Why you'll buy a tablet for your kids

[DACasey]

Once your kids see what their friends got for Christmas, they'll be begging you for a tablet to run the latest eBook apps on. Don't believe me? Watch the amazing video at this link (http://www.fastcodesign.com/1664419/an-ex-pixar-designer-creates-astounding-kids-book-on-ipad).

Start saving now, because touch-screen tablets aren't cheap.

[amyashley]

While I *might* buy the book for my own tablet, I'd never buy a tablet for my kid.

I'm probably an exception to the rule in several ways.

One thing is that I adore my kindle. I've had it for 3 years and it's still running strong. I don't feel the need for anything more, don't run apps or music (I don't even own an mp3 player), and don't see myself replacing it any time soon.

Second thing, I bought an iPad. My kids stomped on it while I was in the bathroom 2 weeks later. I hope to get reimbursed by my credit card company, but have to drive 2 hours to an Apple store to have a repair estimate done first. PITA. Obviously my kids aren't responsible enough yet. Also while I had it, I thought it was irritating to work on, and frankly, I'm really glad I had the chance to buy the Air I now have instead.

Lastly, my oldest son (the only possible candidate for a reader) is reading NOW at 5. He could read this book easily. He reads at about a 3rd grade level. No way would I spend $400 on him and trust him with a tablet.

An older kid I can't see being quite as fascinated with this. Just saying that from a parent's perspective. However, I DO think it's something I would buy, IF I had a tablet to read to my kids. Don't think it will drive tablet sales though.

[DACasey]

I bought an iPad. My kids stomped on it while I was in the bathroom 2 weeks later.

Ouch!

my oldest son (the only possible candidate for a reader) is reading NOW at 5. He could read this book easily. He reads at about a 3rd grade level. No way would I spend $400 on him and trust him with a tablet.

First, congrats on your son's terrific reading ability.

I'm thinking the tablet and eBook apps would be an excellent incentive for very young kids to climb into their PJs and get ready for bed before their bedtime stories, not as a daily play toy. The rest of the time, the electronics should be hidden safely out of their reach. (Not always possible, I know.)

[amyashley]

I think it's great, but as something parents will have.

Personally, I REALLY wish there were more e-books for kids. I have about a dozen on my kindle and we read them repeatedly. They're ridiculously handy in doctor's waiting rooms etc.

I like the interactive idea, but I'm a bit sad. I think plain, boring books are just fine. If more parents took time to read with their kids the kids wouldn't care if all the book did was sit there.

But the tech is still snazzy. :)

[Michael Murphy]

I love my tablet, a Motorola Xoom.

[benbradley]

Huh? I thought HP just set the new standard at $99, but they may be out of stock by now...

[shaldna]

Hmmmm. The issue with things like this is that they look cool, and are a really cool idea, but no one seems to have thought it through very well - you have a great book/game idea for young kids, but in order to use that they have to use quite sophisitacted and expensive technology designed for adults. The two just don't match up in that sense.

It seems like it would be a great thing for a parent to do with their child, but honestly, I'll not be buying my daughter - who's five - a tablet. She'd drop it, or try to play with it when I was out of the room, you know what kids are like.

[IsisAnalysis]

Even my responsible, older child has been careless with my laptop. No way would I buy a small child such a delicate piece of equipment as a tablet, not even if it gets cheap.

What about the Leap Pad stuff? It's built like tanks. That's the sort of tablet we'd need for the book-eating crowd.

[COchick]

I won't be buying a tablet because we already have iPads. I read on them, and the kids play games. They aren't so much in to reading on them, but it may be that we have a huge bookcase full of kids book and it's easier access. (?)

[DACasey]

Huh? I thought HP just set the new standard at $99, but they may be out of stock by now...

They're currently out of stock, but some Best Buy stores may be getting some more HP tablets. If you want one, go to Best Buy and ask how you can get one when they arrive.

[Medievalist]

A Silly Noisy House (http://lnkall.com/projects/sillynoisyhouse.html) is still one of the best interactive "ebooks" for kids I've seen.

And Amanda Goodenough's Inigo and My Faithful Camel are close seconds.

