"Best" small tablet for parental controls (and MB)?

[Starlionblue 80]

This is somewhat peripheral to MB itself, but bear with me.

 

Since my old iPad's parental controls are a non-granular joke, I'd like to buy my kids a small tablet. For MB itself, parental controls are not a problem since they just have a dedicated user.

 

I was planning on buying a Kindle Fire HDX because it has excellent parental controls through Kindle Freetime. I can set access times, number of hours per day, even "thou must read a book for a bit before playing games".

 

Problem: It seems many Android apps have issues with Kindle OS, including sometimes MB. That would be a dealbreaker

 

Questions: I've been looking at various Android apps for parental control, for example Funamo. Are these apps just as good as the Fire OS built in controls? Any suggestions on other parental control apps?

 

I am starting to lean towards just buying a Nexus or Galaxy Tab. That way I will be in "mainstream Android" land. However I don't have a lot of experience with Android so I need to know if I can still safely give the tablet to my kids and control what they do in a granular fashion.

 

Any comments, opinions and insights greatly appreciated.

[speechles 1917]

There is always netnanny @ https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.contentwatch.ghoti.cp.browser&hl=en

 

As for tablets, I bought my daughter an nexus 7 2013 w/32gb and this case ( http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FYZPNE4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ). Most childs tablets die from drops and shattered screens. This case is like a tank for it's price. The nexus 7 2013 supports slimport HDMI out and supports controllers. This means it doubles as an android TV as well as emulators, its processor is fast enough, so it doubles as a portable arcade with so much potential once rooted. Being a nexus it will get updates much faster and its usefulness won't fade as fast as those others tablets do.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

Edited July 1, 2014 by speechles

[Starlionblue 80]

Thx. Good info.

 

What if I don't root it? What will I "miss"?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[speechles 1917]

Thx. Good info.

 

What if I don't root it? What will I "miss"?

Ps3 controller support .. Sixaxis app doesn't work

USB storage devices via usb-OTG .. Stickmount app doesn't work

 

Two big ones IMO.

 

 

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[Starlionblue 80]

Thx.

 

Well, it bears thinking about. But that stuff is not so important if I give it to my kids.

 

For me, that would be another story.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[speechles 1917]

The main issue with giving your child a tablet, is trust. If you trust your child enough then their own clumsiness or curiosity are the only things you have to worry about. Using a rugged tank style case solves the clumsiness issue, and net nanny should for the most part solve the curiousity. If your child is intent to see pornography or other graphic things of a nature you would they rather not, then blocking it on the tablet doesn't prevent them from using another childs "open" tablet to pursue their delights which is usually how most children see these things. From some other childs tablet or cellphone at school.

 

It is a fine line when you treat your child like a criminal before they have done anything wrong. I check my daughters battery settings and data usage tabs within the settings on her tablet. On android these two tabs tell you verbose information of which application has consumed how much battery and data. It shows it to you in a pie graph and a list from top to bottom. This is all I need to do to tell where she goes and with what app she spends the majority of her time. Netnanny prevents your child from access the settings menu which could allow them to force close the monitoring app. If you are super paranoid, or just nosy, you can even check android's event logs directly and see which websites were pulled up within browsers and such, what apps did what and so forth. Android is quite easy to develop for (compared to the other choices), and makes monitoring very low level functions quite easy and effective for novices.

 

Not sure exactly how old your child is, the younger the child sure, the more you have to insulate from the real world as it's quite loud and in your face with alot of banner ads and such. I wouldnt give a tablet with internet capability to a child under 11 personally.

Edited July 1, 2014 by speechles

[Starlionblue 80]

Thx. Good advice.

 

I do also check stuff "in person". Looking over shoulder and such. As you say you can't trust the settings to be foolproof.

 

 

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[CBers 6766]

I wouldn't worry too much about rooting the tablet if it's for your kids.

 

Instead of Stick mount, you can use Nexus Media Importer on a non-rooted device.

 

I'm sure a PS3 controller works as well on a non-rooted device, just not the six-axis support.

 

I have the Nexus 7 2012, Nexus 10 and a Nexus 5 (also had the Nexus 4) and my wife has a Nexus 5 as well, but we bought our 8 year old daughter a Tesco HUDL at Christmas and it's a good little device.

