Hi,
I've used different kids tablets before as well as the general tablets for everyone so I will make reference to these as well to help explain my answers.
Which Amazon Fire Kids Edition tablet did you test?
I tested the Fire HD 10. Mine came with a pink case. It is easy on the eyes.
- Did you find that the Fire Kids Edition tablet held up to all your child’s needs and that the device performed well?
I have a lot of experience with technology and people tend to come to me to find the right tablet/phone/laptop for them. I tend to play around and see what's new and what's good or not so I can have a very abrupt view on certain tech as I don't have time to waste (we're parents!).
My answer to this question is yes and no. Please see my other answers too to see my own view but as a parent, and seeing my children use the tablet, the kids setting felt a bit messy but usable. It looks kid friendly. The theme suits the kids. However the home screen feels a bit messy. My kids are on the younger side of under 10s and what I found is that there are plenty of books to download and read together but if they want to use the tablet themselves without my help, there is no easy way to press the back button. We have used the Leapfrog tablet in the past and the overlook on screen look and controls of it are very child friendly. It is easy to use. This is the one thing that the Fire HD for kids lacks. If there was a nice big animated back button it would be perfect.
They found the library of books available amazing, as did I but it is all a bit jumbled. There was a lot of endless scrolling to find books they liked so it was time consuming. I think a more organised library would be much better where it is divided into categories with an obvious picture (eg ABC, Vehicles, Mr Men etc etc) I did end up finding books for them and saving them to read later with them. However it's all part of the kids experience of using an actual tablet and finding books to suit them so it's definitely something Amazon could revamp and I'd be more than happy to show what it could potentially look like.
Kids aren't fussy though so they enjoyed all aspects of the tablet (the books, the games etc) and I'd be sitting with them every time they'd use it. Their only suggestion is making it more organised. The great thing about the book library is that we got to read books we wouldn't have otherwise found before with great illustrations. On the other hand there are several books which are very strange! And they just stay in that endless scrolling library. I wish there was a way to remove them so we don't have to waste time seeing them. It may gives parents a laugh... Or not.
The tablet itself is smooth, fast and easy to use. Certainly one of the best.
- What did you think about the protection package that is included with the device (i.e. the kid-friendly case and 2-year worry free guarantee)?
It's excellent. The case has an amazing grip at the back. It won't be easy to drop the tablet. It has a design on the back to aid the grip on the tablet. It is also chunky but lightweight. We chose pink randomly and it's easy on the eyes.
The guarantee is excellent as it tablets can easily go downhill within 2 years so it reassures us as parents that should something happen to it, another couple of hundred pounds won't need to be forked out.
- Did you find the parental controls useful and easy to use? If so, what were your favourite features?
Yes. I really like the interface. It's clean and simple so it's straightforward to use. You can set daily goals and time limits. This is split into weekdays and weekends.
The bedtime setting is great so, this feature especially for older kids is great as if the tablet is in their room there is no chance they will sneakily go on the tablet in the night.
There is a section called Educational Goals (Apps, Books, Audible and Videos). You can set a minimum time for each so eg for videos you can set it as No Goal whereas for books you can set it for eg 30 minutes. You can then tick a box where kids can't play games etc (entertainment) until the goals have been met (so they must read for 30 minutes before the tablet allows them to play a game).
You can also set screen time limits so 1 hour a day etc.
You can also time them by activity type. So eg they can read books and listen to audible for an unlimited amount of time however they have a one hour limit for watching videos and browsing the web. This is the best feature by far. It really helps and allows the parent to know that kids won't be endlessly playing games or watching videos and will be using their time more widely, set by the parent! Without having to nag.
You can turn the above features off with one click and can have a profile for each child.
There is another setting where you can filter the content available by age. This is really helpful as at first we found lots of older kids books jumbled up amongst younger kids in the book library and it made it difficult finding suitable books quickly. With this setting it clears all the unwanted stuff and leaves age appropriate books etc.
There is a feature called Add Content which is really useful. This is where the tablet is amazing. You have the normal parents side of the tablet which is a normal tablet and you can use it as normal, download your favourite games and apps etc. You can also download ones which your kids may like and on the Add Content section on the settings, you can make these very apps etc available for your kids to use.
There is also the very important enabling/disabling of in-app purchasing! You can also enable/disable the age-appropriate web browser for your kids. This has further settings where you can select which websites your kids can go on and also view their web history.
All of these features make it much more satisfying for a parent to hand over a tablet to their kids. However as time goes by we will be able to see if any dodgy or unusual things pop up on the kids accounts like the horror stories you hear about kids videos on the YouTube kids app (which this tnskrt doesn't have but the videos on there basically take you YouTube.com).
- Was your child happy with the content available through the 1 year Fire for Kids Unlimited subscription? Anything they felt was missing?
Yes they were happy. They got access to a number of books which they may not have read before. However there is something lacking in that we searched for Dear Zoo (example) and the book didn't come up so we'd want to know more about this.
- Did you find the Parent Dashboard useful for engaging with what your kids were doing on the tablet?
Yes very. Although we limit the kids screen time anyway, the parent dashboard gives great insight into what the kids use and allows the parent to reflect and perhaps change settings if needed to divert the kids attention to more useful things or, if the kids are more into educational apps, allow the parent to cater their lifestyle towards the interests they show whilst on the tablet. Or just get a really good idea into what kids like to do when they have access to a kid friendly tablet!
I have to say that although the tablet looks like a kids only tablet with parental control due to the bright and chunky case, it is an awesome adults tablet too. It is so smooth and easy to use and beats a lot of tablets I've used in the past but gives the extra features of having full parental control and a whole separate section for kids. It's easy to switch between accounts.
I would recommend this tablet to any family.