Which new Android Kids Tablet is best? Nabi 2 or Meep! ?

tracywills03

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My sister wants to get my niece & nephew an android tablet. They are 3 & 5 yrs old. They LOVE my son's iPad & even more, my sister's & brother in law's android phones. My sister wants to get them each their own Android Tablet for kids for Christmas presents. I've suggested the Nabi 2, but now she emailed me little info on a new one coming out called Meep! By Oregon Scientific. So I'm looking for a showdown or comparison between these 2 so we can be more informed of best decision for her kids. Any help, suggestions, articles, sites, would be greatly appreciated! :)
 

dvdmon

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Go for the Nabi 2. The Meep is brand new and doesn't have a company behind it that's made anything similar to it. The Nabi 2 is out now, you can go play with it at a local Best Buy or Walmart, and the company (Fuhu) has been out there for years doing online educational stuff, and had a previous tablet. We have the Nabi 2 and it is extremely fast and responsive with a Tegra 3 processor and 8GB of internal storage, tons of pre-installed apps, Stock ICS in addition to a kid-friendly mode (launcher).

I haven't been able to uncover much about the meep since their initial press release back in... FEBRUARY. Not saying it is vaporware, but still, that was 6 months ago! Also check out the Nabi home page which has tons of information and support documentation, and their FB page which is extremely active. Basically the company is extremely customer-centric and has developed a huge following among parents and a big community on FB has developed that really helps support people who are new to it.

I actually have one for myself and have loaded all the Google Apps on it. Google Play isn't available, but there was a workaround for the Nabi 1, and I know there are some people who are actively working on one for the Nabi 2 as well...

I'm happy to answer any specific questions about it here, but you can also get answers to questions on their FB page...
 
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tracywills03

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Excellent response DVDMON! Thank you so much for your help! I am so grateful for your reply & will update you on how they like their new tablets in a few months :) (& let you know how much my sister & brother in law enjoy the extra battery life their phones have once their kids stop draining them lol). Many thanks again! :D
 

Craig Carleton

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I'd take a hard look at the Meep. From what I've read it has really fantastic touch screen technology which allows you to do much more than just use your fingers...you can use brushes, gloves, etc. since it's an optical oriented touch screen. So for kids that could be pretty cool! If you're doing an art program to use a brush would be much nicer than just your fingers. Also the Meep is launching with a bunch of accessories that really round it out, and the parental controls are cloud based so you don't have to take the thing away from your kids...you adjust it on your own device. For me, that's far easier as a parent. Just my opinion, but that alone is worth the price of admission!

Craig
 

dvdmon

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I'd take a hard look at the Meep. From what I've read it has really fantastic touch screen technology which allows you to do much more than just use your fingers...you can use brushes, gloves, etc. since it's an optical oriented touch screen. So for kids that could be pretty cool! If you're doing an art program to use a brush would be much nicer than just your fingers. Also the Meep is launching with a bunch of accessories that really round it out, and the parental controls are cloud based so you don't have to take the thing away from your kids...you adjust it on your own device. For me, that's far easier as a parent. Just my opinion, but that alone is worth the price of admission!

Craig

Hey Craig, I didn't know about the special touch screen. I guess if you are getting the tablet only (or in large part) for art-oriented play, then it would make sense to weight that feature heavily. But I think if that's not your primary use, the Nabi really beats the Meep in most of it's specs:

Nabi 2:
  • Ram: 1GB
  • Storage Space: 8GB
  • Processor: Tegra 3
  • Screen Resolution: 1024 x 600
  • Front Camera Resolution: 2MP

Meep:
  • Ram: 512MB
  • Storage Space: 4GB
  • Processor: A8
  • Screen Resolution: 800 x 480
  • Front Camera Resolution 0.3MP

Fuhu has a whole bunch of accessories being released from this month through October, and they also have a whole bunch of parental controls. They also have cloud-based parental controls. As some other tablets like the Meep that have just started coming out in the last couple of months, it's pretty obvious that these tablets are basically trying to copy a lot of the stuff from the Nabi 1, maybe adding a few things here or there. On the other hand, Fuhu's Nabi 2 takes everything from the Nabi 1 and pushes it based on the strengths and weaknesses of that device, customer feedback, etc. They have a big head start in this market niche, so while some of these other companies may eventually provide decent competition, it's going to take them a good while to catch up...
 
