Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

There are two parts to this review -- the Kindle hardware and the Freetime software and interface. I'm assuming most of the people looking at this already know what a Kindle e-reader is and how it generally works, so that part will come last. 2019NOV11 Update: Also noticed this problem with the FreeTime interface. If you're disconnected from the network, all the FreeTime interface shows is the recent book list. So if you're disconnected from a network (say on a car ride), and have downloaded books to the Kindle for your child to read but they haven't opened them yet, there is no way for them to show up in the FreeTime interface unless you attach it to a network and open up the book in FreeTime so that it shows up in the recent list. I'm bumping my review down another star. Freetime Unlimited Library and Interface ================================ As provided with the Kindle when shipped, the Freetime Unlimited Library and the Freetime user interface are terrible, if not unusable. I'm convinced that whoever designed the Freetime user interface and and its interaction with the Freetime Unlimited library has no children and never showed it to a parent before shipping it on the Kindle. When I purchased this, I was under the impression -- given some of the online documentation -- that parental controls could be used to select which titles, genres, etc. are made available to the child. This is not possible. You can choose to give your child either access to *all* the titles that some unknown person at Amazon has determined to be appropriate for an age range ... or none (by limiting access to the library altogether). Additionally, the parental controls for limiting reading hours do not work. The interface itself is a bit of a mess -- although some of my complaints here are related to the parental controls. I think it's entirely possible for younger readers to become completely distracted by the quantity of books; not only that, but there doesn't seem to be a synopsis or summary of the book when one is selected from the home page. Without a good set of parental controls in place, I could see how some kids could end up reading a few pages of many books without before reading a single one from beginning to end. My Workaround ============= If you're like me and find the controls lacking you can shut off access to the Freetime Unlimited library and take advantage of the access to digital book lending you probably have through your local library. That will give you a wide selection of available books and provide a little more control of what your child is reading ... The Hardware =========== It's a Kindle with e-ink and lighting; it seems to be well constructed and my son likes the case it came with. It seems relatively responsive and displays text and grayscale images well. I have no complaints here. The reading interface is pretty intuitive and self-explanatory. With a young child, having the 2-year warrant lets me worry a little less.