Which Tablet is Better, the Sprout Channel Cubby or the Kindle Fire HD6 Kids Edition?

The Sprout Channel Cubby and the Kindle Fire HD6 Kids Edition are both Android tablets designed for children, so how do they compare? The first difference is the size; the Cubby is a 7″ tablet, whist the HD6 is only a 6″ (although it is also available as the HD7, a 7″ tablet). Despite the smaller screen size, the HD6 has better resolution, 1280×800 pixels compared to the Cubby’s 1024×600. Each comes with a protective bumper intended to reduce the chance of damage to the tablet if it is dropped, but that of the HD6 covers more of the tablet than that of the Cubby.

Although both tablets are Android tablets, only the Cubby runs the straight Android operating system, version 4.4 KitKat. The HD6 runs on Amazon’s own variant of the Android operating system. Both have access to the Android content network, and the Cubby comes with Google Play installed; the Amazon tablet relies more heavily on the Amazon Appstore. Each tablet has a quad core processor. The Cubby comes with 16 gigabytes (GB) of internal memory; the HD6 has either 8GB or 16GB depending on which version is purchased. The Cubby has a micro SD card slot which will take memory cards up to 32GB in size. The HD6 lacks a memory card slot, but does allow unlimited content to be uploaded to Amazon Cloud Drive.

The Cubby comes with stereo speakers, whilst the HD6 only has one. Each has a 3.5mm headphone jack as well as a built-in microphone. Each tablet comes with both front facing and rear facing cameras. The rear facing cameras on both tablets have the same resolution, 2.0 megapixel (MP), but the front facing camera on the HD6 has only 0.3MP resolution compared to the 2.0MP resolution of the Cubby’s. Both tablets have both WiFi and Bluetooth; the HD6 has a micro USB port whilst the Cubby has that as well as an HDMI port, the latter allowing it to be connected to suitable devices such as televisions. Each tablet comes with parental controls as standard, with Amazon’s being through a subscription to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited. The HD6 also has what is described as being a 1 year “worry free” guarantee.

The Cubby is a slightly larger tablet, although the screen resolution is lower, and it may have double or the same internal memory as the HD6, depending on which is purchased. The front camera on the Cubby is better, and it also has an HDMI port. The HD6 is a generally more expensive tablet, but it comes with a better guarantee.