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tracywills03

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DVDMON....thank you so much again! That's what I was looking for was a side by side comparison on specs & what not. You went above & beyond & I'm so grateful! :)
 

hjans81

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I just have to comment. We just recently bought the Nabi 2 for our 6 year old daughter. Its is AMAZING !! I love that its made for kids and is durable. Has plenty of preinstalled apps, books, kids friendly songs. I dont have to worry about her accessing something, or changing something on it bc in Nabi mode shes limited to what she can add and delete. Downloading things is SUPER fast. Faster than a ipad 2 we have for another older daugher of ours. The real bonus for me is in Mommy/Daddy mode ( how apps are added, educational games progress checked) it functions as a regular tablet that parents could add stuff to if they wanted. There are sooo many pro's with this tablet. Im telling everyone parent i know about it lol
 

anoojshah

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If you already have an Android tablet, check out Kytephone (www.kytephone.com). It's a free Android app that converts any Android (tablet or smartphone) into a kid friendly device that allows parents to manage what their kids can access. It has neat features like daily time limits, which lets parents manage how much time their kids can play games for. It's also cloud connected, so parents can manage their kid's tablet remotely (incl. enabling or disabling apps remotely). When your kids are not using it, you can switch back to normal Android mode.

Check it out. It's a free app, so you don't have to buy a kid-only tablet that your children will outgrow quickly.
 

Rose H

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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
 

dvdmon

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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.
 

Brian202020

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I bought a Nabi 2 for my 4 year old son for Christmas at Walmart on Black Friday when it was $130; now maybe he will stop asking to play Angry Birds on my phone. I took it out of the box to get it set up and ready for Christmas morning; the last thing a kid wants to do after opening a present is wait 30 minutes until it's set up. Anyway the limited time I played with it I can tell you it is very fast, very durable, and very kid friendly. I have no regrets on the purchase.
 

Nicole Swain

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I brought the Meep! tablet for my seven year old son and he loves it. Much like you we spent ages debating which tablet was appropriate and suited for his age, we decided on the Meep! tablet because of the parental controls are amazing and i want to be able to protect my son from in appropriate materials online. Another thing that made us chose the Meep! was the online allowance/coin system as my son is at the age where he likes the independance of being able chose how much he spends and on what games, but im still in control of how much money he has to spend.
For christmas we have brought him lots of extras for his meep including the drums and the piano as he is very musical! i would recomend the Meep! to any one that wants to give their child the best present ever, we have had loads of fun on it already! its great!
 

Ghostnyc

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Nexus 7 with an Ottercase (when its released) for kids is great. I was checking out the nabi 2, but I wanted something I can control/manage as well as something that will grow with my little one. Also its worth looking into the apps available for nabi and their costs. I got tired of overpaying for leapfrog and fisher price apps that seemed outdated. My kid can work my wife's iphone better than most adults so I felt Nexus was a step in the right direction. Particularly in ensuring that my kid goes ANDROID all the way.

(OKAY, OKAY NEXUS 7 was for ME..but I plan to share it 80/20 with the kid. lol)
 

viena111

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After reading yr review dvdmon, we ended up getting the nabi after looking at reviews and yr info helped us make the right decision, so pleased with it, my kids are happy with it easy to set up and the tech's on nabi facebook have been so helpful and really quick on answering any questions or problems...

So glad we stayed away from the Meep after hearing so many problems come christmas day and no help from the company...
 

power5

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If you already have an Android tablet, check out Kytephone (www.kytephone.com). It's a free Android app that converts any Android (tablet or smartphone) into a kid friendly device that allows parents to manage what their kids can access. It has neat features like daily time limits, which lets parents manage how much time their kids can play games for. It's also cloud connected, so parents can manage their kid's tablet remotely (incl. enabling or disabling apps remotely). When your kids are not using it, you can switch back to normal Android mode.
Check it out. It's a free app, so you don't have to buy a kid-only tablet that your children will outgrow quickly.

