A robust first gadget your child in all probability cannot break

When you’re fascinated by shopping for your child their very first pill (or tech of any type), you’ve in all probability acquired two key issues: sturdiness and parental controls.

I used to be actually nervous to purchase my son his first pill for these two causes particularly, however I ultimately settled on an Amazon Hearth pill (and this was lengthy earlier than I began reviewing them).

I’ve been actually impressed by Amazon’s choices for teenagers, and the Hearth HD Eight Children is one other strong addition to the lineup. It checks the 2 important bins for a children’ pill: it’s fairly kid-proof (knock on wooden), and it’s acquired some beefy parental controls in addition.

Specs

The Amazon Hearth HD Eight Children consists of the most recent gen Amazon Hearth HD Eight pill housed in a protecting, kid-friendly bumper case.

In comparison with the earlier gen Hearth HD 8, this pill options an improved 2.zero Ghz Quad core processor (earlier gen: 1.three Ghz), 2 GB of RAM (earlier gen: 1.5 GB), and an ordinary 32 GB of storage (earlier gen: 16 or 32 GB).

It additionally has 2 MP entrance and rear-facing cameras, and an 8-inch, HD show. It’s noticeably clear, brilliant, and vibrant (even when smudged with child fingerprints and thriller grime).

My 6-year-old’s first pill was the Amazon Hearth 7 Children, and this one is unquestionably quicker. The additional inch of show additionally makes it appear a lot roomier, whereas the Hearth 7 Children has all the time appeared just a little on the cramped aspect.

Efficiency

Inside the context of Amazon Children+ options (video games, books, and movies), the pill carried out flawlessly and and not using a hitch.

It’s acquired a surprisingly lengthy battery life, too — as much as 12 hours. And though we haven’t been capable of get the complete 12 hours out of it, it’s nice for lengthy automotive rides as a result of there’s a lot offline content material obtainable, and the battery drains so slowly.

We additionally use the pill for my son’s video classes for college. The parental controls by way of Amazon Children+ enable me so as to add this one web site for him to have the ability to go to, whereas blocking all different browser capabilities and never permitting him to navigate to another website.

Nevertheless, the built-in Silk browser is a little bit of a weak level of the Hearth tablets. It’s a bit sluggish and clunky, however — for my son’s college movies — it will get the job completed. A lot of the velocity points I encounter are when navigating the web site, however streaming by way of the browser has been nice.

Sturdiness

The Hearth HD Eight Children comes with a rubberized bumper case that protects it on all sides from drops and bumps (and even bites). It’s cumbersome, however for good cause — your youthful youngster is gonna have a very arduous time damaging this pill except they take a baseball bat to the display screen or submerge it in water.

Even then, it additionally comes with Amazon’s 2-year “fear free assure” — so that you’ll have the ability to get a no-questions-asked substitute if it breaks inside 2 years of buy.

And your older children and tweens can go for the Amazon Hearth HD Eight Children Professional, which encompasses a sleeker, thinner case that appears means cooler (however provides the identical degree of safety because the bulkier one for youthful children).

Whereas I really like love love the case, what I actually love about Hearth tablets for teenagers is Amazon Children+. It’s a subscription service stuffed with curated, kid-friendly content material for all ages (as much as age 12).

My son has by no means complained concerning the choice on his pill. It doesn’t matter what he appears like studying, watching, or taking part in (recently it’s something associated to tornadoes), he’s all the time been capable of finding one thing on Amazon Children to seize his consideration.

BUT, the place Amazon Children+ actually shines for my part is within the tremendously expanded parental controls it provides. (You’ll be able to put parental controls on a daily Hearth pill with no Amazon Children+ subscription, however they’re fairly restricted in what they’ll do.)

With Amazon Children+, you possibly can set closing dates that can disable the pill between sure hours or after your youngster has reached a sure display screen time threshold. You may also set each day targets for instructional content material, and block leisure content material till all the schooling targets have been met.

You’ll be able to set an age vary to point out the most effective content material to your youngster’s age, too. I’ve acquired it set to content material for 4-Eight years of age for my 6 yr outdated, which in keeping with Amazon contains over 23,000 distinctive items of content material.

And to allow them to discover ways to use an internet browser however keep secure from the web at giant, you may as well allow the browser — which provides entry to web sites prescreened by Amazon or websites that you simply’ve permitted your self. Proper now, my 6 yr outdated is simply allowed to go to web sites that I’ve manually added, however I believe the flexibility to regulate how a lot or how little browser entry they’ve is a good possibility for older children.

Lastly — and that is the biggie — you possibly can utterly disable in-app purchases on youngster profiles, too.

Your buy will include a free one yr subscription to Amazon Children+, and after that a person youngster membership prices solely $2.99 per 30 days (for each Prime and non-Prime members).

Suggestion

At $139.99, the Amazon Hearth HD Eight Children is the best worth for an intro pill to your youngster, and provides some severe parental controls and a curated, kid-friendly expertise by way of Amazon Children+ (together with a case that may take a beating).

SEE ALSO: One of the best Chromebooks for teenagers, from grade college to school.

For older children, the Hearth HD Eight Children Plus is identical worth and encompasses a slimmer case that also provides a great deal of safety.

I can’t think about giving my six yr outdated a pill with out completely locking it down, so Amazon Children+ is a big profit. And, the value is correct for a tool that your youngster will in all probability attempt to chew on or use as a plate sooner or later. I additionally like that there’s a lot room for progress within the parental controls — you possibly can ease them up as your youngster will get older and learns to make use of their machine extra responsibly, however lock them down for youthful children who will click on on something and all the things.