Archos Unveils a $130 Ice Cream Sandwich Tablet for Kids
The Archos Child Pad serves up an affordable, child-safe tablet with a locked-down app store and filtered browser—all running on Google's latest mobile OS.
On Thursday, Archos announced a new tablet focused on providing a safe tablet experience for children. Dubbed the Child Pad, this new compact and lightweight tablet will have fairly uninspiring specs, but will run Google's latest mobile OS, Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" out of the box.
The 7-inch Child Pad will be the first, kid-centric tablet from Archos and will be powered by a 1-GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. However, there was no word from Archos on actual processor type, internal storage capacity, or screen resolution.
Though the Child Pad will run ICS, temper expectations here, as Archos has made some heavy modifications to the stock UI to deliver a child-safe tablet environment. Aside from the kid-friendly colorized icons, direct links to games and activities, and pre-loaded apps, the Child Pad will also lock down the Web browser using a "Mobile Parental Filter" powered by Editions Profil. Additionally, don't expect to see the Android Market here, as Archos will load the Child Pad with a Kids App Store that filters content down to 14 child-safe categories with only 10,000 apps from which to choose.
Judging from the press photos, the Child Pad will resemble the from Fuhu, with a similar white, plastic build and modest internal components. The Nabi provided an interesting alternative to giving your children full reign over a pricier tablet like an , offering Fuhu-curated content and limited access to most of the tablet's features. Fuhu released the Nabi with a $199 price tag at Toys R Us. Another kid-friendly option to consider is the , though that tablet carries a rather high $389 price tag.
The Child Pad will be available on retail shelves by the end of March, with a suggested price of $129.
For more on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, see our , and the slideshow below.