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The kids have asked Santa for a tablet pc that they saw on the telly, the Vtech Innotab. I have been looking about and most kids tablet pcs come around £75 - £150 mark with the Vtech not getting great reviews.

So....do I get them a children's one or do I get them a normal low end tablet pc that I can put kids stuff on ? If so which one would you recommend ? Somebody at work mentioned the Binatone Kidzstar.

As ever I welcome your views and feedback. My kids will be 6 next month.

Cheers

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I'd go for a proper tablet every time. Anything you can do with a kids tablet you can do with a proper tablet.

at an increased cost thoough Jonny

Etch a sketch?

Sure but with lots more added functionality and a far wider range of apps. I'd view it more as an educational thing and they'll learn a lot more with a proper tablet.

android tablet on lightinthebox for £63

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYo5xYiyRuk

My daughter wants the same so will follow this with interest

I agree. I ended up buying a VTech thing for one of my nippers and he used it 1/2 a dozen times, but was more interested to get on my laptop. So in the end I just gave him my old one.

Not if the Vtechs are starting at 75 quid. You can get decent 7" Android tablets for under a ton if you shop around. jonny's right, a proper tab will do more and last longer, albeit you may need to put a bit more work into setting it up/supporting it for them.

Get them one of these
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzC2-vZLLmk

Thats a valid point Paul - There is a Samsung Galaxy 7" in the Carphone Warehouse for £150.

The thing is that having twins means that if one wants one the other one does too.

Yeah, I was thinking more online than retail. But be careful of going too cheap, there's some real crap at the low end.

Toys R Us do a couple of tablets. The cheapest one is pants, £59.99 as they seem to have issues with them charging, we had 4 until we got one that could charge. It was called the e-touch or something. They do however do a similar one which is pretty kid friendly for around a ton, The Childpad, which would run android like most tablets, I think it has got Angry Birds built in and a free cartoon to watch.

http://www.toysrus.co.uk/Toys-R-Us/Technology-and-Gadgets/Tablet-PCs/Arnova-Childpad-4GB(0098533)?searchPosition=4

Sounds like an ideal opportunity for them to learn the concept of 'sharing'.

Good luck with that !

I wasn't offering to teach them, that's your responsibility! Although I'm sure that 4D would help out if you asked him. He could ask millions of pointless questions to distract one while the other has his/her turn on the laptop!

 :clap:

They are good at sharing as long as the other one wants to play with something else.

The Amazon, Google and Samsung 7" tablets all start around £150. Shop around and you might get a refurb a bit cheaper.

Personally I wouldn't buy crap. It won't last and you'll be wasting money rather than saving it.

I'd make them share it and if they don't play nicely I'd take it off them, even on Xmas day. But then I tend to be a bit harsh with kids, the way I see it making them cry is toughening them up for the future. Amazingly my niece and nephew don't hate me, as far as I'm aware.

Depends on their age I suppose.

Went for an innotab V2 for the 4 year old, its more robust than a proper tablet. Not played much with it myself, however the screen looks poop to me!  He seems to like it but I'm not sure how much he'll use it long term.

Santa is getting a Nexus 7 for the 8 year old. £159 for the 16GB should keep him going, it ain't cheap but it isn't ipad crazy expensive either. Having no micro sd card is silly, but 16GB will be more than enough for him.

What would a six year old (two of them) use a tablet for? Genuine question, for once :)

games, consider it as a games console...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYo5xYiyRuk

Mexico's favourite toy for over 340 years!

Secondhand gameboys for a fiver.

Good question. They have homework to do online. They also have a number of apps they can use that are school/educational, books, along with some childrens games and using t'internet.

Keep up Pieman, Suggs posted that Family Guy clip on the last page.

Just got my two a versus 7 for a ton each from curries, most online reviews positive, latest version of android on it. Memory poor but will take card thingy. Not had chance to play yet but will be putting stuff on it over next few weeks.

Getting my two basic kindles, they spend too many hours staring at screens already so at least they can read a book while they're doing it.

If you can find one in stock the Galaxy 7" Tab, such as

http://www.johnlewis.com/231692574/Product.aspx?source=46387

has £30 cashback (read the T&Cs mind):

http://www.samsung.com/uk/tab2cashback/

If its what you are looking for, which it may not be.

Fair enough red socks. Hoping this will move me further up the que for the pc and the wife can have her iphone back on long journeys!
I'm hoping that there is a kindle app out there that I can put on them

didn't show up in my browser for some reason

I shall be getting a Galaxy Tab2 for the wife (and almost 4 year old) for Xmas. Having played with that, the Kindle Fire and iPad mini last weekend, it was the best for my needs. Strangely, the Kindle app on the Galaxy is nice than the official Kindle Fire version, if that's important to you.....

