Jacob has a Leappad, but would a Childpad be better?
Remember when all you had to do to earn squeals of delight from the kids was buy a Nintendo Gameboy and a couple of game cartridges? Technology may make our lives simpler in many ways, but it has made shopping for kids electronics much more complicated. While most parents know about the Apple iPad and its competitors, kid tablets can all start to sound the same. If you’re wondering which to buy this holiday season for your tykes, this post is for you.
This post will function as a comparison among the five major players in the kid tablet computer market this holiday season. The points of comparison include price, size, memory, battery life, and any other distinguishing characteristics for the particular device:
Toys R Us Tabeo – Toys R Us, the massive toy retailer, has come on the market with the Tabeo. Here is how it breaks down:
Price: $149.99
Size: 7-inch screen
Memory: 4 GB Storage, but it comes with an SDHC slot that can hold up to 32 GB
Battery life: 10 hours for Internet browsing and 7 hours for video content
Misc. Information: Comes pre-loaded with over 50 apps, while 6000 FREE educational programs will be available for the Tabeo app store.
LeapFrog LeapPad 2 – The upgraded version of the original LeapPad tablet:
Price: $99.99 ( the original now lists for $79.99)
Size: 5-inch screen
Memory: 4 GB
Battery life: Up to 9 hours.
Misc. Information: Comes pre-loaded with five apps (including Pet Pad and Cartoon Director). Users can also download from the library of 325 games/apps available for about $5 each
VTech InnoTab 2 – The upgraded version of VTech’s first Innotab:
Price: $79.99
Size: 5-inch screen
Memory: Offers 2 GB of Onboard memory, but has an SD card slot that takes 2-16 GB SD cards
Battery life: Up to 4-5 hours.
Misc. Information: Comes with 15 pre-loaded apps. You can add eBooks and apps by buying cartridges (they cost around $25 each). It also comes with a microphone for games, apps, and video recording.
Nabi 2 – Also an upgraded version, this time from the company Nabi:
Price: $199.99
Size: 7-inch screen
Memory: 8 GB
Battery life: Up to 6 hours
Misc. Information: The most powerful processor of the bunch comes with a Chore List of what kids must complete before they can play games. It’s basically a kid-friendly Android-based tablet with more capabilities but also with a higher price tag.
Archos ChildPad – A kid version from the French tablet vendor Archos:
Price: $129
Size: 7-inch screen
Memory: 1 GB
Battery life: Up to 6 hours
Misc. Information: 28 apps come pre-installed. You can add to it by downloading from the AppsLib Kids App Store, which has approximately 10,000 apps. These apps vary from FREE to approximately $10 per app.
There isn’t one right answer on which kids tablet is the best. But if your child is still too young for an adult tablet and you have a particular ranking of what features are important to you (i.e. price as opposed to memory or processing power), hopefully this breakdown will help you decide which is best. Also, you can seek out more information on all of these tablets at TabTimes. We thank them for providing much of the information we found during this research.
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