Young kids and tablets?

[DustyDisks]

I have a on-line friend that has lost her husband a few years ago that has a young daughter, 5-7 years old, that has asked for a I pod for Christmas. From what I can remember she is very smart/responsible for her age. I have asked my friend for more details as age (I knew it, but crs has struck) and what she wants to use it for, games/reading etc. And have not heard back from her yet with info that would help narrow down what may be the right device for her. I am trying to get my friend to join this forum, this place is the best on the web with the membership/knowledge and good people that are members here.

I know there have been several threads on or close to this subject, but I am having trouble finding them.

I know there are probably better choices with more bang for the buck compared to the ipod. that would be great for young ones. But also there is this thought that what ever device that is chosen, the young one can and will grow and mature so what ever device that is bought she can use it as she does so.

Thoughts?

[booklover6]

She might want to check out the Kindle Fire ($159) and the new Kids FreeTime Unlimited subscription. My 7 yo is getting one for Christmas. It is more limited compared to an open android tablet, but fine for a child. By the time your friend's daughter is a teen, whatever she gets her now will be way outdated and she'll need something new. So for now, a tablet like the Kindle Fire sounds perfect.

If she really wants a more open android tablet, I suggest the Lenovo A2107 for $149. My 9 yo daughter is getting that one. It's Very Nice. But for your friend's child's age, the freetime unlimited may be a huge plus!

[jbcohen]

Short answer no. I do not think the daughter understands what an ipod is and wants one because its trendy, in my opinion one of the worse reasons to buy one. The ipod is a music player, lets get this right it is not an mp3 player s it does not play mp3 files. Like other apple products its proprietary, can take files from only one vendor (surprise you are forced to get all your music from you guessed it apple corp). AS a general rule apples cost a lot more then their mp3 competitors. The ipod is not for book reading and its not for games.

I would recommend a laptop and an electronic book reader. The laptop will be great for the games and plus it will have a physical keyboard for emailing and twitter, however it will have one problem - its too big for book reading, that's where the book reader will come in handy. The laptop will have great battery life so it can go back and forth to school with her, however will be too heavy for that. The book reader will take care of the book reading. A tablet is nice however it does not have a physical keyboard that will make it hard for emailing and IM (Instant Messaging) which are popular with kids her age and will spare the phone for mom. For a laptop I would recommend a Toshiba or an Acer (I have one of each and they are doing great).

For an electronic book reader she needs to be a bit more picky about what she wants: how about a book light (Kindle Paperwhite or a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight)? Is price a big concern (Basic Kindle is $69). Is tech support from someone standing in front of you a concern (B&N has physical stores across the US, just try to find an amazon store in your neighborhood, Amazon has great tech support but its done via the internet only)? How about periodic sales (Kobo Books)?

[DustyDisks]

Thank you, my friend runs on pacific time. So it will be a few hrs before she sees this thread. And maybe join this forum/discussion, I am being sorta sneaky by posting here but the wisdom/knowledge and just good people here made it too hard to resist! And also my friend can use the advice. I can see that some schools are starting to use the ipod as a teaching device, but at close to $600 a pop, wow! For that kind of money what ever used would need to last over several years of personal/school use.

The more options available the better!

[DustyDisks]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Short answer no. I do not think the daughter understands what an ipod is and wants one because its trendy, in my opinion one of the worse reasons to buy one. The ipod is a music player, lets get this right it is not an mp3 player s it does not play mp3 files. Like other apple products its proprietary, can take files from only one vendor (surprise you are forced to get all your music from you guessed it apple corp). AS a general rule apples cost a lot more then their mp3 competitors. The ipod is not for book reading and its not for games.

I would recommend a laptop and an electronic book reader. The laptop will be great for the games and plus it will have a physical keyboard for emailing and twitter, however it will have one problem - its too big for book reading, that's where the book reader will come in handy. The laptop will have great battery life so it can go back and forth to school with her, however will be too heavy for that. The book reader will take care of the book reading. A tablet is nice however it does not have a physical keyboard that will make it hard for emailing and IM (Instant Messaging) which are popular with kids her age and will spare the phone for mom. For a laptop I would recommend a Toshiba or an Acer (I have one of each and they are doing great).

