Our Review of the LeapPad Platinum

LeapFrog‘s LeapPad Platinum tablet from LeapFrog is the latest model in the LeapPad range of educational tablets. The Platinum is a 7″ tablet designed for children which comes in two colours, green and purple. The screen’s resolution is 1024×600 pixels and is a multi-touch capacitive screen. the tablet uses LeapFrog’s own operating system, rather than the more common Android, and the case has been designed with children in mind to reduce the chance of damage, rather than it being a more standard tablet that has simply had a protective bumper added to it, so it has been built purposefully for children, not just adapted for their use.

The Platinum has 8 gigabytes of memory and a 1Ghz processor. It is powered by a rechargeable battery, which can be recharged using either mains power or connection to a suitable device, using the USB connector port. The tablet has a single speaker and a 3.5mm headphone jack for connecting headphones to the tablet. It also has a cartridge slot which takes LeapFrog cartridges, a stylus, with a tether and holder on the rear of the case. Built into the case are a power button, volume controls, a D-pad, a home button and a charging light. There are two cameras, both 2.0 megapixel (MP), one front facing and one rear, and the tablet comes with WiFi.

The cameras will take both photos and videos and 2.0MP is a fairly standard resolution for a rear-facing camera. The front facing camera has a higher resolution than is commonly seen. The memory of the tablet is also fairly typical, but it lacks a memory card slot. The Platinum also comes with some included content.

Does the LeapPad Platinum have any Educational Uses?

Like the rest of the LeapFrog products, the LeapPad Platinum’s primary purpose is educational, not entertainment. It has a graduated learning system, where the content can be adjusted for different ages and different stages in a child’s learning. The learning is done through the range of LeapFrog content, which aims to make education fun as well as useful. Parents can control how their child learns on the tablet using the parental settings and Learning Path, and the tablet will automatically adjust itself too for some content. Other content will also automatically update, if an internet connection is available.

Are There Any Games for the LeapPad Platinum?

There are games available to download from the LeapFrog App Center, and game cartridges that can be used in the cartridge slot, but the primary use of these games is educational, not the purely entertaining games that might be found on other platforms. These games are designed to help a child learn, but importantly, they are also intended to make said learning fun. Peer to peer play is also available with some content, so children can play against others who also have the tablet.

Can You Use LeapFrog Content that is Already Owned?

If you are upgrading to the Platinum from an earlier tablet, you can reuse content that was purchased for a prior tablet. This includes downloadable content purchased from the LeapFrog App Center, which can be installed on multiple devices that share a common parental account. The Platinum will also take any existing, compatible, cartridges that are already owned, although LeapTV cartridges are not compatible.

Does the LeapPad Platinum have Parental Controls?

With safety on the internet being a prime concern for parents, whether or not the tablet they plan to buy for their children has parental controls is important. The tablet has some of the strongest controls around, which are correspondingly also some of the most restrictive, and children can only view web content, of various different types, that has been approved by LeapFrog’s learning experts. There is no way of viewing content that isn’t on LeapFrog’s approved list. Content is viewed using LeapFrog’s LeapSearch search engine, which gives access to over 1,000 pieces of content, including videos, images, games and web pages. If desired, LeapSearch can be deactivated using the parental settings.

As well as the internet related controls, parents can also control how much time their children spend on the tablet and customise the experience to a child’s age and educational stage.

What Content is Included with the LeapPad Platinum?

Included in the tablet’s price are several pieces of content. These are 10 apps, described as being worth more than $70, 6 imagicards and a mini game. The apps can be downloaded from the LeapFrog App Center, so a WiFi connection is needed for initial downloading. The imagicards are used with specific downloadable games, and are used to interact with them using the tablet’s camera.

Summing Up the LeapPad Platinum

This is first and foremost a children’s educational tablet, and it lacks a parental mode whereby adults can use the tablet online just like a normal tablet. The parental controls allow a parent to set various limits on the tablet’s use, and configure it to a child, but they cannot be altered to allow general internet access. It is certainly one of the safest tablets around, when it comes to the internet, but the lack of flexibility may be a drawback.

The cameras included are standard or above standard, and the memory is also typical, but the lack of a memory card slot limits the amount of content that can be added to it, but 8GB is still quite a bit of storage, and bigger than some other tablets.

The tablet is more advanced and powerful than other LeapFrog tablets; exactly how much more powerful depends on which tablet it is being compared with. It could be used as an upgrade for the LeapPad 2 series of tablets for instance.

This is not a tablet to choose if a general purpose, entertainment tablet is wanted, but if a very child-safe, educational experience is what is desired, the LeapPad Platinum is an ideal option.

Find out more about the LeapPad Platinum.