Fire Kids Edition Tablet
© 2014 Amazon.com
12/1/2016 Update. The fire is in it's 5th generation, and contains more memory and a Micro SD card port. The 8 GB model costs $50; the 16 MB model $70; not counting the required subscription to Amazon Prime. Read the fine print carefully. [2014 archived content from this point on] Fire Kids Edition Tablet (formerly called "Fire HD Kids Edition") is a welcome, but sadly imperfect entry in the crowded kid's tablet space. The price includes one year of "all you can eat" style content distribution called Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, that only a service like Amazon could offer. You might want them to have access to books, but put a limit on games, for example. FreeTime blocks in-app payments, so you don’t have to worry about additional expenses. Amazon promises a choice of 5,000 pre-selected, worry free books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games; all for one set price. It's like an all you can eat buffet -- but there are some important limitations. At the end of the year, you'll need to pay up to $120/year for continued content ($10/month for four children, $5/month for one child). In addition, you get just 4.5 GB of internal storage for content -- enough for about 15 larger apps. So while you may have access to an all you can eat buffet, you only have a tiny plate. This creates a frustrating situation, because children love to download apps. We were much more excited about the selection of books and movies than the apps, which has been originally designed for an iPad screen. The Oceanhouse media Dr. Seuss apps have a non-interactive filler border on the left and right sides, and the Sesame Street "There's a Monster at the End of this Book" had a bug that wouldn't let you turn the first page. Noteworthy exceptions include Cut the Rope, Where's My Water, and some apps from Sandra Boynton and Darren Murtha apps. So does the Fire HD compete with the lowest priced $250 iPad mini? Not yet. The iPad might cost significantly more, but it still runs 20 times the content (properly), has a physical home button, and offers a better screen experience. Building on the 2014 Fire tablet infrastructure, this tablet is housed in a thick protective case and has a quad core processor, front- and rear-facing cameras, a headphone jack, and Dolby audio.. Fire HD Kids Edition is $150 for the small 6” screen size, and $190 for the larger 7” size. Parental controls include timers and app selection tools, and limits on the type of content your child can access. Opt instead for the $130 7 inch regular Kindle Fire.
$70, Kindle
Teaches: a Kindle tablet
CTR Rating: 84%