For an electronic book reader she needs to be a bit more picky about what she wants: how about a book light (Kindle Paperwhite or a Nook Simple Touch with Glowlight)? Is price a big concern (Basic Kindle is $69). Is tech support from someone standing in front of you a concern (B&N has physical stores across the US, just try to find an amazon store in your neighborhood, Amazon has great tech support but its done via the internet only)? How about periodic sales (Kobo Books)?

It could have been a ipad, my friend is not very tech savvy. And I know absolutely nothing about apple products.

[ilovejedd]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Short answer no. I do not think the daughter understands what an ipod is and wants one because its trendy, in my opinion one of the worse reasons to buy one. The ipod is a music player, lets get this right it is not an mp3 player s it does not play mp3 files. Like other apple products its proprietary, can take files from only one vendor (surprise you are forced to get all your music from you guessed it apple corp). AS a general rule apples cost a lot more then their mp3 competitors. The ipod is not for book reading and its not for games.

Have you even used an iPod? The iPod has no trouble playing DRM-free MP3 (e.g. ripped from CDs or bought from Amazon/Google Play). The only DRM scheme it supports is Apple's Fair Play but there's nothing preventing you from loading it with DRM-free music. Also, why do you say that an iPod is not for book reading or games? I have an iPod Touch and it handles those functions well enough (granted I do prefer the PRS-350 and PSP for those).

Originally Posted by jbcohen

I would recommend a laptop and an electronic book reader. The laptop will be great for the games and plus it will have a physical keyboard for emailing and twitter, however it will have one problem - its too big for book reading, that's where the book reader will come in handy. The laptop will have great battery life so it can go back and forth to school with her, however will be too heavy for that. The book reader will take care of the book reading. A tablet is nice however it does not have a physical keyboard that will make it hard for emailing and IM (Instant Messaging) which are popular with kids her age and will spare the phone for mom.

I don't recommend giving a child her own laptop just yet. At that age, she can just use the family PC which is hopefully in the living room so her internet access can be monitored.

I gifted my niece an iPod Touch a year ago. Her mom loads her iPod with books and games through iTunes (there's a bunch of free educational games available). She has no internet access on the iPod.

Edit:
Here's the discussion I started last year asking that same question:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=156229

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DustyDisks

I can see that some schools are starting to use the ipod as a teaching device, but at close to $600 a pop, wow!

You may perhaps be getting mixed up between the iPad and the iPod. The iPad is a tablet computer, and does indeed cost around the $600 for the higher-end models. The iPod is a handheld device which looks rather like a Smartphone (it's basically an iPhone without the phone), and doesn't cost anything like that much.

[ucfgrad93]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Short answer no. I do not think the daughter understands what an ipod is and wants one because its trendy, in my opinion one of the worse reasons to buy one. The ipod is a music player, lets get this right it is not an mp3 player s it does not play mp3 files. Like other apple products its proprietary, can take files from only one vendor (surprise you are forced to get all your music from you guessed it apple corp). AS a general rule apples cost a lot more then their mp3 competitors. The ipod is not for book reading and its not for games.

Sorry, but you are sadly misinformed about what an iPod can and cannot do.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

Short answer no. I do not think the daughter understands what an ipod is and wants one because its trendy, in my opinion one of the worse reasons to buy one. The ipod is a music player, lets get this right it is not an mp3 player s it does not play mp3 files. Like other apple products its proprietary, can take files from only one vendor (surprise you are forced to get all your music from you guessed it apple corp). AS a general rule apples cost a lot more then their mp3 competitors. The ipod is not for book reading and its not for games.

Rarely have I read such an ill-informed and inaccurate post. There's scarcely a true statement in the above.

"The iPod can't play MP3 files" <-- WRONG
"It can take files from only one vendor" <-- WRONG
"The iPod is not for book reading and it's not for games" <-- WRONG

Where on EARTH do you get this nonsense from???

[ApK]

I've been watching my kids uses some devices for over a year.

My 6 year old daughter is currently in possession of my wife's retired iPod Touch 4.

She plays a handful of games and educational apps, watches Netflix, and listens to music.

She seems to be doing fine with it.

My 9 year old son has a Fire (which my daughter is eyeing...) and aside from damage to the USB port (which Amazon handled for me) he's done fine with it, too. The new parental controls have helped.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by DustyDisks

Thank you, my friend runs on pacific time. So it will be a few hrs before she sees this thread. And maybe join this forum/discussion, I am being sorta sneaky by posting here but the wisdom/knowledge and just good people here made it too hard to resist! And also my friend can use the advice. I can see that some schools are starting to use the ipod as a teaching device, but at close to $600 a pop, wow! For that kind of money what ever used would need to last over several years of personal/school use.

