The InnoTab 3S children’s learning tablet from VTech lets parents and children stay in contact via texting.
Children, being the curious little monkeys they are, are keen to mimic their parents, but some activities, like texting, run the risk of exposing children to potential harm. Fear not, worried parents: VTech has created a safe zone for texting with its latest learning tablet, the InnoTab 3S.
The device, which recently dropped in price to $ 80 from $ 100, has all the typical offerings that you would expect in a learning tablet, including a secure browser and apps that teach reading, math and science.
But the feature that VTech is heavily promoting is Kid Connect, which helps parents and children stay in contact via texting. Using a Wi-Fi connection, the InnoTab can send a message to an app installed on a parent's cellphone (the feature also works between two InnoTab 3S devices). The tablet does not have push notifications, so Kid Connect must be open to let users know when they have a message.
The basic version of Kid Connect, which offers the ability to send and receive texts and digital stickers, is included free for a year. A premium subscription, available through VTech's download manager, Learning Lodge, for $ 15 a year, offers the enhanced features, like voice messaging and the ability to send photos and drawings.
Not having any curious monkeys of my own, I offered an InnoTab 3S tablet to two colleagues, each a mother with a son, one 2 and the other 5.
After a week, the moms reported that their sons had playfully engaged with the InnoTab 3S, and they appreciated the walled garden that VTech had built. But a child's tablet is far different from one made for an adult, and both women expressed frustration that the InnoTab 3S was slow to load apps and Web pages.
The Kid Connect feature was a bigger hit for the mother of the 5-year-old, who had already shown an interest in his parents' mobile devices. The mother of the younger boy, however, was more ambivalent about introducing texting to her son, who is just under the device's recommended age range of 3 to 9.
Children will eventually gravitate toward texting, but with the InnoTab 3S, at least parents have a secure world in which to let them do it.
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