Tablet Comparison: nabi Elev-8 vs. Dragon Touch Y88X Plus Kids

The nabi Elev-8 and the Dragon Touch Y88X Plus Kids are both tablets designed for children so how do the two compare? The nabi tablet has an 8″ touchscreen display with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels whilst the Y88X Plus comes in the more common size of 7″ and with a lower resolution of 1024×600 pixels. Each comes with a protective bumper intended to reduce the likelihood of damage if the tablet is dropped; that of the Dragon Touch is available in a range of colours whilst the nabi only comes in their signature red.

Both tablets are Android tablets and both run 5.1 Lollipop, although the nabi tablet also comes with nabi’s Blue Morpho OS overlay, an addition to the Android system that customised it with over 400 tweaks designed to make the tablet more suitable for children. Each also has access to the Android content network through such as Google Play.

The Elev-8 comes with 32 gigabytes (GB) of internal memory, quadruple the 8 GB of the Y88X Plus. Both come with memory card slots capable of taking microSD cards up to 32 GB in size. The Dragon Touch has a quad core processor whilst the nabi has an octo core. Each comes with WiFi and Bluetooth but the Elev-8 also comes with Near Field Communication. The Y88X Plus has a standard micro USB port for connecting to other devices whilst the Elev-8 comes with nabi’s own custom nabi Connector, which fulfils the same purpose but requires a custom cable.

Both tablets have front and rear facing cameras. Those on the nabi are 2.0 megapixels (MP) and 5.0 MP respectively. Those on the Y88X Plus Kids are more uncertain due to conflicting information from the manufacture, but the front facing camera is probably 2.0 MP. Each comes with speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack and an integral microphone.

Each has parental controls with those on the Elev-8 being provided by nabi themselves and those on the Dragon Touch through the Zoodles app.

The nabi tablet beats the Dragon Touch in almost every way technically. The screen has a higher resolution, the internal memory is much greater and the processor is more powerful. The cameras in the nabi are probably better as well. The biggest problem with the nabi is the nabi Connector; using a non-standard port is a problem if a cable breaks. The slightly greater size of the screen may be either an advantage or a disadvantage depending on preferences. The biggest problem with the Y88X Plus Kids is the customer service is on the whole subpar. The nabi Elev-8 is a more capable tablet with a greater range of options but it is also more expensive.