Both the boys love technology, like most children nowadays, and are very good at using it. Give them a gadget and they’ve figured it out, certainly a lot quicker and better than their grandparents that’s for sure. Having two parents who work in IT the boys see us using gadgets, computers and laptops all the time, it’s normal for them to want them too. It makes my husband and I proud to see them have fun and learn how a gadget works and be excited by it.
However, I don’t want them having an expensive piece of equipment like an ipad as they are likely to drop it or break it. I’d like them to have something for children. Something simple to use, looks good, has parental controls and is robust. Appstar by Binatone 7 Inch Tablet which is available from Argos seems to do just that.
The Appstar by Binatone 7 Inch Tablet has wifi connection, which has worked with ours without any issues and the parental controls have been easy to setup and cover everything I’d like covered. The boys haven’t been able to over ride them so for now that’s good enough for me. With 250 pre-installed apps and over 50 free audio books it will keep the kids busy for a while. You can also purchase and download hundreds of additional apps. The camera works great and the boys had great fun using this. The fact that the Appstar has a touch screen means the boys felt as if they had their own tablet just like mum and dads. However, this has a bumper cover which allows for some bumps and bruises along the way. It might look heavy in the pictures but it’s far from it.
Tyler loves to dance, but gets embarrassed when people watch him. I’ve caught him on many occasions singing his wee heart out and shaking his stuff. The Appstar tablet allows you to play music and you can purchase a speaker dock which holds the table comfortably allowing the child to listen to music or watch videos. The dock also works via batteries or adaptor, so it can be used in the car or out and about as well as in the house. Tyler has lots of fun with this dancing about to his hearts content. It’s sturdy and not easily knocked over which is always good.
The built in camera is good, nothing fantastic but it doesn’t have to be when it comes to kids and their picture, they just want to have fun. The Binatone Appstar comes with a stylus which works well on the screen and great for writing and drawing. It comes with a cord stopping it getting constantly lost like the leap pad one we had.
So what does the Appstar run? It runs the Android 4.0 making it recognisable for us adults and has a bright and child friendly interface with big buttons and bold colours. There is a patentable section which is more like an adult tablet. With a 1GHz processor and 4GB RAM, so it’s not as fast or as powerful as most adult tablets, but it’s good enough for a child aged 4+ which is what it’s aimed at.
Another great accessory is the Remote Control Racing car, which is operated by moving the tablet or via a remote control which comes with it. The car isn’t all that well made and disappointing, but it is a lot of fun when used via the tablet, but I can’t see if lasting long.
The Appstar by Binatone tablet is great value with all it’s built in apps, durability and additional products to add on are good value. My youngest who is coming up for 5 give this tablet a big thumbs up. It is exclusively available at Argos and is on special offer just now if you want to take a look.
Disclaimer:- I was sent the above items as stated in the post. I’ve not been paid further for mentioning any of these products in this post. All words and opinions are my own and the links have been included out of courtesy.
This post is protected under copyright. SusankMann 2009 – 2014
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