 

Nowhere near as good as the Nexus 7, but for the price, its very good.

 

She quite happily plays Minecraft etc. on it.

 

If you want a tablet and games console in one have a look at the Archos Gamepad 2.

 

.

Edited July 1, 2014 by CBers

[Starlionblue 80]

What about Asus Nexus vs. Google Nexus?`Is the Google branded one better then?

[CBers 6766]

What about Asus Nexus vs. Google Nexus?`Is the Google branded one better then?

No difference, other than manufacturers.

 

Google manage the build all the way through.

 

The Nexus 10 is made by Samsung and the Nexus 4/5 by LG.

[speechles 1917]

I wouldn't worry too much about rooting the tablet if it's for your kids.

 

Instead of Stick mount, you can use Nexus Media Importer on a non-rooted device.

 

I'm sure a PS3 controller works as well on a non-rooted device, just not the six-axis support.

 

I have the Nexus 7 2012, Nexus 10 and a Nexus 5 (also had the Nexus 4) and my wife has a Nexus 5 as well, but we bought our 8 year old daughter a Tesco HUDL at Christmas and it's a good little device.

 

Nowhere near as good as the Nexus 7, but for the price, its very good.

 

She quite happily plays Minecraft etc. on it.

 

If you want a tablet and games console in one have a look at the Archos Gamepad 2.

 

.

Stickmount

• Free
• Needs root
• Transparent to OS, mounts in a directory on the drive

Nexus Media Import

• Does not need root
• Functions as an application and uses Intents
• Costs $3.99

Clearly transparency to the OS is preferred.

 

Also, ps3 controllers require a rooted machine to be useful. Ps3 controllers use a custom bluetooth protocol. There can be 4 enabled at once. Did you mean leave the usb-cable hooked up to the controller over usb-otg as if it were a mouse. Yeah, this doesn't require root. There is also a way to force it to work for a single controller. Multiple controllers will never work without root bro. Also, the archos is a handheld, it isn't a console. It does not offer wireless controllers or hdmi out, consoles do. The 2013 nexus 7 is game console as I said.

 

@@Starlionblue

I have an Asus Transformer TF300T, Nook Color, Nook Tablet, 2012 Nexus 7, 2013 Nexus 7 (all rooted!). Don't sacrifice a few dollars for a sub-par android experience (unless you hate your kids.. muahaha ). Google contracts its manufacturers to create Nexus devices. It's manufacturers bid on who can make the best experience for the most rock bottom prices. Asus won the contract for both the 2012 and 2013 Nexus 7's. The 2012 took cost-cutting a bit far, certain features are limited because it is a tegra-3 based device. The 2013 nexus 7 favors snapdragon/adreno along with twice the ram. The two devices are world apart.

 

Last minute addition: rooting isn't magical. It is a simple process to add a "superuser" process and a "busybox" process to give the user admin rights. Thats all it is. It doesn't void your warranty _until_ you change firmware or otherwise tamper with the stock partitions in place. I've never bricked any of my devices rooting them. I've changed firmware on the 2012 and 2013 nexus 7's so many times I've lost count. But I'm back to rooted stock 4.4.4 on both now. Mainly because I wanted to try Art vs Dalvik and there is a speed difference. Asphalt8 on art > Ashphalt8 on dalvik .. It's just so much smooother.

Edited July 1, 2014 by speechles

[CBers 6766]

@@speechles - calm down

 

All of my devices are rooted!

 

I've used Nexus Media Importer a few times rather than Stick mount, purely cos it's what friends/family use as their devices aren't rooted. It works OK for me when I've used it. Mostly I use on-board storage (32Gb Nexus 5 & 10) or cloud storage.

 

I've also used a wired PS3 controller on a non-rooted Nexus 7 in the past.

 

I wouldn't bother rooting a device destined for a child - it's not necessary.

 

I would agree about the Nexus 7 2013 though, if you can afford it, but kids don't need speedy devices, just something to play games on, so even a Samsung Tab 2 7" may suffice.

 

 

.