The more options available the better!

If iPad is what you are talking about, the new iPad mini is $329 and might be a better choice for a child due to the smaller size. If iPod touch is what you are talking about, it's like a smartphone without the phone and would be fine for that age if that's what she's after.

[HYPE]

Originally Posted by jbcohen

The ipod is a music player, lets get this right it is not an mp3 player s it does not play mp3 files. Like other apple products its proprietary, can take files from only one vendor (surprise you are forced to get all your music from you guessed it apple corp). AS a general rule apples cost a lot more then their mp3 competitors. The ipod is not for book reading and its not for games.

Basically, nothing of what you said above is true. Nothing.

[DustyDisks]

Update!

The daughter has a friend that uses his/her fathers Ipad. So she wants one also! But at $600 at the time it is a tad steep. The girl is 7 years old and still has not had the Christmas bubble popped about Santa yet. It is hard enough that she was introduced to death with her father and just last week her aunt.

I plan to help, in what ever way it takes, but other than my kindles that I do know about and love. I really do not have a clue.

It must be something that she can not grow out of and a kindle/nexus seem to be close to what the ipad can be and do.

Started this thread to get a mix of good opinions/discussions on the subject.

Edit: The Ipad mini is cheaper but the screen resolution puts me off. But it is a Ipad and that would match.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by DustyDisks

Update!

The daughter has a friend that uses his/her fathers Ipad. So she wants one also! But at $600 at the time it is a tad steep. The girl is 7 years old and still has not had the Christmas bubble popped about Santa yet. It is hard enough that she was introduced to death with her father and just last week her aunt.

I plan to help, in what ever way it takes, but other than my kindles that I do know about and love. I really do not have a clue.

It must be something that she can not grow out of and a kindle/nexus seem to be close to what the ipad can be and do.

Started this thread to get a mix of good opinions/discussions on the subject.

If the iPad Mini ($329) is in your friend's budget that might be a good choice. There is also the iPad 2 @ $399 and the iPad 4 is $499 (not $600) which is still probably to high, but thought I'd mention the correct base price anyway. If they have a Microcenter near by they have deals going for the iPad 3 for $399 and iPad 2 for $359. Without knowing the budget it's hard to comment.

As far as not outgrowing something, eventually any tech is going to fall behind curve at some point. That doesn't mean it will become completely useless, but at some point the kid will likely want an upgrade because the old one won't run some app or another.


My niece is 8 and has used my Transformer and Nexus Android tablets without problems and like to use them, but when it comes to apps she wants as well as apps she uses at school on occasion the iDevices are what we decided on when my mother came to me for advice on getting my niece and my nephew (11) both tablets. They're both getting iPad 4's with Smart Cases, but her Christmas budget got boosted by some very specific circumstances.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by DustyDisks

Update!

The daughter has a friend that uses his/her fathers Ipad. So she wants one also! But at $600 at the time it is a tad steep. The girl is 7 years old and still has not had the Christmas bubble popped about Santa yet. It is hard enough that she was introduced to death with her father and just last week her aunt.

I plan to help, in what ever way it takes, but other than my kindles that I do know about and love. I really do not have a clue.

It must be something that she can not grow out of and a kindle/nexus seem to be close to what the ipad can be and do.

Started this thread to get a mix of good opinions/discussions on the subject.

Edit: The Ipad mini is cheaper but the screen resolution puts me off. But it is a Ipad and that would match.

You're clearly a very kind person, and I admire your wanting to help this little girl. But in all honesty I think it would be unwise to buy an iPad for a 7-year-old. It's a heck of a lot of money to spend on what would be a toy for a young child and, as has been said already, these things do have a relatively short "shelf-life". In 2 or 3 years, it probably won't be able to run the latest apps.

If she really, really wants a tablet, there are much less expensive alternatives available, especially if you're willing to go for something that's 2nd hand or refurbished. Heck, you can get a 2nd hand first-generation iPad at very low prices these days, and for a child it would be just as good.

But again, I admire the help you want to give this little girl. Kudos to you for that.