How Do the nabi Jr. and the nabi Elev-8 Compare?

The nabi Jr. and the nabi Elev-8 are both tablets designed for children, but there are some substantial differences between the two. The first difference is the size; the Jr. is a smaller-than-usual 5″ in size whilst the Elev-8 is a larger-than-usual 8″. The screen resolutions are also different; that of the nabi Jr. is only 800×400 pixels in resolution whilst that of the Elev-8 is 1280×800 pixels. Each tablet has a protective silicone case intended to reduce the chance of damage if the tablet is dropped; both cases come in nabi’s signature red.

Both tablets are Android tablets; the Jr. runs 4.4 KitKat whilst the Elev-8 runs the more recent 5.1 Lollipop out of the box. Each tablet also comes with nabi’s Blue Morpho OS overlay, which is a suite of customisations for Android with a variety of child-friendly and parent-approved features.

The Jr. comes with 8 gigabytes (GB) of internal memory whilst the Elev-8 comes with a much more substantial 32 GB. Each tablet also has a memory card slot capable of taking memory cars up to 32 GB in size. Each tablet comes with the essential WiFi, the less common Bluetooth and the, rare in children’s tablets, Near Field Communication. Each tablet also comes with a custom nabi Port, which is used to connect to other devices and functions as an HDMI port as well.

The Elev-8 has two cameras, one front facing and one rear; the front facing camera is 2.0 megapixels (MP) in resolution whilst the rear is 5.0 MP. The nabi Jr. only comes with one camera, which has a resolution of 2.0 MP. This single camera is swivel mounted, allowing it to be pointed to the front or to the rear. Each tablet comes with stereo speakers, an integral microphone and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Both tablets come with the parental controls built-in by nabi. These are also integrated with the Wings Learning System, which provides educational content, and the time controls. The time controls allow parents to monitor what their child is doing on the tablet, see how much time they are spending on individual apps and activities and set time limits for app groups, individual apps and the tablet. Parents can reward children with nabi Coins for completing chores or fulfilling educational goals, which can be spent in nabi’s curated app store on items such as games.

In some ways, as the tablets are made by the same company, the tablets are similar, at least from a software point of view, as both have similar content through the Blue Morpho OS overlay. The technical specifications of the Elev-8 are superior though. The Elev-8 has a bigger, higher-resolution screen – although larger tablets need higher resolution screens – two cameras, one of which is far superior to that on the Jr., and substantially more internal memory, and internal memory is very important. Both tablets have similar communication methods. The nabi Jr. is aimed at a lower age group than the Elev-8, being for the 3-5 year age range. The nabi Jr. is definitely a starter tablet; the nabi Elev-8 is superior in pretty much every way.