The nabi DreamTab and the Fire 7 Kids Edition are both tablets designed for children, so how do they compare? There is also the Fire 8 Kids Edition, which is very similar to the Fire 7; only the areas where the Fire 8 differs from the Fire 7 will be covered. The DreamTab is an 8″ tablet whilst the Fire 7 is only 7″ (the Fire 8 is also an 8″ tablet). The DreamTab has a screen resolution of 1920×1200 pixels whilst the Fire 7 only has a resolution of 1024×600 pixels (the Fire 8’s resolution in 1280×800). Each tablet comes with a protective silicone bumper intended to reduce the chance of damage if the tablet is dropped. The case on the DreamTab only comes in nabi’s signature red whilst that of the Fire comes in several colours.
Each tablet is an Android table. The DreamTab runs Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, with a host of child friendly features added via nabi’s Blue Morpho OS overlay, whilst the Fire 7 instead runs on Amazon’s own offshoot of the Android OS, Fire OS. The DreamTab has access to Google Play, whilst the Amazon tablet does not, without extensive tweaking, instead using the Amazon Appstore for content (the Amazon Appstore can also be installed on the DreamTab).
The DreamTab comes with 16 gigabytes (GB) of internal memory, as does the Fire 7 (the Fire 8 comes with double this, with 32 GB). Each has a memory card slot that can be used to expand the available storage. That of the DreamTab will take memory cards up to 32 GB in size whilst that of the Fire 7 will take cards up to 256 GB. Both tablets have quad core processors, WiFi and Bluetooth but the DreamTab also has Near Field Communication. The Fire 7 has a standard micro USB port whilst the DreamTab comes with the custom nabi Connector.
Both tablets have front and rear facing cameras. The DreamTab’s cameras are a front facing 2.0 megapixel (MP) and a rear facing 5.0 MP whilst the Fire 7 only has a 0.3 MP front facing camera and a 2.0 MP rear facing one. Both have 3.5 mm headphone jacks and the DreamTab has stereo speakers compared to the single speaker of the Fire 7 (the fire 8 has stereo speakers).
Each tablet comes with parental controls provided by the relevant company. The DreamTab’s parental controls come with a lot of educational content through the Wings Learning System and allow a parent to control how much time children spend on apps and app groups. nabi Coins can also be used as a reward for doing chores and fulfilling educational goals, and these can be used to buy content such as games through nabi’s curated app store. The Fire 7 comes with a year’s subscription to Amazon FreeTime Unlimited, which comes with over 13,000 games, apps, TV shows, educational apps, ebooks and games, and the parental controls function through this. Both sets of parental controls allow a parent to control what their child has access to.
The Fire 7 also comes with Amazon’s two year “worry-free” guarantee in which Amazon state they will replace or repair a damaged or faulty tablet, even stating that this includes accidental damage. The DreamTab comes with a creative suite of apps known as Dream Pro Studio, and the Dream Pen, a digital stylus intended to interact with these. It also comes with a safe social media experience for children, nabi Konnect, which allows parents to keep track of what their child is doing.
The DreamTab is superior technically in both respects to the Fire 7, with only the memory card storage being poorer, and in most respects to the Fire 8, only the internal memory and memory card being poorer. It has better screen resolution and cameras that are far superior. The DreamTab does have the custom nabi Connector port, rather than the more common and useful micro USB port, which may be a problem. Amazon’s guarantee – which can be very important for a child’s tablet – is superior. The nabi DreamTab generally looks technically better but the Fire 7 Kids and the Fire 8 Kids have a better guarantee.