[defyalllogic]

Children, in my universe, can't have anything worth more than $100 that can be broken. I barely trust myself with my iPod Touch, much less Jr. Jam Hands and Sally Spills A Lot.

[Torgo]

This ****ing thing! It's been all over my feeds the last few weeks - and colleagues sending me links etc. What's annoying is that there's no way we'd be able to afford to make something like this - it would cost high five, possibly six figures, and it sells for, what, £2.99? Not a chance. The way to make something like this is, you do a lot of the work yourself, whether it's the coding or the animation or ideally both.

[Tirjasdyn]

This ****ing thing! It's been all over my feeds the last few weeks - and colleagues sending me links etc. What's annoying is that there's no way we'd be able to afford to make something like this - it would cost high five, possibly six figures, and it sells for, what, £2.99? Not a chance. The way to make something like this is, you do a lot of the work yourself, whether it's the coding or the animation or ideally both.


I'd have to agree...the money put into making it may not come out in the sales. And it's not made on iPad...it was made as an animation then coded into an application. It's hardly new, you can get similar items in kids software for both the mac and pc. They certainly were available ten years ago.

My child does a lot of reading. She's past picture books and has moved into YA where more ebooks are available. So an ereader maybe more practical in the future but not yet.

[FOTSGreg]

I have an iPad, a Nook Color, a Sylvania 7" mini-tablet, and an Acer A100 7" tablet. If we'd had the stock I'd have an HP Touch Pad as well, but we sold out of them in 15 minutes as soon as the price was dropped to $149.

The iPad and Acer are the most useful with the Acer being more convenient and the iPad being more useful. Until converted to an Android tablet by rooting it the Nook Color's a dedicated ereader and B&N shows no sign of changing that. The Sylvania is basically a paper Weight with no capacitive touch screen and a poorly-designed screen interface (you can use stylus or nail, but results with my fingernail are often far superior to those achieved with the stylus). It is Android Gingerbread, but the Acer's Android Honeycomb has far superior response on a capacitive touch screen.

However, as an entry-level tablet, the Sylvania's going for $100 or less at such places as Big Lots, CSV Pharmacies, K-Mart, and a few other places (I got mine at Toys'R Us for $199). it does run Android, has an micro-SD port so is expandable (up to 32GB as I recall), and accepts 3rd Party apps so you have access to the Android Market. If you can pick one up for $50-80, it's a much better deal, especially for the kiddies (you should wait and spend your money on an Acer A100, A500, Motorola Xoom, Samsung Tab, an HP Touch Pad if you can find one, an iPad, or any of about a hundred other tablets that are going to be blitzing the market this Christmas season because, quite frankly, you're the parent and you get better toys than the kiddies do).

[kuwisdelu]

My niece wants an iPad 2. Not quite in my gift-price range, but she's adorable, so I might spring for a low-end iPod Touch 5 for her for Christmas. I hear the education apps on the App Store are really remarkable. Sure, similar stuff is available on computers, but there really is just something about being able to touch and manipulate everything with your fingers.

[Deirdre]

I have an iPad (first gen) and my husband has a Nook (wifi, b&w). We both love our individual devices and wouldn't swap them. If I had kids, though, I'd probably stick with Nook or Kindle until they were old enough to care for something more complex.

[Medievalist]

My niece wants an iPad 2. Not quite in my gift-price range, but she's adorable, so I might spring for a low-end iPod Touch 5 for her for Christmas. I hear the education apps on the App Store are really remarkable. Sure, similar stuff is available on computers, but there really is just something about being able to touch and manipulate everything with your fingers.

The potential for interactive kid's books based on HTML 5 is huge.

Even the potential for kids books for the 7 to 10 years of age reader that are books with illustrations and hypertext and minimal multimedia hasn't even been touched.

[Gale Haut]

Even the potential for kids books for the 7 to 10 years of age reader that are books with illustrations and hypertext and minimal multimedia hasn't even been touched.

The Nintendo DS is already selling at least one ebook bundle. I'm not familiar with it personally, but they definitely should start releasing cheap interactive books if they already aren't.

[kuwisdelu]

The Nintendo DS is already selling at least one ebook bundle. I'm not familiar with it personally, but they definitely should start releasing cheap interactive books if they already aren't.

