tablets for children...can anyone talk me through them?!

BigRonW

clearingout wrote: »

thanks - honestly no idea what I might need in terms of RAM and speed of processors or version of Android (does it matter?!!!). I'm guessing 'average' would cover it and the latest version of Android (is that jellybean?) would be the most sensible? is that reasonable?!

I have just been reading about the ipad mini - had no idea. The price guesstimates are quite variable - cheapest at £160 which could be good... I will keep looking. I guess if anyone could say 'that works for my 8 year old', that would be really helpful? As I say, we're 'average' people with 'average' internet use and interest in this kind of thing..... (clear as mud!)

RAM matters less for (most) Android tablets, because you can (usually) just add more in the form of a micro USB card - and if you shop around, they're cheap (Play.com seems to be amongst the cheapest, with 32 Gigabyte cards for around £13each. 32 Gig is generally the biggest card that the tablets can talk to. I was put off the Nexus by its (rare) lack of the expansion slot I've become used to in many Android phones) It's pretty much like a PC - a tablet has memory for use as a "worktop" ,and as "cupboards" for storage. Easy to expand the cupboard space (you usually get 4, 8 or 16 megabytes... harder to expand the "worktop", where you usually get 256, 512 (the commonest) or 1024 Kb of worktop.

How fast a CPU you need depends entirely on what you plan to use the tablet for, although games (as with PCs!) generally demand more power than "office software" does.Twin core, or even the newest "Tegra" quad core processors divide the workload between them, and usually result in a cooler system and lower drain on the battery. Dual Core is probably the best balance between price and performance, although (as with ALL "Technical" advice) What's "good avice" one week will probably change within days, as new products emerge, prices change and so on. If you plan to spend a lot of time watching viceos, some CPUs are "pre-tuned" to display them effortlessly. Ones made by "Allwinner" have a good reputatioin in that department.

Something I forgot to mention was the quality (and size!) of the SCREEN. Older tablet designs (and there are stil a few of them out there) have cheaper "resistive" screens; more modern ones have (significantly more respnsive) Capacitative screens. With a capacitative screen, you can (where the software allows it) "pinch" the screen to zoom in, or "stretch" it to zoom out. (Because the screen can recognise that you're touching it in two places). My most recent purchase features an IPL screen, which impresses because you can view it from even very oblique angles without distortion, My wife's laptop, on the other hand, gives a clear picture only if viewed "straight on"; from 45 degrees one side or the other, the colours look terrible. BIG temptation to go for a bigger screen (my first tablet - a ZT-180A that I bought in Shanghai - had a 10.2" screen) but putting a picture on screen is normally the single biggest drain on the battery - so "bigger screen" usually means "shorter battery life". But on the OTHER hand... "Bigger screen" CAN equally mean "Biggesr casing, so more room in it for a bigger and better battery"... but sadly that doesn't necessarily follow. Generaly speaking, avoid resistive screens.unless you're really on a tight budget and really can't afford anything better.

What version of Android? I've used every version since "Cupcake" (which came on my first - early - Android phone) to Ice Cream Sandwich. I bought the first model of tablet to come with ICS pre-installed... and it was very much better than what had gone before.
More intuitive, easier to use... From what I read about Jellybean, it incorporates "Project Butter", which was Android's attempt to catch up with Apple on the "slick looking" front. Everything slides more smoothly. The Nexus was the first tablet to feature Jellybean, but I note that Ainol's (significantly cheaper) "Crystal" model now also comes with Jellybean.

Another consideration must be "Does it come with access (legitimate or otherwise!) to Android's "Store", now renamed "Google Play". Legit' access is ONLY offered by makers who are paid up members of the "Open Handset Alliance". Quite a few makers who aren't members of the OHA manage to provide workarounds (which convince the store that they're really an upmarket model of a mobile phone.)

