Recommned a tablet for 7 year old please?

dinneenp

Hi,
My daughter is 7.5 and is looking for a tablet for Xmas.
She'd use it for drawing/colouring, playing a few games. Probably some other like taking a few photos etc.
Can anyone recommend a good tablet for a child-

• can be charged from the mains ideally (I know someone who bought one that uses batteries and went through them v. quickly)
• has a good protective surround
• we can download games (not sure if some tablet don't have internet connection...)

Budget- not sure, would prefer not to spend €200 but don't want a crap one that isn't very responsive or will break after 6 months...

I saw this top 10 list from PC Mag but would like some 'real life' recommendations.

Thanks,
Pa.

Macy0161

My 5 and 7 year old both have Nexus 7's (one a 2013, one a 2012). Bit the bullet when Android was updated with the restricted user. I guess any android tablet that is a recent version of Android (I think it was KitKat that brought restricted profiles, but check this), should do the same job.

Before that, they had a Leapfrog Explorer and an Innotab2 between them - to be honest I found them a complete ballache, between batteries (even with the mains cable) and the games and apps being expensive and then not holding their attention. Also, one of them doesn't (or didn't) let you purchase apps on line - you had to buy a card in a shop to use on the site. They're cheaper to buy, but they get you in the end.

I find the Android tables much easier to manage, and lots more game options. And with 2, as I'm the main account on the two devices, any game/ app purchases are available on both. Only thing I would watch is the memory size - probably worth the extra for 32gb. My daughter with the 2013 loves making video's which eats the storage.

Regarding cases - you can get silicone cases online/ ebay.

branners69

I would also say a Nexus and for a 7.5 year old the 2012 would be fine. My kids play loads of Sofia the First, My Little Pony and dress up games, no problem.

You will be doing well finding a new 2012 model. You can get a refurbished (90-day warranty) one from Expansys for €80 including a pink cover.

If you want a 2013 model, Expansys have it for €195, Argos have it for €220! However I dont think you need to spend that much, in case of dropages.

But whatever you decide make sure it has 1gb of Ram, quad core processor and 16gb of storage.

dinneenp

branners69 wrote: »

You will be doing well finding a new 2012 model. You can get a refurbished (90-day warranty) one from Expansys for €80 including a pink cover.

Thanks, sounds good and a great price. One thing- what does "This is the Asus refurbished Grade A version of the Google Nexus 7 2012" mean?
Now can it be Asus if it's a Google Nexus?

Just phoned them- not an original but was fixed and now 'is one'. She says they have stock issues so mightn't have it.

dinneenp

Obviously the posters above say their kids are very happy with the Nexus but is there any issue with the screen being 'small' compared to other tablets (10")?
Or was this never mentioned by the kids?

ectoraige

Our eight-year-old son managed to saved up €100 and wanted to buy a tablet, we were going to order a Hudl 1 but it had finally sold out, so last Friday he bought a Kurio 7 tablet in Smyths on offer for €89, it's perfect for what he needs. Is looked at the refurbished nexus 7 but to be honest I think the Kurio the better buy, it has parental controls and multi-user accounts so he has allowed his little sister have an account so he can share with her sometimes without her messing up his saved games.

branners69

dinneenp wrote: »

Now can it be Asus if it's a Google Nexus?

Asus manufacture that model on behalf of Google, you can see from here which manufacturer worked on each Nexus model.

dinneenp wrote: »

Obviously the posters above say their kids are very happy with the Nexus but is there any issue with the screen being 'small' compared to other tablets (10")?
Or was this never mentioned by the kids?

I wouldnt buy a 10" for my kids as their hands can hardly handle the size of the Nexus. If they want a bigger screen, for anything, they have the laptop but they have never mentioned it!

branners69

ectoraige wrote: »

Our eight-year-old son managed to saved up €100 and wanted to buy a tablet, we were going to order a Hudl 1 but it had finally sold out, so last Friday he bought a Kurio 7 tablet in Smyths on offer for €89, it's perfect for what he needs. Is looked at the refurbished nexus 7 but to be honest I think the Kurio the better buy, it has parental controls and multi-user accounts so he has allowed his little sister have an account so he can share with her sometimes without her messing up his saved games.

I bought a kids tablet before and never again. You couldnt get access to the playstore so you had only sh1te games to choose from. I had to install a different ROM to get access to the playstore.

I have read that the Kurio is the same? You can only access the playstore from one account or something?

ectoraige

branners69 wrote: »

I bought a kids tablet before and never again. You couldnt get access to the playstore so you had only sh1te games to choose from. I had to install a different ROM to get access to the playstore.

I have read that the Kurio is the same? You can only access the playstore from one account or something?

This may have been true on older versions, this one is Kitkat 4.4 and definately has Google Play, first thing I did with it was install Netflix.
I think a parental PIN is required for children's accounts to access the store, but that might just apply for the account type we created.

There's actually a wide range of account types based on age with different levels of access e.g. child 3-5, 5-9, 9-12, 13-15, 16+ some of these have options to allow access to social networks etc. There's a lot of configuration options to fine-tune things like daily usage limits, sessions limits and so on, but the broad categories Kurio have created seem to be decent defaults.
I haven't really played much with it but can check about the app store for you. Parental account definately has no problem with app store.

Mr E

The Kurio looks good, and I can see from videos on YouTube that Minecraft is smooth on it (a must have for my nephew!)

dinneenp

Thanks for the recommendations so far.
Any thoughts on the Amazon Fire HD 7 Inch? Is the Amazon App store a deal breaker?
Thanks.

Maysa07

You can't go wrong with this. - http://www.asus.com/Tablets/ASUS_MeMO_Pad_7_ME176C/

Only £100 on amazon or €140 ish in most stores here.

I Bought two and my daughter is 8yo.

Hope it helps..

Pat

Macy0161

dinneenp wrote: »

Or was this never mentioned by the kids?

Never mentioned by my children, but then their reference points are probably their previous innotab/ leapfrog devices, their cousins DS, the mini dvd player - all of which the Nexus 7 has a bigger screen than! Both of us have a Nexus 7, so they'd be run if they made that complaint tbh!

Regarding Parental Controls, any Android after KitKat (I think - never did get to check), has restricted profiles. Before getting any of the children's Nexus 7's, I checked on my own Nexus 7 that the games/ apps running in this didn't allow the in app purchases (and they didn't). I've also had no major issues with apps or games running. However, the children don't have any access to the internet at the ages they are, unsupervised at least. Any tablet running a recent version of Android should be the same I would've thought? It does also allow multiple restricted (or otherwise) profiles too.

weslers

You could check out the Nabi https://www.nabitablet.com

branners69

Argos have the Nexus 2013 down to €190!

http://www.argos.ie/static/Product/partNumber/1388381.htm

http://www.checkargos.com/StockCheckPage.php?productId=138%2F8381

dinneenp

update- got a Lenovo TAB a10, 16gb tablet for €189 in Argos today but can return it.

Still 1/2 thinking of getting this instead- Google Nexus 7, 32gb, 2012 + Travel Cover Pink