While I'm a fan of Nintendo, they really do have a challenge ahead of them in staying relevant. While their decisions with the Wii were rather questionable from a hardcore gamer's viewpoint, they have made a lot of sense with how much of the casual market they have been able to capture. However, their decisions begin to make a lot less sense with how common smartphones are becoming and how common non-Nintendo hardware is becoming for mobile gaming. Neither the 3DS nor the Xperia Play, etc., have proved terribly successful against their more generic iOS, Android, or WP7 competitors. Where Nintendo has seemingly abandoned the hardcore market to MS and Sony, they are increasingly surrendering their softcore market to Apple. They may face the same hardware+software to software-only transition soon that Sega experienced. I think they're actually in a pretty good position to weather this kind of transition, their current leaders seem to be fighting this with all their might, even if it may be the best course of action.

[Gale Haut]

It's those huge titles like Mario and Zelda that are keeping them going.

Though, to be honest, I think the 3DS has been less than successful because of Nintendo's inability to market just how cool the little screens are. I've wrestled with the idea of buying one just to play OoT on it.

I personally dunno how much more appealing Apple stuff is for kids though. Is Angry Birds really that big of a deal?

[blacbird]

I have a bad confession to make:

My wife got an IPad a while back. And a co-worker did, too. The co-worker uses it for industrial purposes, involving doing a warehouse inventory of thousands of boxed geological samples, by using the camera to photo the box labels, so she can sit at the computer and enter them easily into the system's database.

It's damn tempting. Does Santa have e-mail?

I now feel soiled.

caw

[kuwisdelu]

It's those huge titles like Mario and Zelda that are keeping them going.

Though, to be honest, I think the 3DS has been less than successful because of Nintendo's inability to market just how cool the little screens are. I've wrestled with the idea of buying one just to play OoT on it.

I personally dunno how much more appealing Apple stuff is for kids though. Is Angry Birds really that big of a deal?

I don't know, but there are a lot of bigger titles from EA, Gameloft, Unreal, id, etc., from Need for Speed to N.O.V.A. 2 to Infinity Blade, Rage, Deadspace, etc.

While Ocarina of Time is a damn good game, it's not a good sign when your premier mobile game platform's biggest title is a game that came out more than a decade ago, and your most hardcore fans have probably purchased it three or four times already between the N64, Gamecube, and the Wii. Seriously.

Mario and Zelda are great titles. Really, they are. But they don't have anything new and exclusive to the 3DS. And by the time they do, I don't believe they'll be able to catch up. Not when you already have indie devs making things like Aralon and big devs like Square Enix making things like Chaos Rings.

I love Zelda. I bought a Wii just to play Twilight Princess. But these days? I'm not going to buy a 3DS just to play OOT when I have games like N.O.V.A. and Deadspace on my iPod.

[kuwisdelu]

I have a bad confession to make:

My wife got an IPad a while back. And a co-worker did, too. The co-worker uses it for industrial purposes, involving doing a warehouse inventory of thousands of boxed geological samples, by using the camera to photo the box labels, so she can sit at the computer and enter them easily into the system's database.

It's damn tempting. Does Santa have e-mail?

I've been using my iPad to take notes with a capacitive stylus, and I've been using Papers to sync it with my Mac version of Papers, so I always have my personal database of research and journal articles just a tap away. I'm ecstatic to get rid of the endless, easy-to-lose dead tree copies.

[Another Editor]

WI bought an iPad. My kids stomped on it while I was in the bathroom 2 weeks later. I hope to get reimbursed by my credit card company, but have to drive 2 hours to an Apple store to have a repair estimate done first. PITA. Obviously my kids aren't responsible enough yet.

Someone, somewhere, out there in the world of electronics, is reading this and dreaming up a design for a ruggedized tablet.

Oh wait, they already do (http://www.ruggednotebooks.com/). :) This is probably not what you are looking for, and they are not cheap. A kid-proof tablet is an idea whose time has come, however.

[auntybug]

At my daughter's school - every kid from the 3rd grade up is being given an ipad. Kinda cool, but I see so many potential problems with theft/bulling, etc.

