The Kurio 7S by Kurio is a 7″ Android tablet designed with kids in mind and intended to give a child-friendly experience of the internet. The 7S is the middle of the range model in Kurio’s S Series of kid-friendly tablets, the other two being the smaller, 4″ Kurio 4S and the larger, 10″, Kurio 10S. The tablet itself is an upgraded version of the previous 7″ tablet, the Kurio 7, with more features. The Kurio 7S runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and has the abilities of a full Android tablet, but how it works for a user can be adjusted using the parental area.
the Kurio 7S has a 7″ 1024×600 pixel resolution capacitive reinforced touchscreen with multi-point touch, 8GB of internal memory which can be expanded using the micro SD card port to 40GB, two front facing stereo speakers, a headphone jack and a built-in microphone. The headphone jack also comes with a mic pin which allows headsets with integral microphones to be used. It has two cameras; a front facing 0.3 megapixel camera and a rear facing 2.1 megapixel camera. It comes with built-in WiFi and there is a micro USB connector which is used to charge the Kurio 7S, but it can also be used to attach it to other devices, such as a computer (both PC and Mac are supported), or plug in external hardware, such as external storage. A micro HDMI port allow the 7S to be connected to a suitable television, so that videos recorded on the tablet can be viewed on the television. The silicone bumper helps protect the tablet from drops and the casing itself is reinforced for increased protection.
The tablet comes with over 60 pre-loaded apps, including ebooks, games and educational. There is an ebook reader, supporting ePub and PDF formats, and it will play music and videos. It has multiple language support and a rechargeable battery.
Is it Possible to Use Skype on the 7S?
Given how easy it is to use Skype to communicate cheaply with far-flung relatives and friends, having Skype support is definitely useful. The Kurio 7S does come with Skype support built-in, and the speakers, microphone and front facing camera will also work for this.
Can Your Read Email on the 7S?
The tablet is compatible with most of the popular online email clients, so if your child has an email address, they will be able to read and send emails from the 7S.
Will the Kurio 7S Support Streaming Films and Television Programmes?
Streaming television and films are becoming an increasingly important way in how content is watched. The Kurio 7S is YouTube and Netflix compatible, although for the latter it will require the Netflix app, which can be downloaded from the Amazon Appstore, after that appstore is installed itself.
The 7S also has the Android Flash player, so it should currently work with Hulu too, as well as any other video sites that use that player.
Does the Kurio 7S Have Parental Controls?
The 7S does have extensive parental controls in the Parental Area. The parent can log in with their account, and use this area to adjust the settings. It is possible to adjust each profile individually – the tablet can have up to eight, each of which can have separate files, apps, surfing settings and more – as well as adding or removing apps from an account. Limits can be set for the amount of time that can be spent on the tablet as well.
With regards to safe surfing, currently, over 450 million websites have been both indexed and categorised as to whether or not they are appropriate and these update daily, with inappropriate content automatically blocked. This service is provided by CronLab, a company which provides a web content filtering service. You can either use a predefined profile for your child’s age, or customise it to create a more individual experience using your own “safe” and “block” lists.
The Kurio Store, which is a curated app store with a limited number of apps, also has no means for a child’s account to spend money. The child first has to be given piggy tokens from the parental account, so there is no chance of them spending money in that store.
Will the Kurio 7S Play Games?
The 7S comes with a collection of pre-loaded games, including big names such as Angry Birds Space™. All these games are the ad free premium versions, so there is no chance of inappropriate ads in them. More games can be downloaded from the app stores, such as the Kurio Store or other third party app stores once they are installed.
Are There Many Apps Available?
There is a limited range of curated apps available from the Kurio Store. For a wider range of apps, uncurated stores such as the Amazon Appstore can be installed, which have many more apps, although these have not been individually chosen and therefore may not be as suitable for children. Inappropriate apps can be deleted from a child’s account from the Parental Area though.
Does the Kurio 7S have any Educational Uses?
Of the pre-loaded apps, some are educational in nature, including ebooks, colouring apps and over 30 apps that form a complete learning system from American educational site MrNussbaum. There are also a range of other apps, as well as internet sites, that can also be used for educational purposes. Educational apps and sites aimed at children are usually entertaining as well, making learning fun for the child, rather than boring.
Summing up the Kurio 7S
The Kurio 7S’s primary strength is the parental controls and the ability to create different profiles for different children. The highly configurable and controllable profiles make it possible to allow children of different ages access to different levels of online content. There is no need to install a third party parental control app; the inbuilt software should be easily sufficient, and it allows access to a wide range of filtered web content.
This is in other respects a full Android tablet that, using parental access, will work on all the internet, meaning that a parent can use it as well with no restrictions, yet not worry about what their child might be seeing.
The tablet is suitable for a wide range of ages, with a recommended starting age of 4, with the ability for the tablet to change as the child gets older. It is also comparatively inexpensive, which is an important consideration when a child has access to a potentially fragile device, even with the protective silicone bumper and reinforced case.
Find out more about the Kurio 7S.