Kindle Fire Kids Edition

fitzie79 · 14-10-2015 11:59am #1

I'm looking at purchasing a tablet for a 5 year old. I don't want this as a tablet for games - I want something that she will be able to use for specific educational apps and maybe in time to do some basic coding. I want to be able to ensure there is a good parent mode capability and that it is robust enough to take some drops as I'm sure it will get.

I came across the Kindle Fire Kids edition but it seems that it can only be delivered to the uk. I can use Parcel Motel but will the functionality be limited in Ireland?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fire-Kids-Display-Wi-Fi-Kid-Proof/dp/B00YYZFXHC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1444820093&sr=8-2&keywords=kindle+fire+kids

Are there other superior alternatives available for approximately the same money?

bertie4evr · 26-10-2015 12:20pm

I'd appreciate an answer to this too. Would the free apps/videos/books be available in Ireland? It looks like a fantastic deal.

bertie4evr · 27-10-2015 1:31am

I ended up contacting Amazon themselves. They said that everything would work without issue.

SmithySeller · 10-11-2015 5:01pm

Sorry to jump on this, but did you buy in the end? Are you happy with it?

Do you know if the 1 year subscription to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited works for people in Ireland?

Alternatively I'm thinking the new Leapfrog Epic. Something I can just hand over and forget about parental controls etc..

Thanks

bertie4evr · 10-11-2015 5:42pm

SmithySeller wrote: »

Sorry to jump on this, but did you buy in the end? Are you happy with it?

Do you know if the 1 year subscription to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited works for people in Ireland?

Alternatively I'm thinking the new Leapfrog Epic. Something I can just hand over and forget about parental controls etc..

Thanks

Yeah, I actually bought two. The subscription worked great, I just had to set my country in the Amazon settings to the UK. There's no disadvantages to doing that as far as I can see (You could always just set up another account solely for this if you'd rather not change the country on your main account).

The amount of free apps, books, TV shows and films make it hard to beat. Parental controls are simple too, you can just let them have at it and have no restrictions, or set up weekday hours and weekend hours. The whole set up from out of the box to having a kid's profile with restrictions set up was less than 10 minutes.

SmithySeller · 10-11-2015 6:07pm

Great thanks for the reply.

SmithySeller · 10-11-2015 6:16pm

Sorry one last quick question, do you know if I can simply copy movies to it like any normal Android device and play as normal?

Thanks again.

fitzie79 · 11-11-2015 8:44pm

bertie4evr wrote: »

Yeah, I actually bought two. The subscription worked great, I just had to set my country in the Amazon settings to the UK. There's no disadvantages to doing that as far as I can see (You could always just set up another account solely for this if you'd rather not change the country on your main account).

The amount of free apps, books, TV shows and films make it hard to beat. Parental controls are simple too, you can just let them have at it and have no restrictions, or set up weekday hours and weekend hours. The whole set up from out of the box to having a kid's profile with restrictions set up was less than 10 minutes.

Thanks for this feedback. Great to know that it works here with no issues. Helped make up my mind for definite

ted1 · 11-11-2015 8:48pm

Thinking of getting the kids one also.
How much is free time after a year ?
How restricted is the App Store ? Can you get the RTE Jr app?

bertie4evr · 11-11-2015 9:22pm

SmithySeller wrote: »

Sorry one last quick question, do you know if I can simply copy movies to it like any normal Android device and play as normal?

Thanks again.

You can, just copy over the files then switch into Parent mode, download a video player like VLC, and make it available to the child's profile.

ted1 wrote: »

Thinking of getting the kids one also.
How much is free time after a year ?
How restricted is the App Store ? Can you get the RTE Jr app?

After a year it's £4 a month I think.

You can switch into Parent mode and download any app you want, then mark is as available for the child. So you have access to any and all Android apps.

fitzie79 · 12-11-2015 9:02am

one other question - did you have it delivered to an irish address or use something like parcelmotel for the delivery?

ted1 · 12-11-2015 10:19am

bertie4evr wrote: »

You can, just copy over the files then switch into Parent mode, download a video player like VLC, and make it available to the child's profile.

After a year it's £4 a month I think.

You can switch into Parent mode and download any app you want, then mark is as available for the child. So you have access to any and all Android apps.

that's a bit steep, especially if I get 2. An extra €72 euro per tablet per year.

bertie4evr · 12-11-2015 11:13am

fitzie79 wrote: »

one other question - did you have it delivered to an irish address or use something like parcelmotel for the delivery?

I used Parcel Motel.

