Fire HD 8 Kids Edition
© 2017 Amazon.com
Amazon's kid tablet keeps getting better. From a hardware and app availability point of view it's still not as good as an iPad. But given the cost and the improvements in battery life and ease of use, the gap is narrowing. This is the 7th revision of Amazon's tablet for children, specifically targeting ages 3 to 12. The formal name is Fire HD 8 Kids Edition (note that the word "Kindle" is not used. There is also a smaller 7 inch edition that costs $30 less, but it has a scant 16 GB of internal storage. You can theoretically upgrade by peeling off the rubber case and purchasing micro SD card, but this internal storage is a key factor considering the way Amazon's "all you can eat" FreeTime feature works. What good is a huge buffet if you only have a tiny plate? The price of both versions includes the tablet with foam case (in pink, yellow or blue), a charger plus a one year subscription to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited. According to Amazon, the library contains 15,000 books, videos, educational apps, and games. Need to know: Remember that this is a subscription device. Once a year is up, you'll need to re-subscribe to Amazon FreeTime for $83/year in order in order to keep your stuff -- otherwise you're left with a collection of bookmarked icons in your child's profile. Besides the expense of the subscription, our testing also discovered that it is easy to create a create a download log jam when you first start browsing the vast library. Because downloading is so easy (just one tap) you can quickly fill your tablet. We noted that apps can load more slowly on the Fire vs. the iPad, and they don't look or sound as good. But differences are minor, which you can see when you download the same app on two devices. Links: Fire HD Kids home page https://www.amazon.com/All-New-Fire-Tablet-Display-Kid-Proof/dp/B01J94SBEY Amazon Freetime Unlimited tutorial https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=15282061011&ref_=pe_854610_141391620_ftu_eml_welcome CTR's unboxing video: https://youtu.be/EDszshkVCiw Comparison with the iPad: https://youtu.be/bWFFVh3rjDk
$130
Teaches: A tablet for kids
CTR Rating: 92%