Over the past week we’ve been hands-on reviewing the Innotab 7-inch Max created by VTec, with a 7-inch touchscreen and internet connection that will help your children access technology in a safe and kid-friendly way. Those behind this tablet have exiled at giving parents the tools to protect children when accessing information either from local storage, or via the Internet.
By looking at the back of the box you’ll notice the VTec tablet is based around all ages ranging from 3 to 9, and offers many different types of games and apps appropriate for the right age. This certainly enticed us to get opening and hands-on right away with the help of a 3 year old, just so we can get both our and a younger persons perspective.
Our little one spent ages playing in the Art Studio while painting, drawing, and even enjoying the stickers. This is loads of fun alone, which we’re sure most parents would know all about thanks to young kids loving both stickers and drawing all the time for creative fun!
Below we’ve shown you how the Blue VTec Max tablet, there’s also a Pink version, has been packed and moulded into plastic. This certainly helps stop scrapes and scratches while sitting in retail storage, or waiting to be delivered to the end user.
Everything has been placed and packed individually, as you can see in the photo below that shows the items included within the box of your 7-inch Innotab Max tablet.
With a quick round up, once you have emptied everything out of the box you’ll find, the VTech Innotab, a stylus pen, a charging cable with an adapter and a software preview cartridge that comes included. Double check everything has been packed and you aren’t missing anything, we did just that.
Before turning the tablet on make sure the software preview cartridge is inserted into the right position, you’ll find this slot on the left hand bottom corner. It’s a good time to point out that you get 18 apps installed, some might need updating or downloading, so this will give kids plenty to do right out of the box including playing around with the 2-MP camera using the special effects app to take photos.
By making sure you check out the ‘Quick Start Guide’ this will make your life that little bit easier causing no confusion. The next following pictures below will show you how easy it is to set up.
Before taking anything further you’ll need to power this VTec tablet, by doing this the power button is located in the top right hand corner, this is placed along side the plus and minis for the volume.
First of all you’ll need to set the date and time up as shown in the picture above, you can use the stylus or simply just your finger to press the screen.
Once you’ve completed the date and time you will have the choice if you would like to create parental control, in our option we think this is a good idea and will limit your children doing anything you wouldn’t want them doing. Buttons are also located on the left hand side for any help.
When you’ve completed all of the steps you will be taken to the homepage where you’ll see all of the apps, the pictures aren’t too small, so can easily be seen by anyone.
It’s good to point out that you can add music and movies to the InnoTab Max, unlike with Leapfrog’s LeapPad, which certainly interested us and would keep our little one entertained. During the setup we also went through the process of setting up the Kid Connect messaging tool, and this is a cool tool that lets parents connect their mobile phone with the InnoTab Max tablet.
While the suggested age range is 3 to 9 years, and our 3 year old loved the tablet, the design and apps could be a little simplistic for those 8 or 9 years old. It’s true that the software is based on Android OS, but has a kids user interface covering the standard software, so to appeal to and protect children.
In the image above you can see the carry handle and cover, both are great ideas for adventurous kids and offer better protection to limit damage when being carried around.
Performance – There’s a few things we didn’t like about the Innotab Max and this includes the slower than expected performance, camera picture quality isn’t what we’d expect, low-resolution screen, and average battery life. With that said, children between 3 and 6 years old will most likely not even notice those negatives, ours certainly didn’t, and we were impressed with the tough construction of the tablet and well-restricted web browser.
Web Browsing – We wanted to touch on the web browser due to it being an important part of any tablet these days, especially when it comes to protecting kids from online content. The VTech InnoTab Max features a great web browser that restricts access to certain content really well, you can also customise this as needed to add more websites you want your child to access with quick links. You’ll find a selection of games, videos, and websites pre-selected already by VTech.
Messaging Tool – as we mentioned above, there’s a tool parents, or friends and family, can setup that connects their smartphone with the Innotab Max and allows the devices to send and receive text, voice messages, photos, and other content.
You can manage your kids contact list and approve each friend for better security, especially important when using things like family group chat, multiplayer games, or sharing content.
In terms of Innotab Max tablet specs: You will find a 1,024 x 600 pixel display at 7-inches, 8GB of internal storage (expanding with a microSD card), built-in Wi-Fi that allows you to download games/apps/video content direct to the tablet at a cost, 2MP 180° Rotating Camera and Video Recorder, weighs 1.4kg, a 1.4-GHz dual core CPU, kid-friendly version of Android OS, microHDMI port, microUSB port, headphone jack, measures 382 x 284 x 67mm, and features a lithium ion battery that lasted just over 6 hours during our test.
Take a look at the full Innotab Max 7-inch tablet manual in PDF form at the official website. This provides detailed information on every specification, how to’s, and any problems or further information needed.
Bottom-line: Younger children will love this tablet, but parents looking for the best specs might think its performance is lacking. During our review and after watching a 3 year-old play for hours, we love the Innotab Max and the security features included to protect little ones. Other Android tablets and an iPad might deliver more, but they aren’t designed for kids like the Innotab Max tablet is. The audio quality is average, but can get loud at times, invest in some good headphones for your child and of course to offer a little peace.
For under £90 currently on Amazon, the Innotab Max is a good option for parents that want a tablet that helps protect kids right away out of the box. With an easy setup process that’s directed at protecting kids right away from both online and offline content, this is the tablet 3 to 6 year olds will love!