[cray]

given?

the school is providing them?

[IsisAnalysis]

If Fisher-Price made a tablet, now, one that could hold up to toddler handling ...

[Medievalist]

I have a bad confession to make:

My wife got an IPad a while back. And a co-worker did, too. The co-worker uses it for industrial purposes, involving doing a warehouse inventory of thousands of boxed geological samples, by using the camera to photo the box labels, so she can sit at the computer and enter them easily into the system's database.

There are bar code scanners for the iPad that use the built in camera; I use GoodReads on my iPhone to take pictures of ISBN barcodes on books and tagged journal articles; the bibliographic data along for free.

[Sheryl Nantus]

Hubby's waiting for a tablet that runs Windows. Until then he's just gazing at them longingly... wants to use them to read comic books but demands Windows.

Ah, men.

;)

[tjwriter]

My niece wants an iPad 2. Not quite in my gift-price range, but she's adorable, so I might spring for a low-end iPod Touch 5 for her for Christmas. I hear the education apps on the App Store are really remarkable. Sure, similar stuff is available on computers, but there really is just something about being able to touch and manipulate everything with your fingers.

My dad has a Touch and I have an iPhone. The kids, 2 and 5, use them both. I highly recommend an Otterbox Defender case or something ruggedly similar.

Santa is contemplating bringing Touches to the kids for Christmas, but that will pretty much be the only present they get. Perhaps then Momma can have her phone back.

The apps are awesome though. There are plenty of fun, educational things they can do. Hell, even Angry Birds is educational to a degree (Hello, strategy and geometry!) so I don't mind them playing it sometimes.

[kuwisdelu]

I highly recommend an Otterbox Defender case or something ruggedly similar.

I'm brave. I don't have any case at all except a clear skin front and back to prevent scratches, and I still hand mine to the 8-year-old niece.

[kuwisdelu]

Apple's newest ad is education-focused. (http://www.macrumors.com/2011/09/01/apple-posts-new-ipad-ad-learn/)

[auntybug]

given?

the school is providing them?

Sorry for the delay. Yes. They are being given to every student. One of the few schools being offered this. Parents pay $50 a year for replacements expenses, etc. But otherwise free to everyone.

[cray]

wow. very cool, indeed.

[Tirjasdyn]

If Fisher-Price made a tablet, now, one that could hold up to toddler handling ...

it's called a leappad. Also they make a laptop version with comic and Disney themes. Toddler computers have been around since the 80's, both tablet and otherwise. :)

[Tirjasdyn]

Hubby's waiting for a tablet that runs Windows. Until then he's just gazing at them longingly... wants to use them to read comic books but demands Windows.

Ah, men.

;)

You mean like this: Iconia (http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/LE.L0803.047)

:D

I love my windows 7 tablet.

[Tirjasdyn]

The Nintendo DS is already selling at least one ebook bundle. I'm not familiar with it personally, but they definitely should start releasing cheap interactive books if they already aren't.

Nintendo has been selling ebooks on Gameboy's since the b&w days. Also tv shows and interactive ebooks since the Advance. This have been higher priced (starting at $10 when the advance was new) though and don't drive their product.

[Torgo]

Hubby's waiting for a tablet that runs Windows. Until then he's just gazing at them longingly... wants to use them to read comic books but demands Windows.

Ah, men.

;)

iPads will run all kinds of apps that read comics. For me, it's the best way to read comics yet invented.

[kuwisdelu]

You mean like this: Iconia (http://us.acer.com/ac/en/US/content/model/LE.L0803.047)

:D

I love my windows 7 tablet.

Win 7 ain't really finger friendly, though, and won't be until Win 8.

[Medievalist]

iPads will run all kinds of apps that read comics. For me, it's the best way to read comics yet invented.

I can't read print comics very well because the type is too hard to see, and decode.

But I can on the iPad. I still get lost in what to read next, what panel, on a page, or even more so, the order of the dialog boxes.

[Torgo]

I can't read print comics very well because the type is too hard to see, and decode.

But I can on the iPad. I still get lost in what to read next, what panel, on a page, or even more so, the order of the dialog boxes.

