Hasta La Gadget!

Sure, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 Kids broke cover late last month, but it’s joined the rest of the firm’s brand-new displays and gadgets at IFA. Relocated capacitive buttons and repositioned camera aside, the child-friendly pad’s internals are identical to the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0: a 7-inch 1,024 x 600 display, dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 8GB of storage accompanied by a microSD slot, 4,000mAh battery, 3MP front cam and a 1.3MP rear-facing shooter. While the tablet felt sturdy enough to withstand light abuse on its own, an optional case packing a blue handle makes it more kid-proof. The shell isn’t there just for protection and portability either, as its handle houses a chubby stylus (no, not an S Pen) and folds to prop up the slate. If you’d rather give your tyke something a little less heavy-duty, a simple tangerine silicone case from the outfit helps the hardware endure additional rough treatment.

When it comes to performance, the pad handled itself admirably, jumping between apps and across pages without stuttering. As for software, the Galaxy Tab 3 Kids runs Android 4.1 and comes pre-loaded with apps for young ‘uns, which include games, a camera and a paint tool. While the package features an interface and app store just for the little ones, full-blown Android is just a few taps away. Pricing is still MIA, but it’s launching in Korea this month and is expected to follow suit in other regions afterward. Check out the gallery below to get better acquainted.%Gallery-slideshow83392%

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Filed under: Tablets, Samsung

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Samsung today confirmed its plans to launch a version of its Galaxy Tab designed for kids with the announcement of the Galaxy Tab 3 Kids tablet. The tablet will come pre-loaded with kid-friendly apps and games, a Kid’s Store, and parental control features that include whitelisting capabilities, time management features, password protected access, and more. Samsung will also offer an easy-to-grip Kids Case and, for drawing, a C Pen, which ships with the case.

The company says the tablet will first arrive in Korea next month, before rolling out to China, Europe, the U.S., Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. The tablet includes a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, a seven-inch 1024 x 600 display, front- and rear-facing cameras, and 8GB of internal storage, which is expandable via a microSD slot up to 32GB. The tablet runs the Jelly Bean (4.1) version of Android.

The market for kid-specific tablets is still relatively niche. Some companies, like Leapfrog, make tablets that are more like electronic, educational toys than they are mom or dad’s iPad. They run apps and games, but they’re not about being able to browse the ever-expanding mobile app store for the latest and greatest from the child’s favorite characters and big-name kids’ brands. You get a curated selection of apps, but not some of the better learning apps designed specifically for Apple’s iPad.

The same holds true for Android. Across the Android platform, there are plenty of others hoping to compete in the kid tablet space, like Nabi or Toys R Us’ own Tabeo tablet, as well as a slew of low-end Android tablet offerings. Amazon’s own Kindle Fire makes for a decent “kid” tablet, as well, without the limitation of being only a kid’s toy. Instead, it ships with software that lets parents put the tablet into a kid mode, which includes parental controls and time-limiting features, as well as pre-approved apps. When the kids finish playing, parents can then use the tablet for themselves, making it more of a family computer.

With kids-only tablets, price point is key. Tablets need to stay under $200, generally speaking. For something mom and dad can’t share, and kids will soon outgrow, $150ish is even more palatable for what feels more like a stocking-stuffer purchase than a real technology investment. Anything too expensive leads parents to consider paying just a few dollars more for a low-end iPad Mini ($329).

Samsung, however, has not yet announced pricing, so it’s hard to evaluate where this new tablet will fit in.

More details are on Samsung’s site here.

We think it’s safe to say the smartwatch revolution is currently upon us as a number of tech’s biggest consumer electronic companies have either released their own device or plan to in the coming months. But considering all smartwatches have […]

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Apple’s dedicated “in-app purchases litigation administrator” has had a busy time of it. According to CNET, he or she has been emailing updates to the 23 million parents involved in a long-running class action lawsuit over unauthorized in-app bills racked up by their kids in the days before disclaimers and repeated password requests. The emails say that individual claims for compensation can now be sent to Cupertino as per the terms of the original settlement back in February. Disputed purchases under $30 will qualify for a nominal $5 iTunes voucher, while bigger losses may be fully refunded in cash — but only those incurred within a maximum 45-day period. There’s a deadline of January 13th, 2014 for at least some types of claim, by which point Apple’s litigation administrator may well find themselves diverted to another urgent case.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple

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Source: CNET

We’ve seen software and even TV shows that teach younger kids about technology, but we haven’t really seen ready-made educational robots for that age group — and no, AIBO and Furby don’t count. Play-i, a new startup involving former Apple and Google employees, thinks it’s time that the younger set receives some truly helpful mechanical companions. The company tells AllThingsD that it’s developing robots that 5 to 8 year olds can program through mobile devices, teaching them about code in a more tangible way than a device screen would allow. While details of the robots are scarce, the team is shooting for sub-$100 prices that parents could afford: these bots may not be limited to classrooms. We’ll hopefully discover more when Play-i starts a crowdfunding campaign in the summer, although it will still be a long while before we’re picking up Junior’s First Automaton.

[Image credit: Alonso Inostrosa Psijas, Flickr]

Filed under: Robots

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Source: AllThingsD