mountains27 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I'm looking to get some sort of devices for my two kids. If your kids have them what do you use? We want to be able to listen to music, take pictures/video, watch youtube and of course... Minecraft. Any recommendations? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I'm looking to get some sort of devices for my two kids. If your kids have them what do you use? We want to be able to listen to music, take pictures/video, watch youtube and of course... Minecraft. Any recommendations? What is your targeted budget and does that include getting decent cases for them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baseball mom Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Ds has a kindle fire and likes it. He doesn't make movies (not his thing) but he will take an occasional picture. He is always listening to music, looking up/watching stuff on youtube, watching movies and of course surfing the net, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSmomof2 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 My dc have iPad Minis and really like them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmaluv+2more Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 I have a couple of iPad minis, my 6 year old has a Kindle Fire, and my 12 & 9 yr olds have Samsung Galaxies. I love my iPad, but I'm an Apple girl and find it difficult to even think about going android. I hate the Kindle Fire. With an intense, burning passion. But it is cheap and works well enough for a young one. I actually really like the Samsungs. They haven't had them long, but so far they are right up there with my iPad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 We got our younger son a Kindle Fire for Christmas in 2015 and it just stopped working less than 3 months later. The replacement they sent also stopped working. It was a very inexpensive model though. We had quality issues with the Google Nexus tablet my older son used to have and we replaced with with an iPad. The iPad lasted a long time (3 years or so) but the screen died due to the rough treatment it endured at the hands of a fidget prone kid. At that point he was hitting 13 and had a smartphone so we replaced the iPad with a Lenovo touchscreen laptop instead. I have a used iPad mini on the way that will primarily be for me but may be passed onto our younger son at some point. My old iPad is going to my husband for on the go textbook reading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ottakee Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 We have 3 Kindle fires here...The $39 Christmas special ones. My kids like theirs for streaming videos, etc and some games. I like mine for listening to audio books as it keeps my cell phone free. I also play a few very simple games on it and OCC. Check email and Facebook. It works for that but I find typing on it more difficult due to keyboard size.....Too big to type like I do on my phone and too small to type like on a computer. I don't think the fires take very good pictures and not sure about editing video. The processor is slower than my phone by quite a bit.....Very workable but slower. The fire works great for the price and what we wanted it to do....But it not an iPad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynn Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Kindle fires here also. Never any issues. Does everything we want and need it to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Mine have Kindle Fires and they love them. We did just have to buy SD cards for more storage since they have 5 million games, apps, tons of pictures, videos, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountains27 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 thank you for the suggestions so far. I am looking for something that will last and do everything they want them to do so I guess I am willing to spend some money for that but probably not more then 250$ a piece. The Kindle price is tempting but they got those for Xmas back in 2015 and within 6 months one stopped working completely (wouldn't charge past 1%) and the other one that is still alive now is just barely hanging on and won't work properly all the time much to the frustration of the kids, and then myself! A couple people I have asked in person said iPad mini 2 because they are cheaper and really not too different from 4 when it comes to kids using them. I am thinking of buying some of those either used or refurbished but am wary about how reliable that will be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
umsami Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 My daughter (9) has a Kindle Fire. I bought it during Black Friday. I also upped the SD card and bought a cute case that has cats all over it. The Fire + case + extra SD card was maybe $110 total. It's been perfect for her. Previously she had a Galaxy Tab A, that I paid $100 more than the Kindle for. She lost it, and at the time, I didn't know I could make an alarm go off on it like I do my Mac products...so it was never found. Still hasn't been found. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountains27 Posted March 6, 2017 Author Share Posted March 6, 2017 Is it possible Amazon has improved their Kindle since 2015 to fix the charging problem? Seems like some people like them and some hate them, i'm wondering if the newer models are improved? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wheres Toto Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 We got ours this past Christmas. The chargers seem to bend easily but using a different charger (Including cell phone chargers) will work fine. I ended up making the kids charge them while doing school or sleeping, so they weren't charging while they were using them. That has helped us a lot with chargers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emmaluv+2more Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 Our Kindle Fires both lasted less than a year. My iPads are still going at 3+ years. We haven't had the Galaxy Tabs long enough to know, but my mom's is going on 2 years I think. I would definitely pay the higher prices if you want them to last longer than a year or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatherwith4 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 All 3 of ours have Kindle fires and they love them. No real issues whatsoever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 DS has an Ipad mini with a lifeproof case and it's great. Been going strong for over a year and a half now with no loss of battery. I also love that he can use imessaging to text with family - he's got me, DH, my mom, my dad, and an aunt and uncle on there that he texts and facetimes with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amy g. Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 We have had good luck with iPads. I don't know if they would be in your price range, but we have had one or another for 6 years without needing any repairs or having any problems with any of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK_Mom4 Posted March 6, 2017 Share Posted March 6, 2017 DD23 has had a Samsung galaxy tablet for four years. If you knew her, you would know what an amazing thing it is that any electronic device has survived that long. She is HARD on equipment - this is the young lady who broke an Otterbox (the phone did survive!) by stepping on it. The Samsung tablet has been a work horse and is just now starting to show battery life issues, so she is debating whether to replace it. Four years is a pretty good lifespan for electronics these days. I have an iPad and I love it. I am not hard on equipment, but if I were, I would put it in one of those kid-proof cases. My iPad is three years old and still going strong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountains27 Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 I'm leaning towards the iPad mini for them. I also have a friend who gave her two kids refurbished iPhones that don't have a phone plan so essential they are little tablets that they can text with and do all other tablet things with. Seems like a cool idea too but I'm not sure if that would be much cheaper then just getting the little tablets? Anyone know of any good deals on tablets right now? :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 I'm leaning towards the iPad mini for them. I also have a friend who gave her two kids refurbished iPhones that don't have a phone plan so essential they are little tablets that they can text with and do all other tablet things with. Seems like a cool idea too but I'm not sure if that would be much cheaper then just getting the little tablets? Anyone know of any good deals on tablets right now? :) Gazelle is a great site to buy gently used and guaranteed not stolen smartphones and iPads. My iPad mini was ordered from there and I think the earlier gen iPad minis are on closeout right now. I ordered my iPhone 6s there in the fall (was overdue for an unpgrade on my iPhone 4). I ordered "fair" condition and it had two hard to find scratches on the back so I've been please with them. I was expecting something much more dinged up for the price and condition rating. In the past I have also ordered from the Apple refurb store and PowerMax. Been happy with all of those purchases. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mountains27 Posted March 7, 2017 Author Share Posted March 7, 2017 Thank you for all the help! I have one more question for this thread, how many GB of storage does everyone find sufficient? I am looking now at getting a device that is between 16 and 32. When the kids had their Kindles working they were at 8GB and often found they had to uninstall apps to install new ones and could never store pictures or any music. I'm not very tech savvy so it could be I was doing something wrong or not using the SD card properly but 8 GB just seemed way too small for doing anything. If they want to store some music, pictures, stream movies/TV and run a fair amount of apps (10-15?) Is 16 GB enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alisoncooks Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 (edited) My girls got iPad Minis for Christmas and they love them. I have a regular iPad with 16G and I totally wish I had 32. So far, my girls are fine with 16 (they have a ton of apps), but I do anticipate we'll wish we'd splurged for more storage if ever they get to downloading music or books or movies onto the actual device (for travel and such). Currently they access the Kindle app/Prime video/Netflix via wifi - the only thing on the actual device is apps and media players and such. Edited March 7, 2017 by alisoncooks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 We got dd a Lenovo tablet for Christmas to replace her old one. This has worked wonderfully for her :https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lenovo-TAB3-with-WiFi-8-Touchscreen-Tablet-PC-Featuring-Android-6.0-Marshmallow-Operating-System/51240739 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted March 7, 2017 Share Posted March 7, 2017 We do 32GB if at all possible. My phone has 64 and that's a nice feature. I had a 16gb iPad 1st gen and it was fine but it also didn't have a camera, so that saved space. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mschickie Posted March 8, 2017 Share Posted March 8, 2017 The one we got was a 16gb but you can use an sd card with it ( up to a 64 GB). I like the Android ones verses the Ipads because most of them will take an sd card. Dh has the ipad mini and that is the one thing he hates about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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