The Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids 2021 is the tablet we’d recommend for kids ages seven and under. The main reason for this is that it is impressively durable. The 10-inch tablet is housed in a bumper case made of shockproof foam and plastic outer shell.

The case is a bit big and probably means most older kids won’t be caught dead walking around their schools with it – as confirmed by former Editor-in-Chief Alastair Stevenson’s goddaughter, who told her she’d “rather not do it”. I have a tablet” if that was what he would buy if offered. However, the looks here also make the tablet the only tablet on this list that we can 100% confirm will survive a full-blown toddler tantrum. During testing, it survived everything from animated throws across the room to a game of tug-of-war with a dog without issue.

Additionally, Amazon offers this tablet with a warranty and kid-specific extras, making it a great option for young children. The most important of these is the company’s return policy, which will allow the company to replace the defective Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids (2021) free of charge, no questions asked, for two years from the date of purchase.

But for adults and older kids, we found the HD 10 Kids FireOS software a bit prohibitive; This was the case with past Amazon tablets we tested. The operating system here is a custom version of Android that replaces Google’s traditional Android UI and app store with Amazon-specific equivalents. Amazon Prime shopping encourages you to actively shop by pushing Video, Music, and Kindle to the forefront of the user interface.

But judging from our time with the device, the customized version of the software on this tablet for kids works very well considering the target audience. For young children, who we’d rather not have access to a completely unlimited app store or media library, the locked-down nature of FireOS is actually a godsend.

In testing, we were seriously impressed by the intuitiveness of the device’s parental controls. Within minutes of starting and completing the setup process, which took about 10 minutes and required a live Prime subscription, we were able to easily filter content, restrict or block in-app purchases, and set limits on the amount of screen time allowed on each of the tablets. day.

Using a one-year bundle subscription to Amazon Kids+, our test subject toddler was able to find plenty of age-appropriate videos, books, and games to keep them entertained for at least half an hour. This is the only time we encountered any issues with the device’s hardware, which can cause frustration even for younger users.

The 10-inch LCD screen is plenty sharp for kids, but there’s no denying it looks a bit washed out compared to the iPad. The MediaTek CPU at the heart of the device is very underpowered, which means some apps sometimes stop working. While an adult would have the patience to understand any lag, we found this could occasionally cause frustration in younger users, with our toddler tester occasionally slapping the device or throwing it when a slowdown caused them to lose the game.

That, plus its design and locked-in ecosystem, is why we recommend parents invest in a higher-cost tablet like a non-Pro iPad or a reliable Android tablet for older kids.

Battery life also leaves little to be desired. During our testing, we found it very easy to drain battery life in less than four hours while streaming video or gaming. This means you’ll need to invest in a battery pack if you want the tablet to last longer car or train journeys without the risk of it throwing a fit when it dies in the middle of an episode of Paw Patrol.

Reviewed by: David Ludlow
Full review: Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Review