As I'm sure you know, Bob, there are apps that do 'directed reading' - they break the layout down into panels and show them one at a time, often with a bit of pan and zoom action. What do you think of them? I know some guys who develop that sort of thing, so I'd be interested in your feedback on what's out there. What would your ideal comic viewer do?

[DACasey]

According to TechCrunch, the 7-inch Amazon tablet is coming out in late November. This year.

Price? $250

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/02/amazon-kindle-tablet/

Yeah, I think I can squeeze a 7-inch tablet inside a large Xmas stocking.

[kuwisdelu]

According to TechCrunch, the 7-inch Amazon tablet is coming out in late November. This year.

Price? $250

http://techcrunch.com/2011/09/02/amazon-kindle-tablet/

Yeah, I think I can squeeze a 7-inch tablet inside a large Xmas stocking.

Hmm, so besides the Amazon services, it sounds like a Nook Color.

[Torgo]

Hmm, so besides the Amazon services, it sounds like a Nook Color.

I think it'll be a bit less crap than a Nook Color. I have one of those in the office and it is a clunky beast with a horrible UI. That said, Amazon seem to want to have a carousel media library on their tablet, which is always, in my experience, a bad idea. (I have about 500 ebooks. Why the hell would I want to flip through their covers one at a time to find anything?)

[Tirjasdyn]

Win 7 ain't really finger friendly, though, and won't be until Win 8.

I disagree. My tablet pc with windows 7 is very finger friendly. It'll get better with 8, probably.

[kuwisdelu]

I disagree. My tablet pc with windows 7 is very finger friendly. It'll get better with 8, probably.

I'm glad you're happy with it, but the rest of the tech industry disagrees with you on Win 7, else the iPad wouldn't be the success it is, the other OEM's wouldn't be struggling to make due with Android, and MS wouldn't be scrambling to overhaul the entire Windows UI into a Metro-style, finger-friendly interface with Win 8.

[Naegling]

I just purchased a Acer Iconia A500, and it's great for what it is. As for the kids? They prefer the various laptops or the desktop we have for anything beyond Angry Birds.

I was a little surprised that Android 3.1 is not more finished. I've ran Android since 1.5 on phones, and the tablet 3.1 has some big holes like 1.5 did at the start. I think for my kids to really want one, Google needs to put some work into the interface.

[DACasey]

Hmm, so besides the Amazon services, it sounds like a Nook Color.
Right. But with Amazon services and Amazon's marketing push, I think they'll sell better the first year than the Nook Color.

[kuwisdelu]

Right. But with Amazon services and Amazon's marketing push, I think they'll sell better the first year than the Nook Color.

I agree. Amazon just isn't as much of a selling point to me as other people. I'm more interested in how they'll customize the software besides their store and services, or if that's pretty much all there will be to it.

[amyashley]

I cannot imagine handing my 2 year old an i-pod or an i-phone, case or not. They have destroyed TWO G-zone ruggedized phones of mine.

I think my boys could be classified as biological weapons, however, and not comparable to standardized children. I'm relatively certain that something the military injected into my husband affected his sperm.

They destroyed their kid computer too.

My oldest (5) does really well on the iMac and on my laptop. He'd be fine with any handheld, just not responsible enough to keep it away.

I agree heavily with Medi and kuwi that the educational apps are fabulous, and the reading and book resources are great and have not fully been tapped. Eagin reads and works mathematics on approximately a 3rd grade level, and I know what he accesses on the iMac. One of these tablets as a gift for a 7 or 8 year old would be a lovely educational tool.

I would (if it were my child) use discretion in what apps I allowed. That's me. We don't have any "fun" games here. Terrible parents, us.

[amyashley]

So not buying a color tablet through amazon. I'm such an Apple freak. I'd rather spend the extra $150 for an i-pad.

Love my kindle, but all I want is B/W reading only machine. I don;t want or need it to web-surf. It burns the battery! Don't need any music playing or anything else.

GAR I am dull. :P

[kuwisdelu]

So not buying a color tablet through amazon. I'm such an Apple freak. I'd rather spend the extra $150 for an i-pad.

