Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

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roadking2615
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Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by roadking2615 »

My 8 yr. old daughter has requested a tablet computer for Christmas this year. I'm happy to get her one since she's responsible, has worked hard at school this year, and is computer savvy. I've narrowed the choices down to either the Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7. I like the Apple iPAD products, and considered an iPAD mini, but I don't think it's worth the extra money at this time. Spending $199 for the Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 is enough for an 8 yr. old. She'll use it primarily to read ebooks, educational applications, periodically watch movies, or play games. Parental controls and security are important of course so that apps or products aren't accidentally purchased and charged to dad's credit card. I'd be interested in hearing from Bogleheads on which of these two products might be best and why, and what your overall experience with either of these might have been. Thanks.
bungalow10
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by bungalow10 »

What about the non-HD Fire model? Amazon has had two sales recently with the product at $129 (normally $159). I bought one. It is durable, fast, and a pretty good basic tablet - a nice upgrade from last year's $199 model. It has really good parental controls that come standard with the model (Free Time). Is HD necessary?

Otherwise, if you are going to spend $199, get the Nexus 7 16GB. It seems to be a fair value as well, although I think parental controls would be an add-on app. I wouldn't spend $199 on the Fire HD, I prefer a fully functional Android tablet for that price.

If she's a book reader, I would get her a Kindle Paperwhite. Much easier on the eyes. The Fire or other tablets are good for color picture books, but I cannot read text for more than 15 minutes on them.
An elephant for a dime is only a good deal if you need an elephant and have a dime.
nobility
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by nobility »

Go for the Nexus 7. The hardware and software is much better than where the Kindle is at right now. I also expect the Play Store to be on a better trajectory for content than the Amazon Android Market. With Android 4.2, you can now have multiple profiles so both you and your daughter can use the same tablet with personalized settings.

I work for Google so take my recommendation with a filter for bias. ;-)
rj49
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by rj49 »

I say the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. It's simple to use for a kid, has parental controls, and they give daily free apps that are often geared towards kids. All the bells and whistles of the Android system is fine for an adult, but the carousel and easy menus of the Kindle are best for a kid to navigate. It also puts more emphasis on reading, which is better for a kid, and it's easy to get free kids books through your local library delivered to the Kindle. Finally, the Kindle has powerful speakers, so she won't need to wear headphones or earbuds to watch movies or listen to music, which would be better for her long-term hearing, I think.
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LAlearning
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by LAlearning »

1) A real book....
...
2) Kindle e-reader
3) Nexus 7

-LA
I know nothing!
jridger2011
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by jridger2011 »

I would not suggest the Nexus 7 since it has a lot more going on and I am unsure immediately how to lock out being able to view content that is not age appropriate. I am sure there are ways to deal with blocking content, but the Kindle Fire HD has a better interface for all ages.
ilisira
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by ilisira »

My 8 year old loves her kindle (the cheapest non-touch model, it goes to school every day), and uses our tablet's at home as well (ipad, and nexus 7 at home).

I had played with the original kindle fire in the past, and I would suggest nexus 7, as anything you can do on the kindle fire (HD), you can do on the nexus 7 as well (and more).

If this will be mainly for reading, on the nexus 7, you can install the app for B&N, and read nook books as well..
harrychan
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by harrychan »

Neither should seriously be considered as options as an ereader. The screen is not designed for use at long periods of time especially if they are young. You may do serious damage to their eyes if they use a tablet for long hours each day. Per other posters, get a non-Fire Kindle or just give them tablet for games / browsing but not as ereaders.
This is not legal or certified financial advice but you know that already.
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mildred66
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by mildred66 »

+1 on Nexus 7. Loving mine!
paulsiu
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by paulsiu »

Funny that there are a few post about giving kids tablets.

If I had to get a tablet for myself, I'll get the Nexus 7 because Kindle Fire uses a crippled version of the Android OS. For kids, the Kindle is better because you have Parental Control. However, who knows if that will work since kids these days have better knowledge of computers than their parent. May be the kids will end up using it to restrict access to their parents.

Paul
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linuxuser
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by linuxuser »

harrychan wrote:Neither should seriously be considered as options as an ereader. The screen is not designed for use at long periods of time especially if they are young. You may do serious damage to their eyes if they use a tablet for long hours each day. Per other posters, get a non-Fire Kindle or just give them tablet for games / browsing but not as ereaders.
One has to wonder whether looking at tablets, PC monitors, smartphones can really be good for children's eyes.

I personally don't like reading anything of great length on my monitor. I *much* prefer reading the paper version.
Maybe I am old. Sigh.

LAlearning wrote:1) A real book....
+1000
:-)
magicmom
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by magicmom »

Nexus 7.
Real Books.
Mudpuppy
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by Mudpuppy »

linuxuser wrote:I personally don't like reading anything of great length on my monitor. I *much* prefer reading the paper version.
Maybe I am old. Sigh.
Or your monitor is too close, too high, too low, too bright, too dark, has too much glare, or some combination there-of. The ergonomics of monitors is greatly ignored by the average home computer setup (and in fact the distance needed for comfortable viewing can be nearly impossible to get with narrow desks). Get it wrong and your eyes (and neck in the case of the height of the monitor) will complain after too long. I have an old neck injury, so this is particularly important to me.

