I would like to get my 11 year old niece a tablet for Christmas, however I cannot decide which tablet would be best for her age group a Nabi 2, Meep or Tabeo. My niece is artistic and smart, she loves writing stories, poems songs, drawing, playing games, etc. Is it true the Nabi 2 has software that would allow a child to create their very own story book? Most reviews I have read for the Nabi refers to younger children, I want to get my niece a tablet that a preteen would love and give her parents content control and limit usage for age appropriate websites, games and software. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Rose
First of all, I can tell you right off that the Meep and the Tabeo are junk compared to the Nabi. This is one reason they cost less. The Nabi comes with an app that lets you do a kind of book with words and pictures, but that shouldn't even be a factor, Rose, because I'm sure you can download a dozen such apps like this from the Amazon App Store. The Nabi is targeted most at kids who are about 4 to 12 primarily because it's educational curriculum app (Foozkids university) has lessons that go from Pre-K through 5th grade. I hear of many though who use the tablet successfully for those younger and older because it is a full Android tablet and you can download apps that are geared for younger or older children or even adults.
That being said, you might want to hold off as long as possible because Fuhu has been planning to unveil a tablet geared specifically to a slightly older group - tweens and teens, so I guess 11-16? They have been suggesting that it will come out either this month, or the beginning of next year. However, they also just came out with a YOUNGER version of the Nabi called the Nabi Jr., so if they've been able to do that, it could be they'll have success getting the larger/older one out (they have been calling it the Nabi XD) before Christmas. The main things we know is that it will have a different set of parental controls, it may have some additional social networking functionality, and we think it will be a larger tablet, similar in size to the regular (not the new mini) iPad. I will try to post in this thread if/when this comes out, but a good way to stay updated about what they have is their Facebook page, where there are a lot of people like myself answering questions and helping folks out with technical issues, but also the main place where they reveal new products first.
But I'll just reemphisize that the Meep and Tabeo are infererior tablets in almost every way. The Nexus 7 is more on par, or slightly better than the Nabi, but it isn't geared for kids, and you (or your neice's parents) would have to do some things to it to make it more kid-friendly, such as buying a case, installing educational software, etc. It's not impossible, and plenty here have done it, but it does take some effort and also some money. It's definitely an option. The other somewhat equivalent tablet is the Amazon Kindle Fire HD, which at least comes with some parental controls, but no case. There are of course other 7" adult tablets on the market, but they are mostly a good deal more than the $200 that the Nabi, Nexus 7, and Kindle Fire HD cost, and don't really offer any big added benefit from that added price from what I've seen. There are also cheaper plain Android tablets out there, but they are generally considered to be of inferior quality and performance. I think your best bet is to go with one of the three I mentioned, but also maybe to wait another week or so to see whether Fuhu does release the Nabi XD before Christmas.