Archos touts Android tablets for toddlers
Child Pad out soon
Archos has jumped on the tech for tots bandwagon by announcing a 7in Android tablet called the Child Pad.
The lightweight device features a 1GHz processor and 1GB of Ram powering Google's latest OS, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
ICS is spruced up with a easy-to-use and highly colourful UI that Archos hopes will appeal to your nippers.
When it comes to infant-friendly features, the Child Pad provides access to AppsLib's Kids App Store, which filters content down to 14 categories and 10,000 apps more aimed at young ones. Some 28 of the top apps come pre-loaded on the tablet.
There are also parental controls powered by Editions Profil, which the company claied ranks as one of the most efficient providers of such software.
The Child Pad will join Archos' broader array of Android tablets at the end of March for £99 - $129 in the States.
It'll beat Inspiration Works' The Kurio to market, which is another ICS tablet specifically for kids. ®
COMMENTS
Child Psychology
It doesn't matter how similar theirs is to yours. The one in your hands will always be "much better."
In fact, you can strike "Child" from the title...
I want one
The way my kids play angry birds, a ruggedized tablet is my only bet...
Re: Will be a big hit
"Archos - I think you need to do a little more work on understanding your audience"
I think maybe they actually do. Kids like to copy their parents, and having a tablet that looks identical, on screen, is exactly what they want. If you want something that looks childish and bright, buy a Vtech thing and see how long they use it before asking to use your phone/tablet, becuase that' much better.
To me, this looks perfect, looks and acts exactly like an adult tablet and will stop the kids asking "can i play..." on my phone.
Personally I'd rather pay £99 for this than half that for a crappy bit of plastic with a cheap dot-matirx lcd display.
The UI doesn't need to be dumbed down particularly
as anyone with a 4-year-old and an iPad will tell you, but what would be extremely welcome is robust content filtering and family safety which is woefully lacking if not absent on the iPad.
That and a jammy finger-proof screen.
Re: In my limited experience*,
I would think the most important feature for kiddy friendly would be being water/drink proof.
That speaker grill on the end looks rather permeable to me.