Final thought (for this post, anyway) the Android community is amazingly friendly and helpful. There are loads and LOADS of user groupswho discuss every aspect of owning each and every model of Android tablet. Which came as a relief: when I bought my ZT180, there were almost no other owners at all in Europe! Slatedroid is a good example of such a user group. If your tablet ceases to be made or supported, the Android community is likely to keep it alive, upgraded and supported.

clearingout

thanks BigRon, that's very helpful and puts a few things into perspective for me. I shall keep looking...and maybe come back with a few options for people to look at with me in a few days? I am interested in the idea of the ipad mini but the screen issue is a big one (I avoided the iphone for this reason and the samsung I got instead has survived several floor drops so far!). I can see why it's cheaper to buy from China - I had no idea Amazon did that sort of thing but they do - and I have struggled to find some of the cheaper options available in the UK. However, it's now clear to me that I don't need to spend £200 and am revising the budget to a maximum of £120 (mini ipad excluded when that comes out - the price guesstmates are very variable).

Thanks - it has helped me focus with it which is what I needed!

moneysavingwannabe

I have an iPad and a 2 year old, he uses it very well and can access you tube and his apps and he uses it more confidently than my husband.

I wouldn't pay for an iPad for him but may look at the iPad mini. I think you'd be better getting them all the same and there are some very good cases out there. My iPad has been dropped a couple of times but is in a good case, a gumdrop case with a screen protector too.

I'm going to research this soon and was looking at the kindle 5 or nexus 7 I will follow this thread!

Spendless_Dosh

If you are looking beyond the regular choices, apple etc., then I can recommend the BlackBerry Playbook. It has the primary advantage of being significantly cheaper than the others starting at just £109 for the 16gb version or if memory is important the 64gb is just £129.

I'm not sure what specific games or apps you need for children of their age but it will be able to work with most apps on Google play. I've had one for just under a year now and I'm very pleased with it. At 7 inches it is perfect for traveling with which is how I use it most.

Not sure how long you need them to last, but it seems well built and has survived a couple of short flights and poor landings whilst in my charge, but then everything is out of date after about 6 months these days.

Dreamnine

Some of those Chinese sites are a tad disturbing...

http://www.szprice.com/products/Wig-Capless-long-Curly-!!!!!!-brown-Synthetic-Wig-70cm_9407.html

DCFC79

This thread might help as the OP asked a similar question re tablets for the 2 kids.

BigRonW

Just struck by another small consideration, when you're deciding what you want from your purchase(s)... namely a mini HDMI out socket. Some tablets have them, some don't. Given that pretty much ALL tablets have WiFi, the ability to plumb it into your TVset allows it to convert your set to be a modern "Smart TV". That is, you can download and use the BBC iPlayer on your TV, you can play games like Angry Birds on your TV, you can show videos that you've downloaded ... on your TV (note that it'll play files that use the highly compressed MKV format, which I don't think can be done using an iPad!) . If you know in advance "No I won't want to do that", then it's not an issue, but it would (for example) prolong the life of a tablet that was otherwise ruined by having ben droped, or trodden on and wound up with a cracked screen.

BigRonW

Dreamnine wrote: »

Some of those Chinese sites are a tad disturbing...

http://www.szprice.com/products/Wig-Capless-long-Curly-!!!!!!-brown-Synthetic-Wig-70cm_9407.html

Or an alternate sub-page of the same site is:http://www.szprice.com/products/Q88-All-Winner-A13-1-2GHz-4GB-512MB-7-Capacitive-Android-4-0-Tablet-PC-MID_9050.html?setCurrencyId=2

Which features a what looks like a pretty GOOD tablet (judging by the spec) priced (including delivery!) at an utterly AMAZING £37.43. Now THAT is a price which ought to excite people. It's a price which would give your Grannie her own email account (using the free WiFi at her local Wetherspoon's pub, or local McDonalds) It's a price that's within the reach of almost everyone in the UK, to allow them to read ebooks on their daily commute.

But you feel more inclined to shout "All aboard the outrage bus!" because a Chinese person has used the "N-word"? It might just be that you're on the WRONG forum. The one I'm on is called "moneysavingexpert.com". It's about saving money. (the clue is in the name.)

clearingout

DCFC79 wrote: »

This thread might help as the OP asked a similar question re tablets for the 2 kids.

thanks - very helpful. I suspect there'll be many more of these threads in the next couple of months!

Dreamnine

This is MSE but it's not Cheap Chinese Crap expert...

If you can be bothered buying such devices then good on you.

I know I wouldn't.