The news about Google's Nexus Tablet to be priced in a competitive range with Kindle Fire provides parents with a lot of interesting considerations as far as which tablet for a tween. Deciding on the best tween tablet, after all, is not a sweeping decision by a blogger. Rather, it's a decision making process for parents based on goals and budget. My relatives just purchased a Kindle Fire for my 94 yo grandmother, and she gets the biggest kick out of Angry Birds. The device is fun and intuitive for those not so tech savvy. For tweens, more apt to understand their way around touchscreen toys and gadget gifts, the devices are much simpler to learn and use.
Kindle Fire for a Tween has a lot of advantages in that Amazon developed the content platforms well in advance of releasing their tablet. It's given parents an inexpensive alternative to the iPad for tweens and kids because there is so much content. Further, a lot of the content is free to Prime subscribers. Your tween can read, watch and play without having to spend a bundle. Google's tablet may be good, but until the release, the consumer won't really know much. Content isn't completely non-existent, but there isn't a lot of free content, and if there's any, the store doesn't make it very easy to track down. Familiarity makes Kindle Fire easy to imagine using at varied ages, and there are lots of hands on users' reviews that testify to its ease of use. It's not exactly like an iPad, but if your tween needs an affordable alternative, Kindle captures the attention. The Google Nexus Tablet will have to prove itself.