I don't much understand the 7" tablet market to begin with. That's too small to be very useful to me. How am I supposed to type on a 7" tablet? With my thumbs? And I'd have to keep zooming all the time on all my PDFs.

I was kind of tempted to get a $99 Touchpad, but I don't know what I'd use it for. Even if I installed Android on it, with the current apps, I couldn't use it for what I use my iPad for yet.

The question is, I suppose, whether or not Amazon can attract the developers that Google and HP and Blackberry have not yet.

[FOTSGreg]

Kuwi, tilt it sideways and type like you do on an iPad. I use my iPad in portrait mode and almost never use my thumbs to type. I'm using it to type this message right now.

No, you don't have to zoom on your PDFs (unless you're reading on a cell phone). I had to unzoom my Acer A100 to get a good amount of text on the screen that I was comfortable with.

Android 321 had some problems. Android 322 appears to be correcting those problems (I've got my full Kindle and Nook libraries now). The Acer A100 is proving to be a true powerhouse of a 7" tablet and obe which I foresee using in business for awhile to come. I've been surprised at its capabilities and I'm using it more and more (usage is now about 70:30 iPad:Acer).

I love my iPad, but I'm getting more and more attached to my Acer.

[kuwisdelu]

Kuwi, tilt it sideways and type like you do on an iPad. I use my iPad in portrait mode and almost never use my thumbs to type. I'm using it to type this message right now.

Too crowded and uncomfortable for extended periods of typing for me. I'd want to type like I do on regular sized keyboard like I can on the iPad in landscape mode. Why do you type like that instead of typing regularly in landscape? I thought my hands were pretty small, but I don't see how that's comfortable for more than the length of a password.

No, you don't have to zoom on your PDFs (unless you're reading on a cell phone). I had to unzoom my Acer A100 to get a good amount of text on the screen that I was comfortable with.

Well, I kind of consider the size of PDF text on my iPad to be the lower limit for being readable. I sometimes read them in landscape so it's more comfortable, but it's usually okay in portrait. I'm reading journal articles with two columns, so the font is a bit small. What are you reading?

[FOTSGreg]

I type in portrait on my iPad and can easily get in about 25-30 words per minute using one hand. If I really want to use a keyboard I have a Blietooth keyboard that syncs perfectly with my machine as well. I've used it quite a bit, but I might as well be using a netbook at that point.

I use my iPad in portrait mode to type quick notes at work, to type in Pages on my WIPs, and to post forum notes. I've been using it this way for more than a year and I guess I've just gotten used to it (and better at it over time). I've tried and I find it virtually impossible to use a netbook (Acer) to type in notes on-the-go like I'm able to with the iPad or my Acer tablet. Lord knows trying to write longhand on the walk (or run) is virtually impossible).

As to PDFs, I'm reading the same things you are most likely, technical and scientific journal articles in two column format. I'll admit that sometimes I do have to expand the window to view tabular data and such though.

[kuwisdelu]

I type in portrait on my iPad and can easily get in about 25-30 words per minute using one hand. If I really want to use a keyboard I have a Blietooth keyboard that syncs perfectly with my machine as well. I've used it quite a bit, but I might as well be using a netbook at that point.

I use my iPad in portrait mode to type quick notes at work, to type in Pages on my WIPs, and to post forum notes. I've been using it this way for more than a year and I guess I've just gotten used to it (and better at it over time). I've tried and I find it virtually impossible to use a netbook (Acer) to type in notes on-the-go like I'm able to with the iPad or my Acer tablet. Lord knows trying to write longhand on the walk (or run) is virtually impossible).

I've been meaning to get better at that for those occasions I need to enter stuff standing up, but with the split keyboard coming in iOS 5, I'll probably end up just using it that way. For anything paragraph-length, I go landscape, though.

As to PDFs, I'm reading the same things you are most likely, technical and scientific journal articles in two column format. I'll admit that sometimes I do have to expand the window to view tabular data and such though.

Just zoomed some of my pdfs to the size they'd be on a 7" screen. Some of them are readable. Some are not. The readable ones are okay for reference, but I wouldn't want to actually read them through that size.

[Shadow_Ferret]

My kids don't read. So why would I waste money on a tablet?