If You Buy a Kindle Book Can You Read It on Multiple Devices
I finally broke downwards and bought the wee ones tablets. Information technology's the thing to practice now, simply I didn't requite in lightly. Earlier I chose the Kindle Fire Hd for the wee ones, I did a ton of research to figure out what tablet would all-time meet the needs of my children. The Kindle ended upwardly being our option for so many reasons, and we've been happy with it ever since. (And no, this Kindle review is not in any manner sponsored, only I did include affiliate links that earn me a commission if you purchase through them.)
Why I "Needed" to Buy Tablets
Last spring, the wee ones had a game day at school to celebrate the successful week 3 of the reading program. Children were to bring in games from home to play. Mister Man chose Battleship, while Little Miss brought in an Angry Birds game.
They were the merely children in their respective classes (aside from ane other girl in Lilliputian Miss'south course) who didn't bring in some sort of a tablet or other device to play games electronically.
Personally, I thought that was fairly antithetical to the thought of celebrating reading, but information technology really striking home that even in 2nd and third grades – at to the lowest degree around u.s.a. – it truly is everyone who has a tablet and uses it regularly. I began to recall that peradventure the wee ones were old enough. That said, I was non comfy simply handing them a tablet and letting them take at information technology.
Important Considerations in Purchasing a Tablet for Kids
I wanted a tablet that had strong parental controls where I could control how and when they played games. The last affair I wanted to was to detect them in the middle of the nighttime spending hours playing on a tablet, which I could absolutely come across them doing.
No surprise, I wanted something that wasn't going to break the bank, simply at the same time I wanted a tablet that would grow with them. I wanted it to accept enough features that they could use information technology for multiple purposes from reading to playing games to sending email (though we aren't at that place yet, but information technology will be a hereafter need) to doing inquiry on the web for school.
It was important to me that it exist a tablet with a name behind it that I know will last for a long time, as I don't accept any intention of buying new ones anytime soon. And I wanted it to accept a strong battery life then that they weren't regularly disappointed and whining when it suddenly turned off.
I pored over reviews and specs and data on all sorts of tablets from the iPad I own to Samsung tablets to more traditional "kid" aimed tablets and across. I kept coming back to the Kindle because it was the device that met the majority of the criteria I wanted in a tablet. That isn't to say that the Kindle is perfect, merely information technology was the best fit for my children for a number of reasons.
Unbiased and Unsponsored Kindle Review
The fact that the Kindle allows you to Swype words – 1 of my favorite Android featuresalways is really simply a bonus and didn't play into my choice at all. Honest.
The Kindles were one of the few tablets with parental controls built in. Likewise many others had no parental controls or those that were an addition app, many of which had ways to get around the parental controls.
Kindle has Gratuitous Time which is a subsection of the Kindle that you lot tin set upwards to best encounter your needs. You can choose what kinds of programs to let – games, books, video, spider web – and how long for each activity and in total.
The tutorial walk through on the Kindle is simple, and I was able to get profiles set up for each of the wee ones in minutes. I accept ours ready so that they can play games for 40 minutes and read for an indefinite menses of time.
When their twoscore minutes are up, a screen flashes suggesting they choose something else to do. Impressively, it also gives them a ten infinitesimal alert and then there are no shocks and surprises when game time is done.
They have adapted nicely to this (although they did figure out that if they double tap on the back button right when the game fourth dimension end screen appears, they can go around the time limits though the consequences of me finding they've done this are astringent plenty that they stopped).
You lot can set up upwardly a multifariousness of profiles under your account to apply on the same device or unlike devices. That keeps one child from using all available game time, but it also allows you lot to give your fourteen year onetime more access to the device than you might requite your half-dozen twelvemonth old.
Each profile has specific games, books, and programs loaded to it so that yous can control who has access to what. This is and then helpful when you have multiple children. That said, once you've purchased a book or a game, you tin share it on multiple devices that are registered to your account. Thankfully, y'all don't accept to buy Minecraft for $6.99 three times.
Kindle Review: Kindle Freetime Limitations
The downside to Kindle Free Fourth dimension is that you lot cannot – at least every bit of now – load books you've borrowed from the library into it. Nosotros borrow and download books from our school and public library on a regular basis. They get loaded to the Kindle, just at that place is no way to transfer them to Free Time. I've tried and researched everything.
Instead, the books in Kindle Free Time have to be books that yous have bought or borrowed (if you accept Amazon Prime) directly from Amazon. The good news is that at that place are plenty of free books to appeal to anyone. Nosotros have loaded several of those into the Kindle Free Time.
Because of this, the wee ones generally take to come to me to leave Kindle Costless Fourth dimension to proceeds admission to their library books. I merely enter my parental control password and cull to exit Kindle Gratuitous Time, and they are free to read.
Exiting Kindle Gratis Fourth dimension doesn't exit parental controls, all the same. The controls you enact remain in force. You lot can set up up your Kindle to control what content they have admission to fifty-fifty exterior Kindle Free Time. The difference is that here there are no time limits, which is why I take access only to books set up upwardly. Games, apps, spider web, video, and the like are all shut off for them, and they cannot get into them.
