Sunday, February 13, 2011

VTech's InnoPad brings tablets to youngsters, floods their sponge-like brains with knowledge

Looking for a telltale sign that tablets have shot right past mainstream and into over-saturation? Fix your focus a few pixels up, and you'll be staring at it. VTech has just pushed out its InnoPad, a learning tablet developed specifically for kids aged 4 to 104 (or 9, if you're concerned with "facts"). Boasting a 5-inch touchpanel, a tilt-sensor for gaming control, microphone and interfaces for USB, an SD card and a headphone jack, it's actually more like a MID than anything else. Of course, the "kid-tough" casing makes it far bulkier than most, but at least it's designed to take a licking (and keep on ticking). Contrary to conventional tablets, this one will rely primarily on learning cartridges, but there is support for digital downloads for those who'd rather sync it up with their Mac or PC and transfer things to a memory card. You've got a slew of options when it comes to software, and once your kid's done learning for the day, the InnoPad can double as an MP3 player, video player and datebook. It'll ship this fall for $79.99, with each title priced at $24.99. Something tells us this thing's got "iPad killer" written all over it. In Children's Doodle font, but hey...
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12 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:21 AM

    Could use more bezel..

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  2. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:22 AM

    think I'd rather have this than the slate.

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  3. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:22 AM

    Wow! You can even lick it?!? I think that ultimately, like all the vTech video game systems, this thing will be killed by lack of good software. They should start licensing to third parties.

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  4. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:22 AM

    Why do products aimed at kids always have to be so damn bulky and ugly? What, do these people assume that just because they're young, they have the style senses of a feebly-dressed salad?

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  5. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:22 AM

    I think more because they will lick, throw and spill food on it. Kids product have to be manufactured like they are going into a very violent alternate universe filled with different types of cascading fluids and sudden drastic g-forces.

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  6. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:23 AM

    I'm surprised that Vtech never made ultracheap netbooks considering that make everything else for kids.

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  7. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:23 AM

    9 year olds? My 6 year old grandson practices Montessori lessons on an iPad.

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  8. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:23 AM

    Yes, there's all kinds of learning software available for the iOS devices, but I would rather pay $79.99 for a plastic educational tablet that I'm going to hand to my destructive little boy, than the Gazillion dollars for the all glass and metal iPad. That would be like saying to him "Please bash me in the head with this glass and metal thing".

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  9. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:24 AM

    My 2 and 4 year old do all kinds of games and watch movies on the ipad. The 2 year old has dropped it once or twice, but since she's not even a meter, it doesn't fall very far. The only real problem I have is that being Dutch there is no very much pure learning content yet. Also they had to get a bit used to the folders, but beside that it is perfect. It is even drool resistant.

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  10. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:24 AM

    Or you can turn your kid's brain into a sponge - if Angry Birds ran on this thing.

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  11. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:24 AM

    How many borders does this need!?

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  12. AnonymousFebruary 13, 2011 at 2:24 AM

    More, that's only a concept !

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