I'm tempted to ask for a tablet for christmas (Probably iPad or iPad mini as i'm a mainstream dickhead)

to use in lectures, cant work out if i would make me look like a colossal cunt tapping away on it though.

it would

I won't bother then. Ta.

We spent a couple of hours in John Lewis on Sunday trying them all out and chatting to a very knowledgeable young lad who knew everything there was to know about each.  We've decided to go for the Samsung Galaxy with the attached pen, as my son got on better with it.  Now I can't remeber if it's the Note or Tab2?  That's a bit more expensive though and tbh we're only spending that much because I'm getting a decent redundancy payout.

The Amazon Kindle Fire came highly recommended though and was substantially less in price around £130 I think?  We may get that for our younger son.

The Google Nexus range are very good and well priced for the spec. The only bad point about them is the lack of expandable storage space (no SD card slot).

What might make you a bit of  a cunt imo is that you are "tempted to ask for tablet for Christmas" I was grateful for a tangerine and a walnut when I was a lad.....

Aren't the Kindle tablets hacked a fair bit by Amazon to keep them within their eco-system. Not a problem if you're happy buying everything from Amazon, but otherwise it might be better to go with Google / Samsung.

Always worth having a go with one first especially if you've only ever seen / used an iPad before.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.kindle&hl=en

Yes AFAIK you can't get plain vanilla Android Market on it, only the Amazon AppStore. Which as jonny says is fine if you're happy with that, but may not be what people are expecting from an Android tab. It's a lot more MS/Apple-style "Walled Garden" than most Android tabs

CPW seem to have the 7" Galaxy Tab for £150 less £30 cashback, so 120 quid (at some indeterminate point in the future) if you trust the cashback thing.

So, all of a sudden I have a 4D-type question that is related to this thread.

Mrs NMH has said for me to sort out a laptop for Xmas for the kids - 15, 13 & 11. They have an old XP PC and XP laptop. Both have become incredibly slow. I'm thinking that I want to get them something a bit quicker that they can use to play Runescape go on FB etc but also to use for connecting to their school website and for doing research on and completing homework.

So, the 4D question of the day is......

Should I be looking at a Windows laptop, a Samsung 7' or 10' Tablet (sor something like that) and iPad or a MacBook ? 

I am also following this thread with interest...have a 5/6 yr old, he currently has a leapfrog thing, am weighing up the options of juist
 - buying more games etc for leapfrog
 - getting a ds (along with the 'unlocking')
 - getting a tablet of some descrption...

still deliberating, keep the advice coming

Had a Leapfrog for my youngest - He just wanted his elder brothers DS !

I leaning toward the Binatone Kidzstar and the Galaxy Tablet 2

Do not get them a MacBook, they'll trash it.

Get a cheap Windows laptop (my niece and nephew always get second hand Thinkpads, more than powerful enough, cheap and built like a tank). Maybe have a look at a tablet as well, the 7" Galaxy Tab at £120 is a bargain - might even get one myself.

Still think a tablet is a no brainer for kids, especially for the educational uses.

Bought the Galaxy Tab 2 for £150 plus £30 cash back and SD Card from the Car Phone Whorehouse.

More than I wanted to spend but probably a better buy in the long run.

Decided upon a laptop for all the homework and stuff, but think I'll also go for a tablet.

The next 4D-like questions are:

1. I want the kids to get access to technology and the concept of apps. Are there as many apps fro the Samsungs as for the ipad?

2. I've seen people using ipads to do video coaching of swimming and cricket. Is it only the ipad that you can do this for or are the Samsungs etc just as good?

3. How do ipads and tablets work with 3G? Would I have to take SIM cards out of the kids contract phones to use them?

4. The kids both have Android phones and we don't own any Apple products except for old ipods. Does that mean we should be leaning towards a tablet vice ipad?

And the ultimate question:

Should I go for a ipad 4 or an ipad alternative?

1. Think I read/heard somewhere the other day that the Android Play Store is now on a par with iTunes for the number of apps.

2. Any (decent) tab will play videos.

3. You need a sim card in them. Either a dedicated one, or take it out of your mobile.

4. Tablet vice iPad?

Sounds like you've made your mind up and want an iPad.

I've just heard of an ipad and seen them. So the leaning is possibly due to ignorance. I haven't seen the other tablets.