Kindle Review: Parental Control Considerations (Exterior Kindle FreeTime)
In that location are times that I wish to access the spider web – when we demand to return library books and borrow new ones, for instance. I can easily turn off the parental controls to practice and then and open up the Kindle fully before turning them back on when I'1000 done. You do take to enter your password twice to do this, but I'thousand ok with the slight inconvenience. This ensures it's that much harder for the wee ones to interruption into the Kindle and gain access to something they shouldn't have. Once the parental controls are off, it's like shooting fish in a barrel to plow the wireless capability back on.
I do go along the wireless connection turned off for several reasons. Get-go, the wee ones don't have access to the Internet without my being there. Second, it drains the battery faster when the wireless is on, and that seems just giddy to me. Prepare this way, nosotros get days and days betwixt the need to charge the battery.
Amazon claims that there is more than xi hours of battery life on the Kindle Fire HD, and we have definitely extended that by a whole lot. I have nada complaints about battery life, and the fast charger we bought definitely charges much faster than other USB chargers. Aye, I did compare them next with my regular charger. This means we have minimal battery issues.
Kindle Review: Final Thoughts
There is so much almost the Kindle that will allow it to grow with the wee ones. It has Bluetooth capability, so down the route I can connect a Bluetooth keyboard for when they want to practice more typing than is feasible on a touchscreen. The same goes for speakers or headphones for them to listen to music or the sound effects from games. In that location is also an HDMI out port in addition to the USB port. That lets me get content off the Kindle easily if there is something they've created that they want to share.
None of the other tablets I looked into could come anywhere near matching these capabilities – and the parental control was really the kicker for me. I was surprised that more tablets didn't offer some sort of parental controls. The but ones that did strictly aimed at kids and weren't going to grow with my eight and 10 year old. Those options already were pretty much likewise young for them.
One other downside is that the Kindle really relies on content from the Amazon Market place. That ways that not every app is available in the marketplace, but that doesn't mean nosotros can't load them or purchase them for Kindles – something I wanted to verify earlier finalizing my selection. There is an easy way to download other Android (just non Apple – different operating organisation entirely) apps onto your Kindle. We had to do this with Overdrive, the app nosotros use to download books from the library. Information technology was a uncomplicated process and thusfar the just app that wasn't available on the Amazon Marketplace that we wanted.
One time I decided on a Kindle, the fun became determining which Kindle to buy. Because I wanted a tablet that went beyond just reading books, we immediately skipped over the e-readers. The full on Kindle Fire Hd has the advantage of being 8.9 inches (which for book reading isn't actually an advantage in my heed, coming from personal experience).
It also has a more powerful processor, but for what nosotros're doing, that wasn't an issue. The decision came downward to the Kindle Fire versus the Fire HD. We ended up going with the Burn down Hard disk drive partly because it was $10 more than than the Burn. The screen is a far better resolution on the Fire HD. It also offered 16GB or 32GB as opposed to 8GB of storage on the device. When yous add together in the 11 hours of device apply versus 9 hours of device use, the $10 difference (or $40 equally it normally is) became more than worth it.
We decided to get with the 16GB device, equally nosotros aren't planning to store much content on there. We have no movies or video the wee one have created, no massive photograph albums, etc. We simple didn't demand 32GB for the additional cost.
The other downside is that there are ads when you turn on the Kindle. Information technology'due south easy to ignore them and swipe to activate your Kindle. You could pay an additional $15 to have the ads removed, but then far they haven't bothered the states. Nosotros just ignore them each time the Kindle gets used.
The Kindle Fire HD was definitely non the nearly expensive selection. Information technology wasn't the cheapest, either, only cheap isn't my aim – quality at a reasonable cost with features that fit my needs is.
Kindle Review: What Accessories Should You Buy?
Nosotros did take to purchase additional accessories that increased the cost a bit. The Kindles come with a USB string for charging simply no actual charger – something that I am not thrilled about. Essentially I could plug the USB into my computer whenever I wanted to accuse it, or I could cough up the $fifteen and purchase a fast charger for the Kindles. For as long as the battery claims to concluding, we shouldn't demand two. So far, it hasn't been an effect.
I required that each of the wee ones also buy a sturdy case for the Kindle and screen protectors. After having seen what Little Miss did to my iPad after I'd owned information technology for but a couple months, I wasn't about to take a chance preventable damage. There are tons of cases available, and each kid chose a instance that was a good personality fit. Footling Miss chose a bright greenish example that looks similar duct tape, and Mister Man wanted a traditional obviously blue case. At that place are a wide range of price options with cases, too. We constitute protective cases to fit the Kindles that take been sturdy and dependable for around $20 each.
So yes, we are a family of tablet users now. The wee ones may not exist keeping up with the Joneses, but they aren't ridiculously lost without them – and that isn't the point anyway. Would I buy a Kindle Fire HD (or HDX) once again? Admittedly.
What questions practice y'all withal need answered from this Kindle Review?
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Source: https://honestandtruly.com/choosing-tablet-children-kindle-review/
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