That is a great looking app. I may have to check into it more. I am looking to pick up a cheap <$75 tablet for each of my daughters and this app seems to take the requirement of a navi/meed/etc out of the equation. Looks to do the parental controls just as well if not better than the others. Hell, even has real time GPS tracking for the device. That is incredible.
 

power5

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Okay, well my cheap tablet idea did not work out so well. I bought the Craig CMP741e from a local drug store (CVS) for $53 OTD. Worked better than I expected. Did have the expected lag but not terrible. And good enough for a kids tablet for sure. I bought it at lunch. Charged it to 100% at work after lunch. GIrls played with it for the entire drive home ~45minutes of angry birds on airplane mode. Battery was around 80% when I got home. They played it for another 3 hours. I turned WIFI back on when I got home. Battery was at 32%. Then my 4yr old, walking disaster, daughter did the expected and dropped it 24" max onto our ceramic tile bathroom floor. I was searching for cases that could fit it. Well the digitizer broke. No idea how it landed but it was not very hard as there was not a single sratch, nice, or crack in the case at all. So it probably landed flat on the front or back, who knows. Anyway, touch only worked on one end of the screen and not in the area you actually touched. So I cannot even unlock the thing now. I took it apart which was very easy. 2 screws in end then pry it apart. Never felt like I was going to break it at all. Then there were 2 screw on one end holding the screen in place. Other end went under some clips. There were 5 more screws holding the motherboard in. Digitizer popped off surprisingly easy with just a butter knife. Definitely not bonded to the screen like high end devices. One ribbon and the digitizer was out. So, now I am trying to figure out what I can do with this thing. I put it back together and all is good without any touch of course. So now I have to figure out what I am going to do with this.

The digitizer is made of some VERY fragile glass. I mean really fragile feeling.

I shot an email to CRAIG Electronics to see if they would send me a new digitizer or something. Who knows, they say they have great customer service on their site. Maybe they will send me a new one for free. :D

I will be getting another one. I need to find a case of some sort for it this time though.
 

brooklynjoy08

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My wife and I decided on the nabi 2 and we could not be happier. Our 4 year old loves it. Plus I have little worries she will break it, it is very solid. It comes with many apps that are fun and educational, But if I never hear Barbra Manatee! Again we would be happy, lol. I decided to root and add gapps. There is a video by Victoria that shows you exacly how to do it. Also if you don't want root you can just put gapps on and in the event something happens it is not hard to get back to stock. The extra money over the cheap tablets is well worth it. The screen resolution is not the best, but not enough to matter much. We keep our brightness low and force close apps when we are not using them and get good battery life. While I have not used the other tablets, I have a hard time believing they could be better for the $.
 

dvdmon

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My wife and I decided on the nabi 2 and we could not be happier. Our 4 year old loves it. Plus I have little worries she will break it, it is very solid. It comes with many apps that are fun and educational, But if I never hear Barbra Manatee! Again we would be happy, lol. I decided to root and add gapps. There is a video by Victoria that shows you exacly how to do it. Also if you don't want root you can just put gapps on and in the event something happens it is not hard to get back to stock. The extra money over the cheap tablets is well worth it. The screen resolution is not the best, but not enough to matter much. We keep our brightness low and force close apps when we are not using them and get good battery life. While I have not used the other tablets, I have a hard time believing they could be better for the $.

Just a tip as far as the screen goes - there's an odd characteristic of the screen that makes the viewing angle really narrow, but if you turn the tablet upside down, the viewing angle gets much better, so if you're doing something on the Nabi with your child, that might be something that helps your experience. Seems like it has to do with some kind of polarization they used in the screen, but I don't know this technology enough, so that's just a wild guess...
 

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