Scottish Elises

Thinking about buying our 4yr old daughter a tablet for Christmas and just wondered if anyone had any experience with child-specific tablets or letting a child use a basic 'adult' tablet?

She currently uses my old iPhone 3G to watch videos on Youtube and take photos but it can't really do much else as it won't download many newer games.
She uses the Cbeebies App on my phone and the website which she loves.
I'd like her to be able to watch videos from youtube and from memory, play some games, some educational stuff, listen to music and that's about it I think- would also be good though if the wife could use it for a quick surf if I was using the iPad.....

My initial thoughts were something like the Leappad Ultra but it does seem very restricted and what really puts me off is that additional apps/games seem very expensive and limited.
The wife is keen to get her something robust and came accross this Archos childpad which looks ok.

I however think that a Tesco Hudl with a rubber bumper may be a better idea.

My only concern with an 'adult' tablet is can you make sure that they don't buy anything from the app store or upgrades within games? What about general web filtering?

Budget is about £100.

Anyone got any experience or comments?

I've been looking at the same thing. I was speaking to someone who has a Hudl and raves about it. Slightly bulkier than some of it's brethren but well spec'd. You get double value on your Tesco vouchers on it too. I'm pretty sure this is what we're going to get. Can't justify the massive cost of the fruit based variety. I believe the parental controls are now pretty good on Android. Obviously Mum and Dad will be using it after the kids have gone to bed. I'm getting my order in shortly though as rumor is that there will be a shortage closer to Christmas.

Tablets were on the One Show tonight and Tesco's Hudl got the thumbs up My kids have Kindle Fires, nice piece of kit but pretty heavy.

I don't know about which tablet you should buy, but if you don't register a credit card with the play store account, they cannot spend any of your money. If they're going to be using it I suggest you create a new generic google account and register the tablet with that (prevents them reading your emails, sending emails on your behalf, spamming all your contacts when they pick up a virus, etc.).

I think it is not advisable to register a credit card with any online provider of anything and then hand it over to your kids, but that's just me

Cheers,
Robin

A mate has a Hudl and rates it highly. He's an IT tech, so probably knows nothing about quality


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Renny

Thanks gents, I think I will just go for a Hudl. I'm sure it'll cope with the demands a 4yr old will put on it.

Good advice about setting up a generic e-mail to register it to Robin, I'll definitely do that. I seem to remember that when registering with iTunes you must enter credit card details but I may just be making that up, and even if I'm not, Google play may be different so hopefully I won't have to register a card.

Off to order one now......

Not sure if I'm too late but I bought my daughter a Nabi 2.

It has great parental features and is pretty robust for knocks and bumps as it comes with a huge protective bumper.

it doesn't have google play and youtube on it out of the box but that's easily achievable after a quick google.

My daughter loves it and the spec is really good (same as a first gen nexus 7)

Ive lost count of the childrens pad devices we've bought for our two kids, every single one is gathering dust at the bottom of a cupboard. Buy them a proper tablet, it might not seem it at the time but you will save money and cupboard space.

Well I went onto Tesco Direct and found I had £119 worth of vouchers. Doubled up with the points boost we got two Hudls for free. Can't be bad. We've decided though that the boys in the family are giving the Girls a Hudl (had to choose words carefully there) and vice versa so technically the kids don't own them. Ultimately they will get limited access to the devices so giving the tablets directly to them then limiting access felt a bit off. Mummy and Daddy will want to use them in the evening anyway.

Nice one Ferg!

Dave, yes you are too late

A few people had said to me the same as Mikey said so I ordered Hudl. Unfortunatey we are Sainsburys shoppers so our clubcard total came to £2.46!
I did manage to find a code for £10 off if you spend over £125 though so I added a £15 case to take it over the threshold and coupled with the 6% Quidco cash back the tablet and case should end up costing me about £118. Not bad.

Ours will belong to Niamh as we already have an iPad for the grown-ups but I'm sure it will get some adult use too when one of us is on the iPad and the other one desperately needs to do some surfing!

Got a LeapPad for my 3 year old last Christmas. He and his younger brother (now 3) use it often. Got them a child specific tablet as they were using the wifes nexus quite well. Personally think the LeapPad is over priced , slow and expensive for Apps. But its robust, kid friendly and the apps are pefect for learning. Toying with the idea of getting the newer model. Other option is a £40-£50 android tablet from ebuyer i guess.

Hudl being bought for my 9 y.o although like Mikey's experience, I do wonder if it will end up in the drawer with old Leappads, original Nintedo DS's etc given there are a couple of iPads in the house which she currently uses for iPlayer. Screen size seems to be a key factor.

App store requires - or can be configured to require - your password whenever adding an app, whether paid or not. James been using Lisa's iPad for 18 mths now and not bought anything so far Not sure how Play store operates... Free stuff seems to install on my android tablet without password verification. But the kids never get to touch it - its my business device.

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We went though a faze of getting some of that stuff for my 5 year granddaughter most of it that I saw just gathered dust she will be able to use a computer and mobile soon enough ... so I've found a non tech approach for xmas this year.

No battery or charger required for this ,it has a head, tail , four legs, requires grooming, riding and a lot of carrots

Noops wrote:We went though a faze of getting some of that stuff for my 5 year granddaughter most of it that I saw just gathered dust she will be able to use a computer and mobile soon enough ... so I've found a non tech approach for xmas this year.

No battery or charger required for this ,it has a head, tail , four legs, requires grooming, riding and a lot of carrots

You can't steal Rudolph - that's just not fair on the other kids!