755
people found this helpful, as of 2023
ranked #17,564 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★★★★
Parents with young kids - this is worth it
We have always used Samsung tablets and so this took a little while adjusting how to navigate.
So, far we have been using this for about a week and it does take some time to set-up. You will need to go through and make sure all the settings are correct for your kid, and this will take some time (I think the effort is worth it)
This review is specifically for the Kids Edition tablet:
The tablet:
The tablet itself, is a good size for my (almost) 3 yr old. It is not heavy and seems to be the right size for him to handle. The protective case has definitely done its job because we have already had a couple of incidents. (update: this has been thrown against a wall and landed on tile, and no cracks or breaks) The viewing quality is decent. Otherwise, it is what you would expect from a tablet. I have not had another Fire before, so I can only compare this to a Samsung Galaxy, and so far, it is what I would expect from a tablet of this class.
The features (the real reason for the purchase):
is it worth it? YES. DEFINITELY
Previously, we had been sharing our tablet and our phones with our little one, but more and more he would get into content he should not be getting into - everything from buying stuff and watching content not appropriate for his age - ie our downloads of Deadpool and Logan because these look like 'superheroes' but they are not the appropriate ones for kids - (side note: I loved how they portrayed Deadpool and Logan - we are big comic fans and they finally got their characters right!).
I have even deleted YouTube from our tablets and hidden the app in our phones in files so that he can't get at them...
But this tablet has been a game changer. It has GREAT parental controls. I love being able to hand him the tablet and not worry about what he is going to come across. (if you have a little one, you will still need to go through and filter content because there are older kid content that may be too much for the younger ones). Personally, I spent about 2 hours going through the content. I wish they had a better way to filter through the content - like have subject sections - ie math science history... Most of the content is great and educational, but some, like learning about adverbs and adjectives is just not where we are at currently. Filtering the content, I was able to let my little one get to the videos games and books that he would be most interested in faster without having to scroll through too much stuff. There is also a feature that allows you to limit how much content, which content, and for how long they can do stuff. You can have unlimited reading time, and limit the videos and apps(games) to only an hour or so. I have set the tablet to lock down 30 mins before bedtime to until mid afternoon (after nap time) which allows for real play time in the morning and then he has the tablet to occupy late afternoon as I am getting dinner ready and cleaning up around the house.
CONS: download speed. much content needs to be downloaded and that takes time. The books apps and videos are not already pre-loaded and if they want to watch read or do something new, it will need to be downloaded. We have a hotspot on our phones for road trips and I do take a lot of plane trips with the little one, so I would suggest pre-downloading favorites for the trip.
update: Does not work with Chromecast - I think this this goes for all Fire tablets. Even though they are an android, it looks like you would need a Fire stick. This is not a deal breaker for us, but it is nice to be able to mirror the content to the tv.
CONCERN: I would say at this moment, my main concern is I love the "FreeTime" feature, but how much is this going to cost me when my free year is up?
I have already been recommending this product to my friends with young kids.
There are some cool content for older kids, but depending on your child's interest, a regular tablet would most likely be more appropriate.
I paid for my product and there has not been any incentive for me to do this review. I don't work with Amazon nor am I affiliated with them.
June 2017 · Electronics · verified purchase