Last Updated on 28 September 2023 by Colette
So it’s been 2 months since Ben got his tablet for his birthday and I thought I’d do a little round up on how things were going. The first thing to say it’s that Ben absolutely adores his new tablet (Colorfly E708Q1) and looks forward to ‘tablet time’ more than any other part of the day! I’m pretty sure he’d starve if the choice was tablet time or food! (Colette has banned me from trying this as apparently “It’s not ok to experiment on the kids!” Spoil sport.)
That being said he’s surprised me with how grown up he’s being about giving it back after his time is up (30 mins). I don’t think I’d be as sensible as he’s being about putting my tablet down in the middle of something nowadays. Let alone when I was 5! He’s being very careful with it and showing it the respect such as adult present deserves, and generally making us feel we made the right choice in buying him a tablet now. He’s even been letting Chloe have the occasional go! Albeit with close supervision!
Chloe is also a big fan of Ben’s new tablet. There’s no hope of us waiting till she’s 5 to buy her one. Pretty much her first words upon seeing it were:
“Can I have one?”
“When you’re older.”
“I’m older now!”
We’re thinking it’ll have to be for her birthday next year, ready for going on holiday, but at least she’ll have had a year to get used to and learn to respect Ben’s before handing her own.
Most of that isn’t very surprising. Kids like new toys. Especially shiny ones with lots of potential games. Onto the tablet itself. I’m happy to report it’s very good. Not even very good for the price. Just very good. The screen is excellent. Everything looks crisp and sharp. Build quality is good. Joints are smooth and the plastic, whilst being shiny, isn’t cheap feeling. The tablet is responsive and apps load quickly, it actually shows up my Toshiba tablet which I bought 3 years ago for 4 times the price! Not that surprising considering the pace technology improves but it still makes me want a new tablet! Any excuse I know! Battery life is moderate. About 4 hours screen on time. Charging isn’t the quickest as it uses a micro usb connection to charge but I can live with that. The onboard speaker is fine. Nothing special but does the job. There’s two physical buttons which is a little odd. One is the standard power/screen off button and the other is a physical home button. An oddity indeed as there’s also an onscreen home button which is the one you’ll use. This makes the physical button a bit irrelevant and just an opportunity to hit the wrong button when you’re not looking. Other than that there’s nothing I could complain about. I’m very pleased with it.
Software next and the tablet comes running Android 4.4.2 which is pretty up to date. As I mentioned earlier it feels smooth to use and we haven’t had any issues with lagging or stuttering. It handles any videos or apps with ease. I put on the Kidoz launcher that I’d mentioned in the first post and immediately found I’d missed something! While the app is free, some of the features I’d wanted are hidden in a paid version! Its not even a one off payment, which I probably would have gone for, its a subscription! £10 a year which I think is a bit steep in all honesty. They do give you up to date videos tailored to the kids and app recommendations but that’s not enough for me to be paying £10 a month for. So still using the software we’ve lost the ability to set a timer, restrict leaving the launcher, decide which websites are allowed to be visited and which videos are to be viewable. Quite a lot then. To be fair the websites which are allowed are all vetted by the people who make Kidoz and it stops you from visiting anything obviously untoward and in the same vein the videos are pre-approved. Just not by me/us. Which is what I wanted.
That being said Ben really has enjoyed using the tablet and the way the launcher works is very good. Child friendly with a simple interface. Any apps you download through the Play Store are automatically scanned by Kidoz and if they’re games etc then they show up immediately, if not you have the option to include them and have them be ‘clickable’. As of yet Ben’s not been interested in doing anything that we’d not want him to. That’ll come later. We’ll just have to be vigilant with that as we are with everything else to do with the kids.
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Update – we now use Google Family Link to manage our children’s tablets / mobile phones.
Why we don’t let our children take their screens upstairs
Sounds like it was a great birthday present. My 3 year old loves playing with her Daddy's iPad – I suspect at some stage we'll have to get her a tablet of her own but hoping to hold off for a while longer yet.
This is really useful, thanks. We're thinking of getting Boo a tablet for Christmas, so I'll check this one out
That's absolutely brilliant that he is so great about time keeping on it. I am very impressed too. I try to time myself only a few things on the computer and hours later I am typing away into the night. Sounds like he is being very respectful. Buba is not the same he struggles when time is up to give it up without a fight. I am sure MM will want one soon too I fear. Great post Thank you so much for linking up to Share With Me #sharewithme