iPad Mini is the Money Saver
 

I have seen 14 month old baby's go to town on an iPad, you don't need to be able to read!

The iPad Mini has tight margins and is a great value. Apple uses high quality components that last.

The number of available apps don't even compare. Don't waste your money on an Amazon or Nexus tablet. They are laggy, and more prone to break.

You will save money by choosing an iPad Mini.

Nucleus

http://www.phonearena.com/news/Is-ch...r-time_id44240

Oh, we're here. I was debating deleting some of the Apple vs Android posts or just closing the thread, but decided I'd wait and see.

Let's keep it on track from here on out please. Straight and narrow, people. Straight and narrow. :)

Update after 6-7 months
 

I bought a Nexus 7 in the end (before the refresh), which I have to say, is a great little tablet. However, wanted to say what our experience has been with regards to having a tablet for a child.

1. Ease of use: my 4 yo daughter handles it better than my wife (pretty much), so I don't think one has to consider only apple if this is a criterion.

2. My daughter was very excited when I first gave her the tablet (to share with her mother). We downloaded a few games and more educational apps (e.g. basic learn to read stuff). I have to say, it was great to get her in the mood for starting to read and put very simple words together.

3. However, I do think that as an educational tool, tablets are way overblown, much as MAN Pax intimated. About three months ago, I bought a set of 'first reading' books, and we've been fairly slowly working our way through these. These are far more challenging than any of the 'learn to read' apps that I've come across. And what's more, my daughter just loves flicking through a physical book, so it tends to engage her more.

4. It's still great for her to watch movies on, esp. when we're travelling. Play the occasional game, watch youtube videos etc. But in reality, our daughter uses the tablet less than 1hr a week on average now. To be fair, we don't encourage 'screen time', so we're pretty happy about that amount of usage.

5. My wife, on the other hand, loves the N7, and uses it very much in preference to her laptop now.

In summary, having previously thought of tablets as 'expensive toys' -- not sure they aren't, but they are very nice toys. I absolutely love, love my Kindle, that I bought at the same time. But even I would admit that e.g. guidebooks are better in colour on the N7 than on my kindle.

It's a great 'ease into' education tool...but it doesn't really replace a) one on one teaching and b) books -- at least, as far as our daughter is concerned.

tb

We've had good luck with the Barnes & Noble NOOK HD 7" bought for $69 around Black Friday for our 4-yr old triplets. I replaced the B&N launcher with Nova Prime which allows me to scale up the icons (the Nook HD has a fairly high resolution for a 7"), hide apps/icons, eliminate the app drawer, setup multi-finger gestures to access app drawer and settings, and lock the home screen... this essentially lets me limit the apps their access to apps I put on the homescreen before locking it. I tried a couple of the kid-oriented launchers and they all felt half-baked. With Nova Prime launcher in the above configuration, I haven't felt the need to root or install Cyanogenmod... if I were using it for myself, I probably would. I'm quite impressed with the Nook HD, especially compared to the $40 RCA 7" tablet my brother-in-law got on from WalMart on Black Friday (though even it isn't horrible).

My daughter is still too young to do much with it besides poke and be confused (13 mo) but my old tablet (Galaxy Tab 2 7.0) seems to be a perfectly good way to distract her from grabbing at my or MsNKEdel's phones or laptop.

At some point need to look into edutainment apps, but right now having loaded some classical music and some family photos on there seems to have sufficed.

Another factor - our school is all apple, and they have homework (voluntary) that utilizes educational apps on apple. And all the kids use ipads at school - until 4th grade when they all get to use Apple macbooks. Yes, it's a well funded district.

The point is, your child can always learn windows if that is still in use by the time they hit college. But Apple has a lock on the educational market - at least around here.

The only deviation I would make would be for toddlers (not OPs situation) where it doesn't really matter what they use so long as it has a sturdy case :) Though as a parent I highly recommend something that can download and store a few Amazon Prime movies or TV shows - great for long car trips and airplanes.

I think it needs to be a 7 inch tablet with Gorilla glass and a good case which will help when it gts dropped or knocked off the table,
An SD card is nice as you can download movies , cartoons etc easier that way.

one generation old Tablets are cheap , Nook HD, Kindle HD , Nexus 7

one thing I think is fun is a camera , see the world thru your kids eyes !

I would stay away from the cheap chinese tablets sold at Walmart etc

I got a Nook HD for $70 on Black Friday, and wish I had gotten something with a camera :(

I also have a iPad 1 , I would love to get one with a camera , but I never see them for sale used ! Hint Hint

But like always , your kid and your dog will have more fun with the box and wrapping paper than the gift !