The nabi DreamTab and the Tagital T7K are both tablets designed for children, so how do they compare? The first difference is with the size; the DreamTab is an 8″ tablet whilst the T7K is a more standard 7″. The next is the screen resolution, as the DreamTab has a resolution of 1920×1200 pixels compared to the 1024×600 pixels of the T7K. Each tablet comes with a protective bumper intended to reduce the likelihood of damage to the tablet if it is dropped. That of the nabi comes in only their signature red whilst that of the T7K comes in several different colours.
Both tablets are Android tablets. The DreamTab runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box whilst the T7K runs the slightly newer 4.4.2 KitKat. The DreamTab also has nabi’s Blue Morpho OS overlay, a variety of child-friendly additions to the basic Android OS. Both tablets can use Google Play and get content from there.
The nabi tablet comes with 16 gigabytes (GB) of internal memory, double the 8 GB of the Tagital. Each also has a memory card slot that can be used to expand the available storage using memory cards up to 32 GB in size. Both tablets have quad core processors and WiFi, but the DreamTab also comes with Bluetooth and the rare Near Field Communication, a high-security, low-speed short range wireless communication method. The Tagital comes with a standard micro USB port but the nabi comes with the custom nabi Connector. Each also has a headphone jack and an integral microphone. The nabi also comes with the nabi Dream Pen, a digital stylus, and has stereo speakers compared to the single speaker of the T7K.
Both tablets have front and rear facing cameras. The cameras on the T7K have a resolution of 0.3 megapixels (MP) for the front facing camera and 2.0 MP for the rear facing. The cameras on the DreamTab are substantially better, with the front facing camera having a resolution of 2.0 Mp and the rear facing a resolution of 5.0 MP.
Both tablets come with parental controls. The controls on the T7K are provided via the Zoodles app whilst those of the DreamTab are through nabi itself. The T7K comes with some educational content and games through Zoodles; the DreamTab comes with a lot of educational content as part of the Wings Learning System. Both allow a parent to control what access a child has to apps and the internet; the time controls on the DreamTab would appear to be superior to and more flexible than those on the Tagital. nabi Coins can also be used to reward children’s behaviour on the DreamTab, allowing them to purchase content such as games through nabi’s curated store and nabi Konnect is a child-safe social media experience.
Technically, the DreamTab is superior in nearly every way. The screen has better resolution (although the tablet is larger), the cameras have greater resolution, the memory – and RAM – are larger than those of the T7K and the parental controls and included software, such as the Dream Pro Studio, are much greater. The biggest disadvantage that the DreamTab has is the custom nabi Connector; this is inconvenient if the cable has a problem, as it will not take a standard micro USB cable. The Connector does function as an HDMI port as well. The nabi DreamTab is greatly superior from a technical viewpoint to the Tagital T7K and comes with more content and better parental controls; it is, however, much more expensive.