SmithySeller · 29-11-2015 12:44pm

Having had a quick play it seems the Kids Videos are Geo-Locked. Everything else works fine when registered UK. Bertie, I assume its the same on yours?

fitzie79 · 29-11-2015 9:35pm

SmithySeller wrote: »

Having had a quick play it seems the Kids Videos are Geo-Locked. Everything else works fine when registered UK. Bertie, I assume its the same on yours?

Mine arrived in ParcelMotel yesterday . Haven't unboxed it yet but must check this out.

I noticed on Friday they were reduced from £99 to £69 - was feeling a bit cheated but then saw that the delivery date was after Christmas - at that price they must have been flying out the door!

SmithySeller · 30-11-2015 1:36pm

fitzie79 wrote: »

I noticed on Friday they were reduced from £99 to £69 - was feeling a bit cheated but then saw that the delivery date was after Christmas - at that price they must have been flying out the door!

Sorry M8, same happened to me. I logged onto Amazon, went to Customer Service and hit the Live chat. Explained the situation and that it made financial sense to return it and re-order, and asked out straight would they refund the difference. They did without fuss, £39 in total, as I bought an SD Card also. I only did this on Friday, so give it a go!

Blowheads · 04-12-2015 7:45pm

Add your reply here.
Hi Smithy,
Ours arrived yesterday... BIG WARNING to anyone intending to leave this in the box until the big morning
1. Could not register the kids section, rang support, reset twice but no joy. However this morning the kids parts was enabled.
2. Great selection of books BUT now here is the problem now, no videos will play or the bits under characters section. Got back on to Amazon support, still waiting. They confirmed that the full content should be available to us here in ROI. The error message is "geo IP".

Smithy, did you find a way around this? Otherwise it's basically useless!! Waiting for Amazon to call me back since morning

So just a note to anyone getting it, best check it now before tears in 3 weeks

Note.. Just got email from amazon support, the subscription is only valid for us/UK so that means we're f@#$%&

corkcuu · 06-12-2015 11:23pm

bertie4evr wrote: »

Yeah, I actually bought two. The subscription worked great, I just had to set my country in the Amazon settings to the UK. There's no disadvantages to doing that as far as I can see (You could always just set up another account solely for this if you'd rather not change the country on your main account).

The amount of free apps, books, TV shows and films make it hard to beat. Parental controls are simple too, you can just let them have at it and have no restrictions, or set up weekday hours and weekend hours. The whole set up from out of the box to having a kid's profile with restrictions set up was less than 10 minutes.

Mind me asking, did you register it with a UK address or where did you put in the UK part? Trying to set it up earlier and I'm lost as to how to get the kids unlimited 1 year

Blowheads · 07-12-2015 3:32pm

It took me one day to get the kids subscription activated, when you do the initial wizard it shows the screen to enable it, but when clicking on it it just skips through.
you can try going in to settings, then there is something like device or profiles and you can activate it there

WRT to the apps etc, its the videos that will not plan, seems the books and apps are fine, but videos not.
to overcome the disappointment of clicking on a video and it not playing, I simply hid ALL videos associated to the kids accounts

Orson100 · 12-12-2015 2:25am

bertie4evr wrote: »

ended up contacting Amazon themselves. They said that everything would work without issueI.

Hi,

I've bought a Kindle Fire Kids Edition for my daughter for Xmas on foot of this reported confirmation from Amazon that "everything would work without issue" [including with regard to the Freetime content, I had naively and impulsively assumed it seems at this point].

After a bit of tricking around with regard to actually activating the kids freetime account (changing my registered address to my registered NI Parcel Motel address in NI) I can now see all the kids content that is available.

However, as reported previously, I cannot stream any of the video content - INVALID_GEO_IP.

So clearly everything is "not working without issue" and as I would prefer not to go to the bother of spoofing a UK IP address I was wondering if anybody else had come across this issue and perhaps has a simpler workaround.

To be honest I am not hopeful of a quick fix but consolation is that at least it's not Christmas Eve and I have an opportunity to fix this video content issue in advance!

TIA

Orson.

corkcuu · 12-12-2015 9:13pm

Orson100 wrote: »

Hi,

I've bought a Kindle Fire Kids Edition for my daughter for Xmas on foot of this reported confirmation from Amazon that "everything would work without issue" [including with regard to the Freetime content, I had naively and impulsively assumed it seems at this point].

After a bit of tricking around with regard to actually activating the kids freetime account (changing my registered address to my registered NI Parcel Motel address in NI) I can now see all the kids content that is available.

However, as reported previously, I cannot stream any of the video content - INVALID_GEO_IP.

