Nook HD, Nexus 7 or other?

[o2bnclemson]

Want to get my kids a tablet (still up in the air on one to share or one for each) but see things I like in each one. I like the internal memory of the Nook HD, but would prefer the Android market to the B&N Market. Like everything I've heard about the Nexus 7 (including the cost), but not crazy about the small memory and reliance on the cloud. I want them to be able to watch movies/TV shows on it, play games, read, etc and want to be able to have good parental controls. And affordable.

I'm on my second Android phone but haven't chosen too wisely (1st was HTC Eris and now an HTC Thunderbolt) so hoping for some good input here for a cost effective, reliable, expandable and supported and full function tablet that will grow with them.

 

[ensarj]

The Nexus 7 is a great tablet, for some, the best 7 inch tablet right now. You mentioned that you would like the tablet to have good parental controls. I would suggest you the Fuhu Nabi, it is the best 7 inch tablet for kids currently in the market. Good luck.

 

[socialcarpet]

I honestly can't think of a single good reason to choose any 7" tablet other than the Nexus 7. It's very competitively priced, it will do anything the nook or Kindle will, it's got better, faster hardware than either of them and its a Nexus device so you'll always get updated to the latest, greatest version of Android instead of being stuck with some silly skinned over proprietary crap. I got the best 7" tablet on the market with cutting edge processor and 32gb of memory for $249. What moored could you ask for?

 

[rexbitz]

Besides my phone which I love. The nexus 7 is the best tablet I've owned to date. The only thing it doesn't have is a front facing camera.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[dvdmon]

This might be too late, but I'd second the recommendation for the Nabi 2. It has the same processor as the Nexus 7, comes preloaded with a ton of educational software and books, and a very protective bumper. It depends, though, on how old your kids are. I think the Nabi is a great choice for 4-10-year olds, and even younger or older, but the company that makes it is about to start selling a couple of products on the other sides of that age range that might be more appropriate. The Nabi Jr. is targeted at 0-3, is even more rugged, but with a smaller (5") screen, and apps geared more for that age range, and the Nabi xD, which is a 10" tablet geared towards "teens and tweens" which will have less in the way of parental controls, more "social" features, and educational stuff for 6th grade and higher. Although Fuhu has said that you will be able to interchange the software so if you want to get the Nabi xD software for the Nabi 2, you'll be able to do that (or the Nabi Jr's).

In terms of how it compares, I don't know that much about the Nook or the Kindle Fire HD, but at least compared to the Nexus 7, the advantage of the Nabi 2 is that it is geared towards kids from the get go, includes its own case (very protective), includes a great deal of learning software and books (another saving point), has a microSD slot with the N7 lacks, and has a miniHDMI port, which the N7 lacks. The disadvantage over the N7 is that it has ICS vs. Jellybean (but it's so fast and responsive, that I hardly think this is a big deal! Plus it's very possible Fuhu might actually update it to JB sooner or later), the N7 has a better screen (better resolution and viewing angle), and the N7 has a GPS, gyroscope, and compass, which the Nabi 2 lacks. Oh, and the big one is that the N7 has access to Google Play, whereas the Nabi 2 doesn't. However, you can easily add Google Apps without rooting (Google Play still won't install or update apps though), and you can sideload apps from Google Play if you have another Android device that has access to it, although of course that's not nearly as convenient as having Google Play on the device itself...

 

[o2bnclemson]

Thanks for all the input. I looked at all the tablets and wound up getting the Nexus 7 - and it's great! The kids and I love it. Here was my rationale:
My kids do not live with me most of the time, so we got one tablet for all 3 of us
Because of that, the multiple user option of the Nexus was perfect. The Market gives me thorough controls over their accounts and lets them each, essentially, have their own tablets.
It was reasonably priced.
My kids were used to my Thunderbolt, so sticking with the Android OS and the market was a good thing.
In terms of durability, my kids generally only use the Nexus when they're in the car or on the couch, and we don't have any hard floors, so I'm not worried about them damaging it. I'm just as prone to the type of accident they could have with it as they are.
Hope this helps anyone else looking at tablets for their kids. Thanks for everybody's input.