Buying a tablet for 6 year old kid

[guzzi850m2]

Hi I am thinking about buying a tablet for my 6 year old son. He likes watching Youtube cartoons and playing games.

I checked some kids tablets but their specs are somewhat low to be desired.

On GearBest you can buy a Teclast X80 for about 100$ which is about max I want to spend.

http://www.gearbest.com/tablet-pcs/pp_353942.html

Can anyone recommend this tablet? Should I buy something else?

The ones I seen around in Lotus/BigC and phone shops in that price range have much lower specs.

I don't let my son play with my IPad Mini2, it's too dear to me.

[flyDelight]

Suggestion try find a tablet with a time lock to limit his fascinating hobby to 30 minutes per day, if you really care about his mental and social development and future. (and his eyes, and his spine... etc)

[dddave]

I understand the reluctance to buy an underperforming "kids" tablet but I would shop for a tablet that has specialized abuse resistant cases that fit properly available as accessories. I would also be sure to apply protective film over the display screen even if it is Gorilla Glass....it can still shatter.

[guzzi850m2]

Cheers guys, yes we limit his "play time".

[peterrabbit]

I got a Samsung for my step daughter, she can now use it better than me now. I think its a T3 cost about 6k. She uses it for Utube (cartoons and toys) and can now download games like barbie doll type etc

Their future is with technology so the sooner they learn how to use it the better.

[casualbiker]

CHUWI HI8 Pro. Dual boot windows/android.. 3995baht

Look on Lazada or http://www.suc-seedshop.com/product/471/chuwi-hi8-pro-2-os-win10android5-1-intel-14nm-cherrytrail-8นิ้ว-19201200-hdmi-usb-type-c

Edited June 28, 2016 by casualbiker

[ChoakMyDee]

A word of advice, don't go too cheap. We bought our daughter a cheap tablet that was useless within 6 months. The battery would drain so quickly that she never had enough play time and it was always being charged. So we went out and bought a 6k Baht (lenovo) one and she has used it for year with no problems. Going cheap ended up costing us more money.

[williamgeorgeallen]

I got a Samsung for my step daughter, she can now use it better than me now. I think its a T3 cost about 6k. She uses it for Utube (cartoons and toys) and can now download games like barbie doll type etc

Their future is with technology so the sooner they learn how to use it the better.

i got my son a samsung as well and it is excellent. was an older model so was only 4000thb. it has a good hard cover and has taken a beating. i tried a couple cheaper ones first but i dont think you save much money buying them as they dont last as long. my 4 year old son is in thai school but his english is very good thanks in part to the tablet. an interactive tablet is far better than TV. he loves the learn english you tube clips. gives me some peace as well.

[1FinickyOne]

On her 7th birthday I bought my niece an ipad. She is now 11 and the ipad is still going strong. She has a long school day and uses it in her limited spare time at home only. She is a good student and I think having computer skills, even if only used at first for games and such is very valuable. She is now using it to watch cooking videos and for doing art work.

If the ipad is too expensive, buy as good as you feel you can afford. A better tablet will promote learning whereas a piece of junk might promote frustrations...

good luck.

[guzzi850m2]

the ipads are great, I love my mini2 but boys at the age is not as mature as girls are, thus boys plays much harder, so getting one of them is just too risky and will likely not survive though 2 years.

The one casualbiker suggested looks fine and I can get it fairly quick from Lazada.

Thanks for all inputs, much appreciated

[Sydebolle]

Ever thought of spending those 30 minutes daily actually playing with the child yourself?

I do this with my five-year old grandson, on a daily basis, after I pick him up from kindergarten before either one of his (working) parents pick him up.
We paint, build Lego-dreams, water the garden and each other, play ball, cook and bake and there is not a single dull moment. His language skills are better, he interacts with other people in an open and caring manner and I seriously always wondered, why people need to resort the limited time at home to outsourced activities after having come home from kindergarten and the like.

Just a thought; it might also bond the child much closer to you for moments when you would be glad that someone would care - one day in the future.

[Suradit69]

I understand the reluctance to buy an underperforming "kids" tablet but I would shop for a tablet that has specialized abuse resistant cases that fit properly available as accessories. I would also be sure to apply protective film over the display screen even if it is Gorilla Glass....it can still shatter.

Yes. I bought one for a slightly older child. It didn't survive that long. The second one "vanished" at school.

Cheap and sturdy is a good idea.

[Andster 68]

Tablet wise a baby aspirin is the most you can give someone that age I think. Why not send him/her outside to play in the dirt, it's his/her time for that. As my mother would probably say, "you can have a tablet when you can afford to buy one yourself, now stop whinging and do the washing up".

[Andster 68]

Tablet wise a baby aspirin is the most you can give someone that age I think. Why not send him/her outside to play in the dirt, it's his/her time for that. As my mother would probably say, "you can have a tablet when you can afford to buy one yourself, now stop whinging and do the washing up".

On the other hand, we used to collect football cards and do all that stuff that has been replaced with the online games now. I'll bet his buddies are racking up good scores and he would like to join in.

You could ask him what games he fancies playing and ask him which one he would like.

Pick one out together and then if you like you could promise to buy him it if he nails his tests in school, say above 75% in 75% of his tests.

Or just buy it him. I bought a 7" Nexus about 2 years ago (it's a 2013), it was made by Asus for google. It's old tech now but it still does everything excellently and is beautiful and solid. Because it's a nexus gets all the latest android updates.

Do some research on screens though. I have a buddy who's kid has to wear glasses now and he reckons it's from all the screen time from his tablet and net book.