As for the question at hand, get the child a tablet that you won't mind having to replace if it gets broken. Even the most careful 7-8 year old will occasionally have a fumbly fingers episode or a forgetful moment. I recommend getting used equipment that can still have parental controls (such as a Nook, which has had password protected purchases for years) rather than something new... unless it's one of those cheaper, more rugged tablets meant for children.
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linuxuser
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by linuxuser »

No. It is not ergonomics issue.
My eyes get tired. Period.
bungalow10
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by bungalow10 »

Mudpuppy wrote:
linuxuser wrote:I personally don't like reading anything of great length on my monitor. I *much* prefer reading the paper version.
Maybe I am old. Sigh.
Or your monitor is too close, too high, too low, too bright, too dark, has too much glare, or some combination there-of. The ergonomics of monitors is greatly ignored by the average home computer setup (and in fact the distance needed for comfortable viewing can be nearly impossible to get with narrow desks). Get it wrong and your eyes (and neck in the case of the height of the monitor) will complain after too long. I have an old neck injury, so this is particularly important to me.
People don't like reading on LCD or LED screens, that's why e-ink is so popular.
An elephant for a dime is only a good deal if you need an elephant and have a dime.
Mudpuppy
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by Mudpuppy »

bungalow10 wrote:People don't like reading on LCD or LED screens, that's why e-ink is so popular.
For close up, e-reader reading, I would agree that eInk is superior. You can't hold an e-reader far enough away to minimize the eye strain from a backlight, so it's better to eliminate the backlight completely. The complaint was about monitors though and you can minimize the eye strain there just by making a few setup changes. Often, monitors are too close (needs to be 3-4 feet away) and too bright (try dialing back the brightness to around 50%) and that will cause eye strain in a hurry (particularly being too bright). Most people just don't realize this because that's the way they've always had their monitor set up and they just don't know there's a better way to go about it.
sscritic
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by sscritic »

Mudpuppy wrote:
linuxuser wrote:I personally don't like reading anything of great length on my monitor. I *much* prefer reading the paper version.
Maybe I am old. Sigh.
Or your monitor is too close, too high, too low, too bright, too dark, has too much glare, or some combination there-of. The ergonomics of monitors is greatly ignored by the average home computer setup (and in fact the distance needed for comfortable viewing can be nearly impossible to get with narrow desks). Get it wrong and your eyes (and neck in the case of the height of the monitor) will complain after too long. I have an old neck injury, so this is particularly important to me.
The other key is the right set of glasses. I specifically told my optometrist that I was watching Chinese soap operas on my computer and wanted to sit farther back than I would sit if I were typing and I also needed the Chinese subtitles to be in focus. So she gave the reading part of my bifocals just the right prescription, the now famous soap opera prescription. When I saw her later, she asked how the soap operas were working out, but I knew she was asking about the glasses.
epilnk
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by epilnk »

I own an e-ink kindle and an ipad mini. I love both, and the recent acquisition of the mini has not displaced my e-ink kindle. My mini, as a tablet computer, is much more generally useful than the kindle and I do keep it loaded with reading material. But reading books on a tablet is quite a bit inferior to reading them on an e-ink reader, which surprisingly isn't all that different than reading actual paper books.

Since what she asked for is a tablet, my vote would be the nexus. And have her read real books rather than ebooks. I assume that you can't make purchases on the nexus without entering a password, so as long as you don't give that to her you'll be fine.
freebeer
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by freebeer »

My 10 year old loves the Nexus 7 to the point that our family iPad 3 is gathering dust.

I have no hands-on experience with Kindle Fire HD but Amazon has made a relatively closed tablet experience and you are likely not to see timely upgrades to new Android versions. May not be an issue for an 8-year-old though when they find their friend's Android-based game or app doesn't work on the Fire variant it could be a drag. Specs-wise they are very close, and both very good deals at $199.
LFT_PFT
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by LFT_PFT »

Have you considered the Nabi 2 at same price point? It gets good reviews, loaded with kid content, is built for kids with case, and has built in parental controls.
mrpadilla
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by mrpadilla »

When I was 8, I wanted an NES.
swaption
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by swaption »

epilnk wrote:I own an e-ink kindle and an ipad mini. I love both, and the recent acquisition of the mini has not displaced my e-ink kindle. My mini, as a tablet computer, is much more generally useful than the kindle and I do keep it loaded with reading material. But reading books on a tablet is quite a bit inferior to reading them on an e-ink reader, which surprisingly isn't all that different than reading actual paper books.

Since what she asked for is a tablet, my vote would be the nexus. And have her read real books rather than ebooks. I assume that you can't make purchases on the nexus without entering a password, so as long as you don't give that to her you'll be fine.
Interesting. Just purchased an ipad mini to go with my e-ink kindle. Was concerned about the eye strain on the backlit ipad, but so far it has been ok. Not really using the kindle. I think my eye focuses differently when viewing text on a backlit e reader as compared to a computer screen.

Both of my kids have a Kindle Fire and they read a lot on it. At first I was somewhat concerned, but perhaps it is an ok trade if they read more as a result. Technology seems to always progress at a rate faster than our ability to understand and manage the negative aspects. Not to diminish the issue, but somehow I find it unlikely that future generations will cast a reading of the classics on a backlit e reader in the same light as second hand smoke and fast food.
snyder66
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Re: Which? Kindle Fire HD or Nexus 7 for 8 yr. old

Post by snyder66 »

Atari was the bomb when I was 8. Whatever you buy, make sure you get a sturdy case and an alarm. It will get lost. Good luck.
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