Parents looking for a kid-friendly tablet that will stay connected everywhere have a new option. Verizon has announced the Gizmotab ($79 on a 2-year contract; $250 off contract), an 8-inch Android slate with LTE connectivity.
Like most tot-friendly devices, it comes with a lot of child-friendly apps and a bumper case that protects it against drops. But unlike Amazon's slates, this one has 4G inside, which means junior can never complain about not being able to stream video or download games on the go.
The GizmoTab runs Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, but presents its plethora of educational apps in a unique home screen interface with a series of islands that reminds me of the world maps in old-school video games. In order to get the most out of this tablet, though, you'll need to use it with an active Verizon data plan, as you won't get full access to those 300 of its apps without that account.
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The GizmoTab's cellular connectivity is the major reason how it stands out from the rest of the child-friendly tablets, as all other models are Wi-Fi only. Aside from that, you can find most of the GizmoTab's other features (parental controls, kid-friendly apps, protective bumper) on most other tablets made for younger users, such as our favorite, the $99 (off-contract) Amazon Fire Kids Edition.
In order to make sure it chose the best apps for kids, Verizon partnered with Fingerprint, a company that specializes in children's software. This way, the tablet comes out of the box featuring apps that are both educational and entertaining, so parents don't spend time in online app stores trying to figure out what's appropriate for their child.
The other major reason that the GizmoTab may appeal to your child is its 1920 x 1200-pixel display, which is sharper than the panels in the Fire Kids Edition and the LeapFrog Epic (1024 x 600).
Verizon says the tablet's Snapdragon 617 Octa Core processor and 3GB of RAM should make it fast enough for parents to use once the kids have gone to bed, but we'll need to put it through the rigors of a Laptop Mag review to verify this claim. The tablet also packs a 5,100 mAh battery, and while Verizon says that should last for "hours," we'll have to test it to find out how many it will last.
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