So clearly everything is "not working without issue" and as I would prefer not to go to the bother of spoofing a UK IP address I was wondering if anybody else had come across this issue and perhaps has a simpler workaround.

To be honest I am not hopeful of a quick fix but consolation is that at least it's not Christmas Eve and I have an opportunity to fix this video content issue in advance!

TIA

Orson.

I've changed my address to UK earlier today but just checked and it's still not coming up under kids profile to register for kids unlimited....anything else u did that got it working?

Blowheads · 12-12-2015 10:46pm

Orson100 wrote:

After a bit of tricking around with regard to actually activating the kids freetime account (changing my registered address to my registered NI Parcel Motel address in NI) I can now see all the kids content that is available.

Sorry to burst that bubble, was chatting a nice guy from amazon, their status is that since they don't ship it to Ireland we shouldn't be buying it. As for the Geo content, it seems to be just the videos that don't work. I was annoyed as hell for a few days, but here is what I did. I downloaded Netflix app and shared it with kids profile so they have as much content as ever necessary. I hid every video in the kids section, what they don't see mightn't bother then so much, down load a few books and games because it seems to take ages to do that. Also we VERY quickly ran out of memory space so you'll need a micro SD card sooner rater than later.
They only way to spoof the IP is a VPN and even that's not nice as amazon os hides a lot of functionality so you'd need an app running as a service for VPN and that'll run to 7 or 8 a month so not worth it IMO. The VPN does work though but Netflix subscription would be better value considering all the content you can get for adults as well as kids

corkcuu · 12-12-2015 10:53pm

I don't mind not be able to access videos but can you access the books games etc? I've tried everything and can't get registered. I bought through argos in Ireland and seriously thinking of bringing back if I can't get the kids unlimited set up (even without videos I'd use it). Please can anyone help me figure this out

Orson100 · 12-12-2015 11:31pm

@blowheads, thanks for the feedback and advice, I'll consider what I'll do on the Amazon video content front probably just hide and forget to be honest. She can stream her stuff from my DLNA server, what she doesn't know will not hurt her.

@corkcuu, I recall that after I had changed to a UK address, the "Fire for Kids Unlimited" section in my already-created profile for my daughter, was not appearing.

So I simply deleted the existing child profile and recreated it. The Fire for Kids section appeared automatically in the new profile, confirming 1 year subscription.

To remove the child profile: Settings | Profiles & Family Library | [Select Existing Child Profile] | Remove Child Profile from your Household.

HTH
Orson.

corkcuu · 12-12-2015 11:34pm

Orson100 wrote: »

@blowheads, thanks for the feedback and advice, I'll consider what I'll do on the Amazon video content front probably just hide and forget to be honest. She can stream her stuff from my DLNA server, what she doesn't know will not hurt her.

@corkcuu, I recall that after I had changed to a UK address, the "Fire for Kids Unlimited" section in my already-created profile for my daughter, was not appearing.

So I simply deleted the existing child profile and recreated it. The Fire for Kids section appeared automatically in the new profile, confirming 1 year subscription.

To remove the child profile: Settings | Profiles & Family Library | [Select Existing Child Profile] | Remove Child Profile from your Household.

HTH
Orson.

Thanks tried that but no luck still. Think I changed address the right way, on the fire I chose change country, it said it would take approx 30 mins to change so should have been completed this afternoon

corkcuu · 13-12-2015 7:55pm

Finally got the kids unlimited set up (minus the videos), the fire was automatically registering with amazon.com instead of co.uk so I need to migrate the device.
Now to figure out the best apps and books for a 7 year old boy!!!

Blowheads · 14-12-2015 10:27pm

Actually enabled the "web" app, it's got loads of videos there and not geo restricted

SmithySeller · 15-12-2015 1:01pm

Sorry folks, I haven't looked at this much since I got it, I must have a go tonight. With regard setting it up, I used my own Amazon account (that I bought it with), but quickly realised this has an Ireland address and the kids section wouldn't work. Did a reset and used a different amazon account with UK address and it works straight away. Yes, the videos are geo-locked. Somebody mentioned that you can hide this, from there I plan on installing You-Tube for Kids and letting them run with that.

@Blowheads would you mind expanding on what the 'web' app is? Cheers

Blowheads · 15-12-2015 4:00pm

SmithySeller wrote: »

Sorry folks, I haven't looked at this much since I got it, I must have a go tonight. With regard setting it up, I used my own Amazon account (that I bought it with), but quickly realised this has an Ireland address and the kids section wouldn't work. Did a reset and used a different amazon account with UK address and it works straight away. Yes, the videos are geo-locked. Somebody mentioned that you can hide this, from there I plan on installing You-Tube for Kids and letting them run with that.

