Amazon has been offering Kids Edition versions of its Fire tablets and Echo Dot smart speakers for a while… but now the company is expanding its kid-friendly hardware to include the category that marked Amazon’s entry into the hardware space. There’s now an Amazon Kindle Kids Edition eReader.
Like other Kids Edition devices, it’s basically the same hardware you’d get if you bought a non-kids version. But for a little more money you get a bunch of additional features designed to make the new Kindle both kid and parent-friendly.
The new Kindle Kids Edition is up for pre-order for $110 and ships October 30th.
In other words, it costs about $20 more than an entry-level Kindle. But the price includes:
- Protective cover
- 1-year Amazon FreeTime Unlimited subscription
- 2-year worry-free guarantee
- Ad-free experience
- Kid-specific software
That software includes achievement badges for hitting reading goals, a vocabulary builder that makes flash cards out of words looked up in dictionaries, and kid-specific lock screen wallpapers.
Given that Amazon charges an extra $20 if you just want to buy a standard Kindle without “special offers” (ads), the Kids Edition model seems like a pretty good deal.
Like the non-kids version of the Kindle, this model features a 6 inch E Ink display with 167 pixels per inch and a front-light for reading in dark settings.
Would be great if this can be added onto an already-purchased Kindle, even at a similar price to the ad-free ranso– er, sub. My mom and sister bought one for my daughter two months ago and I was appalled to see that the management of the device was basically to make it mine and make her a login to change into. Read that again — she has access to my account and must log in to have access to only her content that I’ve approved.
The extra guarantee is a good step but if they really wanted to make it kids-worthy they’d use a mobius screen
But the esta software could be enough to entice people who use ereaders as a way to read comfortably in a foreign language.
What’s esta? I Googled it. Still no clue.
Likely “Extra,” in particular the flash card builder tied into dictionary queries.