We don’t know who started it, but the idea that kids are allowed to stroll up and steal mommy and daddy’s super expensive smartphone or tablet computer for a game of sticky bun fightz or whatever has got to stop. Right? It’s bad enough cleaning the goo off the screen later, let alone wondering whether it’s going to hit the floor soon with all your work contacts on it. But there is a solution.

This Venstar Kid’s Budget 7 Inch Tablet Computer doesn’t cost the earth, and it comes with just about everything you need to distract little Timmie from your Samsung S9 and give him happiness at the same time. And what’s more important, is it’s completely password locked down, so you control what they can and cannot do with the device at all times. Or at least until they torture the PIN number out of your pathetic pain wracked body.

First impressions
The tablet comes in a rather fun looking box, along with the usual accessories you’d expect to find with a tablet computer. This includes a nicely produced user’s manual, a charge block, microUSB charge cable and an OTG cable for attaching external accessories like a hard drive etc.

The tablet itself is cute looking, as many of these kid’s tablets are, with a cute pink or blue rubberized surround, and friendly buttons to top it all off. The specs of the beast are predictably modest, with a 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM, a 7 inch 800×480 touchscreen, 8 GB of internal storage with support for up to 32GB microSD card, a 2 megapixel rear camera and 03 mp front, and a 2800 mAh battery to give around 3 to 5 hours play.

In use
As you can see from the video below, the tablet runs fairly well, considering the modest specs, and although it won’t run massive 3D games, it will definitely hold its own with the kind of simple kid’s apps you can find on Google Play. The great thing is you get to specify and install the apps, and it’s all password protected so they can’t change anything.

The basic default apps are a notebook which is great for keeping a little diary, and teaching them to type maybe, a painting app, and areas where you can install other 3rd party apps such as games, browsers and algebraic equation solvers. Or something.

The whole ambience of the product is predictably fun oriented as I guess you’d expect, with bright colors an pretty graphics, which is great for children of course. And more to the point, at no time do they ever get exposes to the grim black inner workings, even through things like settings. It’s all locked away.

The camera works well enough (see samples below) and should be enough to keep them happy, and the speaker seems loud enough for day to day use. There is a headphone socket though, thankfully. It features a gravity sensor and accelerometer, so it should cope with tilt type games nicely as well. And although the battery isn’t huge, it should deliver a fair amount of play time before bed.

Conclusion
This fun, simple children’s tablet isn’t the most powerful on the planet, but then again with a retail price of just $59.99 / £37.75, it’s hardly going to break the bank. As an alternative to using the parental devices, it’s a no-brainer, and as far as robustness goes, well that’s something that only time and that great pink unicorn up in the sky can judge. It looks like it should weather reasonably robust handling, but there’s always that sharp object waiting, eh?

Price: $59.99

Sample

Specifications
OS Version: 4.2
CPU: RK2926 CORTEX A9
Processor Speed (max): 1GHz
RAM: 512MB
WiFi: 802.11 b/g/n
Adobe Flash
Google Play
2 Megapixel Rear Camera + 0.3 Megapixel Front-Facing Camera
Video Resolution: 640×480 Front / 720×480 Back
Mic
Battery Size: 2800mAh
Usage Time: 3 to 5 Hours
Battery Standby: 72 Hours
Display Size: 7 Inch
Display Resolution: 800×480
5 Point Capacitive Multi Touch Display
Internal Storage: 8GB
Micro SD Card up to 32GB
3.5mm Audio Out Port
Micro SD Card Slot
Mini USB
Gravity Sensor
Accelerometer Sensor
Main product dimensions: 190x125x14mm (L x W x D)
Main product weight: 331g