To think an iPad is basically the same as a fire kindle?

[stylemeplease]

I want to get a tablet for my son but he is very clumsy and will damage it

I don't want to spend a bomb on an iPad

Is the kindle fire basically the same?

I would go for an iPad, but not a new one. My son has an iPad in one of those rubber shock proof cases. His iPad is a very old one that we were given, it’s too old for the lastest OS (12.5.2 is the latest for it, think currently it’s 14.5). But it’s fine for YouTube kids and a variety of educational games/apps. Despite its age it’s still better than a Kindle Fire in my opinion.

My kids both had Lenevo tablets £90 from Argos even lasted 4yrs with my very heavy handed youngest.

My DC have a kids fire, perfect for them (5 & 7). But as PP said, comparing that to an ipad is comparing apples and oranges.

The longer guarantee you get with a kids fire is amazing and a couple of ours were replaced.

@stylemeplease. It might be worth noting that the fire kids comes with a two year no quibble replacement if it gets broken (haven’t had to use on either fire 7 or fire 8 but peace of mind as I have a child who can be a little heavy handed at times!). You also get 12 months free Amazon kids which afterwards is 1.99 per month and this allows access/use of apps on the Amazon App Store (again downloading controlled by you on the parent side).

Having had both the iPad is definitely better, more apps available, battery usage lasts longer,
Screen clarity is better when I comes to tv & films but agree with other posters doesn't have to be brand new refurbished are just as good.
My 5yo loves his iPad, I have a screen time allowances app installed & mostly educational games which he doesn't realise are educational.
Such as time telling & phonics/spelling games, maths apps and so on.

Mine love the fire

Waste of money buying an iPad for any young child. I consider it a plus that the kindle fire doesnt have youtube app etc.

I also got a tip from another mum to not buy any technology for a child below secondary age to own themselves. They can become possessive & think their ownership of the item means they are entitled to use it constantly. Instead have "family" technology that you make available to them on your terms, when it suits you. It's easy to impose limits and boundaries. I've done this and it works brilliantly. My two know that the tablet is "mine" and that they have to ask to "borrow" it, this means they consider they have to be good etc to earn this favour.

5 year old kids really don't notice screen quality until an adult points it out. Mine has never once noted the quality of the picture on my kindle fire HD despite having seen much more expensive tech elsewhere.

My grandchildren had Kindles until to they were six. Then got iPads for their birthdays. Kindles are too slow for Roblox, Minecraft and streaming. Great for YouTube and simple games. You can get full protective cases and screen savers for both.

The kindle is going to get out of date fast, but you could use it for reading and only if he is careful with it, he can progress to an iPad.

Kindles can be slow and they fill up the memory pretty fast with crap that cannot be deleted.

But for a 5 year old. I'd buy a kindle. Just make sure you get the most memory and buy additional memory card too.

A Fire is fine for 5 year old but don’t expect it to run like an iPad, or take pictures like an IPad or bead I lay do anything like an iPad. Mine have had Fires until around ages 7 or 8 and then upgraded to old iPads as it suits their needs (Minecradt) better

"I also got a tip from another mum to not buy any technology for a child below secondary age to own themselves. They can become possessive & think their ownership of the item means they are entitled to use it constantly"

My children couldn't go on their bikes late at night, likewise they couldn't go on their DS (2000s). Like everything, you impose rules, as the parent, rather than be forced to avoid.

They're incomparable but I wouldn't buy a 5 year old an ipad - Kindle fire will be fine. We have a family ipad and he does use that occasionally but we bought him a huawei android tablet.

Also you need a Wi-fi connection to work a Kindle Fire if you want to stream things when on the move you’ll need to download what they want to watch which frankly is a pain in the arse considering how slow they can be.

For a child, I’d definitely go with the Fire tablet. They’re fine for those purposes. My DP has a fire tablet for reading comics, books, and watching Netflix etc and it’s perfectly fine for that. I have an iPad Pro and while it’s great, it’s far over powered for being a browsing and game playing tablet. The only reason I bought it was because I got a gift of £1k with the premise that I blow it on something I wouldn’t otherwise have purchased. I love my iPad, but I wouldn’t have bought it otherwise. It’s definitely not necessary for a child.

The fire can be okay for kids, particularly as a first tablet but as someone who was an iPad user then tried an Amazon fire I hated it. Amazon tablets are way too slow for me. I went back to iPad swiftly....

My son had an iPad which my daughter also used but they argued over it. We couldn’t afford another iPad at the time so we bought her an Amazon fire.. it got used briefly a few times. As above too slow if used to an Apple device imo but maybe okay as a first tablet as I said...

Our DD 5 has an iPad.... she had an old one my cousin gave us for about a year which she looked up after but apparently started to become incompatible with it and getting very slow. So we got a new one- she uses it the most but I have things like procreate on it for my own hobbies.
She loves it. She has reward chart and when she has a certain amount of stars she can choose an app to buy - as she was constantly asking us for new ones.

We've put one of those kids friendly cases on it.

A Kindle Fire offers slightly less, but for most people would be more than enough for their needs I expect. I have one for holidays, so I can find out when things are open, or times of buses/trains, that sort of thing. The extra cost of an iPad Mini I could not justify.

They are not the same no but a kindle fire will be perfect for you 5 yo. Get a case for it too.

Do not buy a 5 yo an iPad.

To add DS 14 has a fire which he barely used until he broke his phone. He then found he could get the you tube app and use Instagram so has been fine with it. He is now still using it to watch you tube as the screen is bigger.

When he was younger he had fires too and used them a lot. He was saving for an iPad but has now decided he doesn’t need one as the fire works well enough.

He was given an old iPad of mine a few years back and broke it twice. Repairing the screen cost as much as a fire..

My 7 and 5 year olds have a Fire and they love them. Perfectly adequate for their needs. Not having YouTube on them is a good thing in my eyes. Cant imagine what they’d need all the functionality of an iPad for at their ages.

The fire tablets are great for kids, especially that young. Buy the kids one and you get a 2 year guarantee, even if your child had broken it they will replace it. My ds(7) has autism, he has just smashed his for the 3rd time in a year and they didn't even question it, just asked me to return the broken one, then sent a new one as soon as the parcel was scanned at the post office.

I'm a bit surprised at people saying a Kindle is too slow to stream. When I got my ds11 a Samsung tablet, I "inherited " his old Kindle and it works fine. Perhaps I am easily pleased!

The kids kindle fire is great. Sturdy case, if it breaks they will replace it and it has loads of apps for the child's age group including things like youtube kids and Disney.

www.amazon.co.uk/amazon-kindle-kids-edition-includes-access-to-thousands-of-books-blue-cover/dp/B07NMXR6DG?tag=mumsnetforu03-21

I'm going to disagree with many here. I have a Fire for my own use, not kids. I think it's great. I don't love the browser but I don't use it a lot. I watch Netflix and Prime on it. I've never had issues with it lagging or being slow. I use it for Instagram and no problems with that either. I also have a few games like Candy Crush and no problems with those either.
It was less than £100 several years ago. I'd highly recommend.