@Blowheads would you mind expanding on what the 'web' app is? Cheers

Hi, Smithy, you must enable the "Web" feature for the kids. its a very locked down version of a browser, but I believe you can whitelist certain websites. "google, independent etc" are all blocked by the app.
In the web it links out to many video from youtube, so I'm happy this is a fairly OK variant from the videos app.
Tip, hide all videos, enable the web app.

SmithySeller · 15-12-2015 4:53pm

Thanks for that. I'll go at this tonight..

aine100 · 16-12-2015 7:27pm

Ok so I'm a bit annoyed because I bought it in argos and it was €150 but it does not have the microsd slot, but besides that I am happy. same as everyone else apps and books work but not the videos. How do i hide the videos though. I cant figure it out. any help would be appreciated.
thanks
ez

corkcuu · 16-12-2015 8:31pm

Aine 100 I bought on argos too and mine has the micros slot. Just popped it in last night. You'll need more memory so I'd go back in if I were you.
When you set up the child's profile you go in to manage their profile and it's something like control subscription

aine100 · 16-12-2015 9:28pm

I got the 6inch one in argos, and Im a bit annoyed that there isint an sd slot in it. Also on their website it said it was 16gb but mine only has 8gb. It was €149. I only got it today. However the apps and books that you get for the year are great, and the device itself is nice. I have netflix on it for my daughter now, and I also put dropbox for any other videos she wants. Can I just ask about hiding the amazon videos. Do you just hide every single one individually (what i did) is there no way to hide the actual carousel category of videos? Thanks
p.s im guessing this is a no, but does anyone know if you can put google play movies on it?
Ta

aine100 · 16-12-2015 9:35pm

I just had a Google, and I believe you can sideload apk's so I guess you can install Google Play

bertie4evr · 16-12-2015 10:26pm

aine100 wrote: »

I just had a Google, and I believe you can sideload apk's so I guess you can install Google Play

Unfortunately you can't share non-Amazon AppStore apps with the Kids Profile. So even if you have Google Play installed on it (I do) you cannot allow the kids to access any apps you download.

I tried getting around this by loading the APK onto the SDCard and sharing ES File Explorer with the Kids Profile so I could install while logged in as a child. This didn't work either because you have to enable apps from Unknown Sources in settings which, you guessed it, can't be done for a Kids Profile.

aine100 · 18-12-2015 11:34am

corkcuu wrote: »

Aine 100 I bought on argos too and mine has the micros slot. Just popped it in last night. You'll need more memory so I'd go back in if I were you.
When you set up the child's profile you go in to manage their profile and it's something like control subscription

Thanks corkcuu,
that's just my luck, and our local argos doesn't have them now they are out of stock. I suspect I bought the older edition. I might ring them,thanks for the reply
on second thought i might leave it, i have netflix on it and the free apps are great. I have dropbox on it for movies.

BurrenNRG · 21-12-2015 5:47pm

Hi Guys, trying to get two of these set up for Santa presents, really annoyed about the Geo IP address issues, contacted Amazon in advance of purchasing and they advised that all content would be ok here in Ireland.... so infuriating!

I need to hide as much of the 'unavailable' content as possible to stop my kids driving me mad with 'Why' & 'Why Not' - can anyone help?

Cheers
NAt

Blowheads · 21-12-2015 10:58pm

BurrenNRG wrote: »

Hi Guys, trying to get two of these set up for Santa presents, really annoyed about the Geo IP address issues, contacted Amazon in advance of purchasing and they advised that all content would be ok here in Ireland.... so infuriating!

I need to hide as much of the 'unavailable' content as possible to stop my kids driving me mad with 'Why' & 'Why Not' - can anyone help?

Cheers
NAt

Go into the adult profile, then settings and profiles& family library, then select the child's account then remove content, remove unwanted for for kids unlimited items, remove by hand and flaky drop down to videos and select all videos. You have to do it one by one, just remember they could add new content. You could enable the web browser, lot of videos there without Geo restrictions. Pm me if you want to know anything

bertie4evr · 22-12-2015 12:15am

bertie4evr wrote: »

Unfortunately you can't share non-Amazon AppStore apps with the Kids Profile. So even if you have Google Play installed on it (I do) you cannot allow the kids to access any apps you download.

I tried getting around this by loading the APK onto the SDCard and sharing ES File Explorer with the Kids Profile so I could install while logged in as a child. This didn't work either because you have to enable apps from Unknown Sources in settings which, you guessed it, can't be done for a Kids Profile.