Edited July 1, 2014 by CBers

[Redshirt 1487]

I've got both the Kindle Fire HDX and 2013 Nexus 7. I think they are both great devices. Although with the Fire I feel like I'm always being advertised too. Amazon wants to make sure your always aware of Amazon. That's the only reason my Nexus 7 wins out for my day-to-day usage.

[meatrack 5]

As far as I'm aware, nothing comes close to FreeTime. For the record, MB works perfectly fine on my Kindle.

 

I have a regular android tablet and a Kindle HDX and I've found most, if not all, of the apps that I regularly use from the Play store are now in the Amazon store.

[Koleckai Silvestri 1150]

Never bought anything specifically for parental controls. However they didn't get a phone until they were in High School and they didn't get a Smart Phone until later than that. For tablet use, they could use my iPad by asking and when I thought it was enough, I told them. They had to share a computer for homework until they got into High School then they each got a computer of their own. They replaced those with their own money when they entered College and University.

 

For little kids, there are devices specifically made for them these days. Of those, the Nabi is probably the best one on the market.

[Starlionblue 80]

As far as I'm aware, nothing comes close to FreeTime. For the record, MB works perfectly fine on my Kindle.

 

I have a regular android tablet and a Kindle HDX and I've found most, if not all, of the apps that I regularly use from the Play store are now in the Amazon store.

 

Thx for this. Question: In FreeTime can I give, for example, one hour a day in a specific app, for example MB, to the user? Or is the functionality restricted to "FreeTime Apps"?

[Koleckai Silvestri 1150]

Thx for this. Question: In FreeTime can I give, for example, one hour a day in a specific app, for example MB, to the user? Or is the functionality restricted to "FreeTime Apps"?

 

You can give the child access to any app you want. Time limits are controlled by app categories which are Reading Books, Watching Videos and Playing apps or a total limit per day. Media Browser would probably come in the App category, not the Video category. You can set goals for each day like they have to read 30 minutes from educational books on Freetime or watch 30 minutes of videos on Freetime. You can block other categories until their goals are met as well. You can also control when they can use the Kindle Fire HDX, the default is between 8 am and 8 pm but you could narrow that.

 

If you want access to the Freetime content on Amazon's system it is $2.99 for per child or $6.99 for the family. With the first month free.

 

Hope this helps.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Wayne Luke

[Starlionblue 80]

You can give the child access to any app you want. Time limits are controlled by app categories which are Reading Books, Watching Videos and Playing apps or a total limit per day. Media Browser would probably come in the App category, not the Video category. You can set goals for each day like they have to read 30 minutes from educational books on Freetime or watch 30 minutes of videos on Freetime. You can block other categories until their goals are met as well. You can also control when they can use the Kindle Fire HDX, the default is between 8 am and 8 pm but you could narrow that.

 

If you want access to the Freetime content on Amazon's system it is $2.99 for per child or $6.99 for the family. With the first month free.

 

Hope this helps.

 

That helps a lot thanks. Sounds like a great system.

 

How about a "generic" Android tablet and parental controls? There are apps such as Funamo that say they do all the FreeTime stuff. Are they as good?

[Koleckai Silvestri 1150]

I haven't worked with them. My youngest is 18 now. I only investigated FreeTime on my Kindle Fire HDX because I own one today. Tools are more in depth than on the iPad. I don't have any other Android tablets.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Wayne Luke

[w84no1 27]

My kids have Nook HD+ tablets, I removed the NookOS and installed stock android on them and use Applock to only allow the apps I approve.  I limit their time in person, no need for an app.  It has a master lock so you can unlock the device while you install apps and run updates.  The Nook HD+ runs MB file, just waiting for the local sync so I can load movies for the road (My home internet is crap).

[Starlionblue 80]

Circling back to this topic now that my kids got their tablets (Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro).

 

I gave Funamo a shot and must say that I'm very satisfied. Some of the interface could be a bit better but in general it is easy to set up and use.

• You can configure it from the tablet or (much better) from a web interface. You can make changes on the web interface and then push them to the tablet.
• Any new app that is installed is automatically "locked down".
• Time limits can be set. That way we don't wake up at eight on a Saturday morning to discover that the kids have been on their tablets for three hours. My daughter woke me this morning and said "it doesn't work". I looked at the time and told her to try again in 14 minutes...