of the hardware? Software? It is an appealing price but would be a new app ecosystem for us.

 

[Janus67]

Sorry, I didn't give reasons --

Mainly because the hardware is better on the iPad and the accuracy of touch sensor while adequate isn't amazing on the kindle, but is fine for him as he doesn't know better. The one other thing that I find annoying is the software-based home button that he occasionally hits and accidentally exits out of the video/game that he is in and I have to help him get back to it -- I believe on an iPad there's a way to disable some of that functionality so that it is at least harder to accidentally leave what you are doing.

I think my recommendation ultimately would be to find out what (if any) tablets are being utilized in your schools and get one of those for him so that they are used to it and can hit the road running instead of needing to hold up the class with it.

 

[JCLW]

The school board here is using Chromebooks (and Wintel desktop machines).

Ended up ordering a Nabi Elev-8 from Amazon for US$140.

I'll post up a mini-review when we get it.

 

[JrClocker]

Got my kid a Nabi a few years back. Rugged, massive screen, and great parental controls.

 

[benbaked]

Kind of a thread necro but I wanted to add, I would argue that one way the iPad is better for a child is the Lightning connector. Having a connector like Lightning or USB-C that is durable and reversible is a great advantage for a device being used by a kid. I would never buy a device for a child that charges by way of the horribly designed micro-USB connector.

I might have an axe to grind but I seriously hate micro-USB and cannot wait for the day that USB-C replaces it entirely once and for all for good!