So I've figured out how to get 3rd Party apps onto a Kids profile.

The first thing you need to do is get Google Play set up on the parents profile. You can see how to do this here (It's a long article but it's simple enough to do).

Then download GoToApp from the Amazon AppStore and share it with the Kid profile.

Once that's done, login as a child and open GoToApp. Tap Google Play and sign in. Now you have access to all the Google Play apps (Youtube Kids!). Install them and use GoToApp to open them.

A final, optional step, is to clean up GoToApp to make it easier for a child to use. Go to the folder part of GoToApp's settings. Once you're there select all the folders and delete them. Create a new folder with all the apps you want available and you're done.

FatB · 25-12-2015 8:59pm

Cheers bertie4evr - I bought 2, one for my own son and one for someone in work.. I tried setting up my own one - got the 4 services installed that the script would of done, didn't end up working for me. Thankfully I came across this post yesterday and had it all sorted for this morning.

Already sending back the workmates one though as I had no confidence I'd have it working in time for them for Christmas...

Sniipe · 26-12-2015 8:51pm

I was wondering would it be worth changing my location at a router setting? It could be easy to do. What would I need to do, in a general sense? Would the net be too slow then to view the vids...?

corkcuu · 08-01-2016 3:36pm

Well santa brought the fire, it was set up with apps books, but do these need to download regularly? I assume it should only be once but yesterday books were there, today it needs to download them when I try to open. Very frustrating

ted1 · 04-03-2016 11:46pm

Just s heads up there's an issue with the Chargers and Amazon are offering a replacement or £12 credit.
Check your inboxes

Brenner65 · 14-10-2016 11:42am

Can I ask if you are happy with your Kids Fire edition after the year or so (despite the workarounds required above)? Santa might deliver to 8 and 7 year old girls. Many Thanks

Sniipe · 14-10-2016 11:45am

Brenner65 wrote: »

Can I ask if you are happy with your Kids Fire

Brenner, I would say go for it. My 3 and 5 year old love theirs. The free apps are great. Its a pity the vids don't work without a workaround, but there is more than enough content. Wait until the black friday/cyber monday sale, I'd say that is when you will get it cheapest.

Blowheads · 14-10-2016 1:32pm

I returned mine.. too much hassle since its not designed for Ireland it will break your heart..

bertie4evr · 14-10-2016 1:52pm

The free apps and YouTube Kids are all we need. For that it works great. I used the parental controls to just hide videos altogether. They don't know they're there to miss them.

The "Worry-Free Guarantee" is amazing! Two years of free replacements. Amazon have replaced ours, free of charge, twice because the charging port keeps coming loose. No matter how much you tell them to be careful with it. It's now handed up at the end of the day to be charged!

Metalpanic · 26-10-2016 8:46pm

bertie4evr wrote: »

So I've figured out how to get 3rd Party apps onto a Kids profile.

The first thing you need to do is get Google Play set up on the parents profile. You can see how to do this here (It's a long article but it's simple enough to do).

Then download GoToApp from the Amazon AppStore and share it with the Kid profile.

Once that's done, login as a child and open GoToApp. Tap Google Play and sign in. Now you have access to all the Google Play apps (Youtube Kids!). Install them and use GoToApp to open them.

A final, optional step, is to clean up GoToApp to make it easier for a child to use. Go to the folder part of GoToApp's settings. Once you're there select all the folders and delete them. Create a new folder with all the apps you want available and you're done.

Hi Bertie I'm having trouble with this. Play Store is on the device and GoToApp is in the Kid profile, but when I go through it play store isn't there. Would it be because I logged in to Play from the adult profile?

SachaJ · 29-10-2016 11:24am

Just a heads-up. £20 off them currently on Amazon

garden · 30-10-2016 1:39pm

Contemplating buying 2 of these for christmas. The whole subscription things is putting me off them. What happens if you decide not to continue with the subscription thing?

SachaJ · 30-10-2016 1:45pm

garden wrote: »

Contemplating buying 2 of these for christmas. The whole subscription things is putting me off them. What happens if you decide not to continue with the subscription thing?

I assume you only lose access to the Amazon Kids apps. Anything you install yourself and allow for the kids should be still there. To continue the subscription it's something like £3.99 per month or £7.99 for up to 4 children.

I bought 3 of them yesterday. 25% off. Black Friday last year had 30% off so it might be worth waiting another few weeks. I decided to buy yesterday so I have plenty of time to figure it all out before Christmas.

Kindle Fire Kids Edition

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