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| Nabi Jr., VTech Innotab 3S, Nintendo 2DS © Kristi Kosina |
Raising a toddler in the twenty-first century is still as
challenging as ever with tantrums in public over toys, throwing up in car seats
without a change of clothing, and only wanting potato chips when offered a
healthy meal of vegetables and meat. In
2014, a new challenge to parenting is dealing with what technology your child
will have, because let's face it, technology is the way of our future and our
kids are our future. Ever since my son,
Warren, could hold my smartphone in his tiny hands as an infant, he's been
fascinated with the world of technology.
My toddler has been exposed to technology for about two years now and he
has become very comfortable with technology use. I would even say that Warren is on track to
being more technologically literate than his grandparents. So, my husband and I figured that if we ever
hoped to use and enjoy our devices, then it is a must to invest in devices for
our child. The following is a review of
some of the popular choices currently available on the market for children.
VTech Innotab 3S
The Innotab 3S is a blue and white device that has a few color options for toddler-proof covers. It comes with a few pre-installed apps like the Magic Beanstalk game, calendar, calculator, and a drawing app. It also includes an app to allow parents to communicate back and forth with their child with text, drawings, clipart, and voice recordings. Parents can download a separate app on their smartphone from Google Play to communicate with their child. The Innotab 3S includes an external slot for VTech game cartridges directed toward specific age groups with learning objectives and different interests. It also includes a rotating camera to take pictures that can be customized with funny clipart pictures of hats and glasses.
Cons: The user
interface is quite slow when transferring between applications. There is no way to increase functionality
with outside apps, so children are limited with the few included apps and the
expensive $15-$30 game cartridges if parents are willing to pay for extra
content. There is no option for volume
control, so if you take this device out in public, be prepared for your child
to keep it in the loud setting.
Warren's Review: When
my husband and I buy new cartridges for my son, he is very interested in the
Innotab 3S and will play with it for a few days. However, he quickly loses interest in it
since there are other more fully-featured devices available to him.
Nabi Jr.
The Nabi Jr. is the cute little white tablet that comes with a thick red bumper for toddler-proofing. My son can customize the back of the device with alphabet accessories that were bought separately. It includes dozens of pre-installed learning apps that reinforce the alphabet, handwriting, colors, numbers, and hand-eye coordination. Parents can also install the Amazon Appstore for access to popular apps like Netflix and Disney Jr. It operates using the Android operating system and the Mommy/Daddy mode functions much like Android smartphones. Parents can even send music, pictures, and home videos to the Nabi Jr. for their child's entertainment. There is also a mini SD card slot for memory expansion to store apps, music, videos, and more. It also comes with a pre-installed rotating camera that takes low-quality pictures to spark your child's interest in photography and selfies.
Cons: When initially
setting up this device, there is a mandatory credit card charge of $1.00 to
accept Nabi's privacy statement before using the device. Within five months of using the Nabi Jr., the
WiFi antenna stopped working and it had to be sent into customer service to be
replaced. Nabi's customer service was
friendly and quick in replacing the malfunctioned device since it was still
under the one-year warranty. Upon
receiving the replaced device, I had to pay the mandatory $1.00 privacy charge
again. The Nabi Jr. doesn't have
parental volume control for when taking this device out in public and my
toddler refuses to keep the volume down.
So, we end up not letting our son take the Nabi Jr. out in public. Also, due to the economic pricing of this
device, the internal memory and processing speeds are too low to play some of
my son's favorites, like Despicable Me's Minion Rush game.
Warren's Review: My
son prefers the Nabi Jr. over the VTech Innotab 3S since access to the Android
operating system and the Amazon Appstore offer varied functionality similar to
Mommy's and Daddy's devices.
Nintendo 2DS
I blame my husband for this one. My husband, Brian, is an avid gamer and thus desires to pass down the gaming lifestyle to our child. Plus, Brian would rather not hand over the controller or handheld deivce each time our son sees him playing a game. So, to make everyone happy, Brian researched handheld gaming systems that are great for toddlers and he came up with the Nintendo 2DS. He went with the flat 2DS versus the folding 3DS since it would be more difficult for a toddler to break. The 2DS does not have a folding joint for a toddler to bend and over-extend, which may break it.
The 2DS is similar to the Innotab 3S in that game cartridges
with similar pricing can be bought to extend game play. However, that is where the similarities
end. The 2DS games are more fully featured
since Nintendo is responsible for the content and have been a global gaming
leader for quite some time now. The
games vary from toddler-friendly to mature audiences, so parents may want to
pay attention to labels and game content before purchasing. Plus, there are more game cartridges than
VTech offers. The 2DS allows internet
access and expandable functionality with downloadable apps, like Netflix and
YouTube. The upper limit for volume on
this device is lower than the Innotab 3S and the Nabi Jr., so parents could
allow their child to take this device out in public without too much of a
disturbance in quiet areas, like a doctor's waiting room.
Cons: The setup of
this device is a bit more involved since the 2DS was not specifically created
for toddlers. Yet, there are parental
controls to alleviate content concerns.
If possible, I have not figured out how to prevent Warren from creating
hundreds of empty folders and placing apps in random folders to never be seen
again. Though, if this is the worse he
can do with the device, that's not too bad.
Currently, Warren is unable to wake the device up from sleep mode since
it is a sliding switch that he seems to be unable to figure out for the
meantime. So, my husband or I have to
wake it up for him every time he wants to use it. Be careful with the YouTube app since the
child-safe lock is not 100% and my son can still find objectionable
content. Also, we invested in the only
rubber cover we could find in an attempt to toddler-proof the 2DS. The cover is only a thin piece of rubber, so
if Warren drops the 2DS on tile or throws the device like he randomly does, the
device may be more prone to break. I
suggest buying the extended warranty on the 2DS since it is likely that a
toddler will break this device.
Warren's Review: The
Nintendo 2DS is his favorite of the three.
The duel screens give him more to interact with and he can easily access
YouTube and Netflix to watch kids' entertainment and learning videos.
Final Thoughts
All three devices come with or have a slot to purchase a
stylus for ease of use. However, my
toddler does not seem to need or know what to do with a stylus, so that feature
is currently unnecessary. The cool thing
about having more than one tablet or device is that if the battery drains on
one, the child can just use another device.
However, this may also cause problems if the child doesn't understand
why the parent is taking away the device with a dead battery. As with any addicting piece of technology, parents
may want to monitor how long their kids use technology. Parents should offer a variety of learning
activities and exercise opportunities that are separate from these handheld
devices to encourage mental and physical development. Yet, an understanding of technology can be
beneficial in solving tomorrow's problems, so I say "play away!"