Its difficult, because, just like mp3 players a few years ago, people refer to them as ipods even if they were made by manufacturers that weren't Apple!

I don't know whether a tablet is comparable or better than an ipad. I also dont know how much apps cost and whether if you download an app to your Android phone you can transfer it for free to your tablet? If the best apps are expensive, I guess I wouldn't want to buy an Android version for the phone and then an Apple version for the ipad.

So, I'm torn to be honest. Hence the request for advice.

In my experience, for apps that you would pay for on iTunes you can usually find an equally priced or even free version on the Android Play store.

And yes, if you buy an app on your Android phone and you're signed into the tab with the same Google account then you can download the app to the tab too.

The only way you're really going to find out for yourself which you prefer is to try them out. Most electrical shops like Currys only seem to have iPads on display, but I know that Carphone Warehouse and John Lewis usually have Android tabs out for you to tinker with too.

Samdy's right, you need to try them out, also to see which size would suit your kids best, iPads are around 9" I think, tabs come in 7", 10" and (more rarely) 8" variants. Get down to Greenbridge, PC World, Currys and Maplins all have both iPads and tabs on display (although Maplins ones aren't always ready to play with, but they'll get one out for you if you ask).

Apple fanbois will tell you that iPads are a lot smoother and better designed than Android Tablets and if you like hanging around in coffee shops in polonecks and are prepared to pay a 2-300 quid mark-up for the privilege, they're right :) iPads are "cooler" as the judge said, but unless there's a specific Apple/iPad only function you absolutely must have (and for Apple fanbois "cool" is a function), then Android tablets do the job well and are significantly cheaper. Although once you get much below 80-100 quid, you're very much in the "cheap and cheerful and don't necessarily expect it to last that long" end of the market.

Maplins seem to sell a lot of older/cheaper tablets so while the price may look attractive it's sometimes actually quite dear for what is effectively last year's range. But the main thing is be careful that what you're buying does what you need. Don't buy immediately after you try, go home, research the model you looked at online, make sure it does what you want and then if you want to go retail (while it's expensive than buying online, it can give a bit more peace of mind to have a shop to be able to physically go to, stand there and shout at them until they fix it if it goes wrong and there's some right shonky ones online) then go back and buy it.

One thing to look out for on cheaper models is the battery life. Can be very poor on some of the greyer Chinese jobs, some only last a couple of hours before they need recharging, best bet if you're unsure is find a written statement of expected battery life and buy it from somewhere you will be able to return it to. Again, though reading reviews online (ignoring anything that starts "A++++++" or "A******" as that's written by astoturfers) will give you an idea of whether there's an issue with real-world battery life.

Apple and Samsung tablets have different aspect ratios. So Apple screens are larger at the same quoted screen sizes.

I must be weird, because I actually dont own (save a couple of ipod mini's theat are now >5 years old) and Apple products. I'm clearly the epitome of uncool. And I'm going to buy a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 from Carphone Whorehouse. For £148, with £30 cashback, that is an absolute steal!

Yes, its slightly smaller than the iPad mini (which has a 7.9" screen btw), but with the cashback its less than half the price. The downside is that you can't get some apps which appear to be exclusive to Apple (for example, Good Food Magazine do an iPad app, but not an Android app, if that sort of thing is your bag - it most certainly is for my wife, but I'm not prepared to pay the extra for the privilege).

But go play and make your own mind up. Pros and cons with each IMO.

I fucking hate Apple with a passion. I will never own any of their products, and I'm cool as fuck.

I'm not overly cool, But i too own no Apple products or software. Fuck their system

Anyone know if modern Andriod tablets, off the shelf, still support Flash (I read Flash is being dropped soon)? I'm thinking about a Samsung like Pumbaa above, because using something bigger than my phone on the bog would be nice.

I never used to own a single Apple product and fucking hated them. Suddenly, mainly as a result of being sick of Windows, I was the epitome of everything I hate in a gadget geek and owned several Apple fashion accessories. You'll only hear me sing the praises of OSX and Macs though, the rest of it is not something I care for or have any real interest in.

Up to Android 4.0 still supports Flash. It's dropped from 4.2 (Jellybean).

There are workarounds to get it back, but it's not really worth the effort.

Where are all these Apple fanboys? I don't see any of them posting here. Plenty of Android fanboys though.

Thanks. Can you install Andriod 4.0 on a tablet with 4.2? Or, if you have a tablet with 4.0 is it OK to not upgrade the OS?

