LEAPFROG LEAPPAD PLATINUM, £100
Best for Toughness
It’s a dilemma for parents: you want your child to grow up a digital native, but you also need to shield them from the web’s darker corners. A child’s tablet, with restricted apps and connectivity, might be the answer. The Platinum, from the US company LeapFrog, is a 7in device in a tough plastic frame, with a four-way controller to one side and a cord-attached stylus that slides into the body. This makes the tablet large and quite heavy, at about 550g, but should help it to survive the knocks and drops that come when young children get their hands on it. The device recharges through a larger, old-style mini USB port, which is easier for kids to connect without damaging it (by experience, a weak spot on tablets). Every app and game for the Platinum has been made or vetted by the company and all have a strong educational bias. They aren’t cheap: you get 10 with the tablet, including a game that uses a set of augmented-reality cards that can be scanned in by the device’s 2Mp camera, but other apps and ebooks cost up to £20 each. A web browser opens only the LeapFrog server with its approved content, there are no social media features and you need to be in the password-protected parental mode to see the online store. Screen time can be set in advance, with a countdown to warn the child the limit is approaching. Battery life is about five hours.
Verdict Hard-wearing, with nothing but worry-free educational content — though not at worry-free prices.
★★★★☆ leapfrog.com
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AMAZON FIRE HD 6 KIDS EDITION, £109
Best for Running costs
Amazon’s take on a child’s tablet is to put one of its 6in Android-based Kindle devices inside a spongy casing and bundle it with a Fire for Kids Unlimited subscription: free access to thousands of third-party books, games, apps and video from the Kindle Store for one year. After that, a subscription starts at £1.99 a month. The content is good quality but there’s no option to download films or TV shows — it’s streaming only — so if you’re looking for a device to keep kids happy on journeys, this might not be the one. The tablet feels more fragile than the Platinum but it has a generous two-year guarantee, against its rival’s one-year warranty. As with the LeapFrog device, you set up a child’s profile (in this case, up to four on the one tablet) and control it in parental mode, with no browser or social media. Screen time can be limited by content type; so maybe one hour of gaming but unlimited ebook reading — a clever idea. A text-to-speech app will read stories to youngsters should you wish to give up on the fun of parenting altogether, and there’s a 2Mp rear camera as well a low-resolution front-facing one. Battery life is about eight hours. At 360g this is smaller and lighter than the Platinum but it lacks a stylus to help develop handwriting skills. Perhaps touchscreen abilities will be of more use in the future.
Verdict A good size and weight, useful multiple profiles, but it could be tougher.
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★★★★☆ amazon.co.uk
MUM, CAN’T I GO ON YOUTUBE?
LeapFrog claims its tablet is suitable for three to nine-year-olds and Amazon says the age range on its device is 3-10. Both upper figures are optimistic: much LeapFrog software is for pre-schoolers; the Fire has games such as Cut the Rope but there is no Minecraft or YouTube — the kind of other content every seven-year-old will have seen on friends’ or parents’ devices. Neither tablet is fast and the Platinum’s 1024 x 600 display is blocky and washed-out compared with most tablets and smartphones. Still, for a digital infant these devices provide a safe and stimulating start.