[D3030]

Samsung Galaxy... Tab A

Works fine for my almost 6 year old..

It's tethered to my phone and YouTube works great..

Games, they don't freeze up, like the no name brand he had before..

And it takes good pics, with no hesitation between shots..

[D3030]

Ever thought of spending those 30 minutes daily actually playing with the child yourself?

I do this with my five-year old grandson, on a daily basis, after I pick him up from kindergarten before either one of his (working) parents pick him up.

We paint, build Lego-dreams, water the garden and each other, play ball, cook and bake and there is not a single dull moment. His language skills are better, he interacts with other people in an open and caring manner and I seriously always wondered, why people need to resort the limited time at home to outsourced activities after having come home from kindergarten and the like.

Just a thought; it might also bond the child much closer to you for moments when you would be glad that someone would care - one day in the future.

Well, if he watches those interesting and some very educational clips...

And..

Plays the games with his son..

It's just a variety of quality time to spend with his child..

[chilli42]

My advice, based on personal experience, is don't buy one. It will harm your child in ways you can not imagine. I made the mistake with my two oldest and correct with my third ... who at 12 has no personal electronic device other than a music player. Buy him or her a football and get them on a team, sign them up for swimming lessons, get them a Muay Thai instructor, take them to Flow and/or Bounce etc etc.

[AlexRRR]

I have the iPad Air and a Samsung Tab, iPad kills it stone dead in many ways, but the Samsung is a good unit and cheaper, for games as well as apps the Apple has it all, the Tab far fewer, my grand kids toss my daughters iPad around and its still working beautifuly after 3 ys also a lot easier to use but its no where near your budget.

[laislica]

No need for tinfoil hats but, I'm surprised that no one has raised the point that these devices have WiFi transmitters.

The long term effects of subjecting a young body to Wifi at close range is not known.

I agree with the posters who suggest spending time with the child/children and play with non electronic puzzles/footballs etc.

To be honest, these devices are used by many as a means of keeping their children occupied and out of their hair.

Let them play with other children and develop social skills.

Just sayin

[guzzi850m2]

Well I agree that a tablet is not something a child should play with the whole day. I let my son relax in front of the desktop PC after school for 1 or 2 hours but not everyday.

This is now getting off topic, as it was aimed for recommendations on a tablet and not how to raise a kid.

[vanillalatte]

Do not buy casualbiker Chuwi;Chuwi have bad reputation.The one you have found on GearBest is much better;I had it today in my hands in shop - Teclast X80 have 3 or 4 models;you should buy the one with metal body,it cost a bit more.GearBest price is OK,in my shop - same,about100US$.It can do things which your ipad can not do:

it works on 2 systems:Windows10 and...Android5.1.

About Wi-Fi: you can keep it off,when not necessary.

Because 100$ is not to much(comparing with Samsungs and i-pods) - you can buy your son another one in case of disaster;this is my policy,i bought more then 1,without

dropping a tear.Some sort of case or cover protects them from abuse.

[2008bangkok]

The problem with anything under about 8k is that the battery will die quick and after a while the screen will become unresponsive espeically the way kids play with them, if money isnt an issue go with a ipad or ipad mini..built to last

[Deli]

What about some toys, developing intelligence and education ? Otherwise he most likely will end up like the bar girls, 24/7 playing with the mobile dive and not being able to built a phrase with more than 4 matching words in English...

[2008bangkok]

What about some toys, developing intelligence and education ? Otherwise he most likely will end up like the bar girls, 24/7 playing with the mobile dive and not being able to built a phrase with more than 4 matching words in English...

I beg to differ, Youtube is an exceptional tool for developing childrens education proving you put on family filters, my kids pratically fluent in English from Youtube and can happily watch anything in thai or english

[tuktuktuk]

We tried this. After seeing how the boys couldn't keep their hands off our iPads we bought some Samsung tablets for about $250 each. They still couldn't keep their hands off our iPads. When the iPads weren't around they would use theirs, but only for a while. They would get bored and find something else to do. Those were worn out in about a year. Next step was to buy them some refurbished iPads direct from Apple. I think they were $319 each. They use them nonstop. It's been three years now. One is still going strong and the other succumbed to being dropped in the shower. Yes, broken screen and water damage. Now they fight over one. Haven't decided what to do next.

[guzzi850m2]

Well the Teclast 80 is out, different on-line tests shows it got its flaws so better spend a bit more. One US tester on YouTube was not impressed that you can't really use the Win10 part as there isn't enough storage, the screen is flickering as well, speaker too low and the metal case version limits wi-fi range. You need min 64GB to use dual booting according to the tester.

The Xiao Mi Pad2 is likely the best of the China branded tablets but the dual boot 64GB version is currently sold out on gearbest and the 16GB Android version is likely too small storage but you can get a 64GB Android version for 250$.

The Xiao Mi Pad2 is generally regarded as a cheap Ipad Mini2 replacement (same screen) so I am currently considering one of those but it is over 2X of what I initially intended to spend but as mentioned better spend more than getting something you regret later on.

My son can also speak as good English as he speaks Thai, hell he also learns Chinese in school. Not bad for a 6 year old boy, ehh

[vanillalatte]

I had Pipo W6s - positive experience,with Windows8;now in hands of kid.Pipo is company with good reputation,Cube is another.TeclastX80pro is going now for 80$ on flash sell.And I have very positive experience with Xiaomi - but I had only mobiles - redmi2+,redmi3 and note2.The best tablets I used myself where - Nexus7(2013),I still have it,