help me out! Ipad, kindle, what?

[partgypsy]

My MIL has a IPAD that my oldest DD loves to play with when visiting. Our problem, is we only have one computer, and she monopolizes it at times. I want to find something she can look up things on the web (youtube) and play online (multi user) games like Wizards 101, pocketgod, animal jam, etc.

Will a kindle do these things? I'm wondering if there is a less expensive alternative to ipads around, and what "level" I would need to get for a preteen.

 

[partgypsy]

Hey yall. I'd thought I'd post what we did, in case anyone else is in the same position. We got her a Nook HD! For $149. We have wireless in our house. We are extremely non-ipad savvy, but these are the things she can do with it. While in wireless surf the internet, look at Netflix (we have an account), download games from google play (she loves heyday), and of course read books including free books from various internet locations. There are probably some apps that she can load too, but since I don't have an smartphone not sure what good ones to load are. Anyways for what she needs to use it for, we are very happy for what it can do.

 

[UrsTx]

I usually recommend to friends that if the user is younger, get the kindle. It uses wifi so there aren't the recurring monthly cellular charges, tons of free kids movies if you sign up for amazon prime at $79/yr, and there are parental controls on it such as the timer that allows you to designate how long they can use it. Plus it's less $. I'm not sure the sale is still on but Staples had it for $79 on Black Friday. But for teenagers, just get the ipad.

 

[partgypsy]

Well, when we were looking the nook was much less expensive. So I think they are probably pretty equivelant?

My MIL has the IPAD and that is very nifty but have price tage shock with that one.

 

[EllaBurgundy]

Hello,

Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" is lighter than Air—literally. In fact, the new Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" tablet is a full 20% lighter than iPad Air. The Kindle Fire HDX display also has nearly one million more pixels than iPad Air, giving it a best-in-class pixel density of 339 ppi (vs. 264 ppi on the new iPad). From From the side the Air looks kinda boring. I don't think that having an aluminum back plate qualifies as better design. Also, having to press a physical button to see your open apps doesn't seem all that intuitive. Swiping seems a better way to handle things. Apple funnels way too much activity through that home button. I've used both my own Nexus 7 and my wife's iPad and have yet to find anything all that intuitive on the iPad. I think when that term gets thrown out there it's a crutch by the reviewer. Whenever you need to throw a review to Apple and the comparison is close you always fall back on the old "IOS is just so intuitive".

Have a nice day

 

[partgypsy]

Hey I just wanted to point out, that the $79 Kindle doesn't have the same specs as the $149 nook. the nook HD has audio and also headphone jacks, the basic Kindle doesn't (she uses it to stream Netflix and youtube). Nook also has either 8 GB or 16GB memory so she can save her games, books and other things on the Nook without running out of memory (the $79 Kindle has 2GB). It also has an SDHC slot, which gives extra flexibility/memory (no SD slot on Kindle).

OTOH the Kindles that could do those things were over $200, and the IPADs were 400-500. Of course the IPADs can do even MORE things than the Nook, but to me that's the price of a computer at that point.

So, I think it depends what you want for us. My daughter is 11 and prefered the Nook over the Kindle. Of the kids in her class they are more likely to have a Nook than either a Kindle or IPAD. So I think there is a niche. I do have to admit that she has not used it much for reading, but more for other things at this point.