I made the switch for the same reason. Seriously looking at switching back to Windows 8 though, not sure I'll go as far as a Windows laptop but I'll definitely be running it more day to day on my Macbook. All of the Apple user interfaces are looking dated now, though it looks like that will be changing as they've put Jonny Ive in charge of it as well as product design.

why does preferring one thing over another require that the negative tag of fanboy is attached to it?



FYI right now, I'm a jazz music, Android owning, Football Manager playing, Swindon supporting fanboy.

I'm a fellatio fanboy

It's always been there though, I remember it 30 years ago in the school playground with home computers. It's always seemed pointless to me, I try to keep out of it but find it hard when people start talking bollocks about a certain brand.

Most devices still ship with 4.0 installed at the moment. I think it's only the new Nexus tabs (and phones) that come with 4.2 installed.

You can always choose not to install the update if/when prompted. There's an app that can make the notifications stop reappearing too.

Apple vs everything else does get fairly bad though. It makes most discussions of the pros and cons completely pointless.

I have been using macs since OS nine, while it was thought "cool" it was in no way a lifestyle system back then.

Several in my office for a start. Wasn't referring to anyone on here, and it was largely tongue in cheek anyway. You don't need to bite every time you know :)

I have a macbook, 2 Ipods and an Iphone. Does that make me an Apple Fanboy?

I do hope so!

That's a bold statement to make on here, given all the homophobes that frequent this site  :)

I just realised that the kids have an Ipod Touch that is about 2-3 years old. Does that do the same as these tablets?

The iPod Touch runs iOS the same as the iPad and iPhone. Apps are broadly compatible across all the devices. Main difference between the three is the size of the screen and whether they have data (3G/4G) and voice calls.

So an iPad (with Wifi) is pretty much just a really big iPod Touch.

Looks as if there is no need for me to get an ipda nor a tablet then.

Don't know about you but Flash is a pain in the arse on my Mac. It continually causes Safari to hang and crash and if my system is running slow it's normally the culprit with it being used by various Safari popups I wasn't aware of. The sooner it is wiped out from existence the better.

Fuck off bender

I completely agree, it's fucking shit. However, there's videos on tutorial sites I like to use that are mainly Flash and it'd be nice to have somewhere other than my laptop to watch them.

If you're interested in blocking Flash, I block it completely using ClickToPlugin. It's good in that should you want to display something in Flash it places a button on the screen in its place. It also forces HTML5 where possible - not that I think that's exactly efficient.

http://hoyois.github.com/safariextensions/clicktoplugin/

Kindle Fire on Amazon for £99

We've bought son (3.5yrs) the Leapad 2 for his birthday which is just after christmas, decided on this as he will mainly play games on there but it will also be educational for when he starts school and when he is at school to hopefully help with his learning, but he will also have a fireman sam tablet for crimbo which purely concentrates on colours, numbers etc and bits on fireman Sam.

Got one at that price and had a quick play with it today, seems fine for kids, means that i might get the off look in at my iPad after Christmas

I bought a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7" a couple of days ago. Got it on eBay with a broken screen, so now I've got to buy and fit a new screen.

Mrs RO has a standard Kindle and is keen on the Kindle Paperwhite / Touch (£109). But as I have left it so late they are difficult to source.

I saw the Kindle Fire and notice that it is only £20 more and wondered whether what this is like as an eReader? She isn't looking for a tablet but as I am in the shit it is the closest I can get to the Touch.

I presumng that it is just as good or better as an eReader as it is a tablet but get confused about all the 'front lit' stuff that they go on about with Kindles.

Any advice would be helpful.  :)

The Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD are tablets, not e-readers. They can do more, as they're full-featured android tablets, but they'll be far worse for reading.

Currys Swindon have the paperwhite in stock (£109) Town and Greenbridge. Not sure where you are, worth trying Currys/PC world though.

And I agree with Barry!

Cheers Barry, glad I asked.

I'm in Oxford and tried online at Curry's and there wasn't anything for miles and that included these two store in Swindon. I'll try again.

Cheers.

Looks like I'm off to Wembley! Nothing closer  :(

Have you tried John Lewis?

Cheeers just trying it now......but it is showing the Kindle Touch and the Paperwhite!

Which is better? I thought the Paperwhite was the US version so if it is over here now is it better than the Touch? Both the same price. Sorry to ask stupid (I think) questions.

Oxford to Wembley  :hmmm: that's not a well travelled route.

There is a comparison on the Amazon website, just view one of them and it's towards the bottom.

Think Paperwhite is the touch version.

After all that, picked one up in Tesco 1 mile from work!  :-[

Got the touch /paperwhite.

Cheers for the help.  :)