Bangalore: When Amazon launched the latest avatar of its e-book reader, the Kindle Paperwhite in India, it addressed pretty much the same section of consumers that it targets world-wide -- upwardly aspiring young adults -- or mature buyers who wanted to read on-the-go and no longer cared to lug half a dozen doggy-eared paperbacks, while on working tours or on holiday.
Then a funny thing happened on the way to gadget shop: Parents found in the Kindle Paperwhite just the sort of tool that would be rated "cool" by their kids -- and hopefully kindle (can't avoid the pun!) in them a renewed interest in the lost (and virtually extinct) art of reading.
Youngsters pathologically averse to doing anything except the bare minimum of required reading, were happy to be seen doing it on an electronic screen. Quick to leverage this trend, Amazon deftly responded this vacation season by highlighting some kid-friendly features that they had built into the Kindle:
- A vocabulary builder: words looked up get automatically added to the child's personalized dictionary
- FreeTime lets parents created a reading list and award their children when they have done the reading
- Panel view lets children read comics or graphic stories, panel by panel
- Perhaps most important of all, parents to limit children's access to recommended and safe resources in the Kindle Store or indeed on the Web.
- The Kindle e-book store offers holds a collection of over 250,000 books priced Rs 99 or less and over 1 million priced Rs 299 or less. Canny parents can also help locate a lot of free books as well -- so much of classic children's literature is now in the public domain.
The nice thing about e-books that you will never run out of supply -- even if your child is a voracious reader! Ability to seamlessly switch from text to pictures to animation to video... to read a well loved children's classic, then see the movie version, is technology's gift to the young of today -- that parents can only envy. The WiFi version of the Kindle Paperwhite costs Rs 10,999, while the Wifi+3G version which provides free 3G connection to the Web in India, for the life of the device costs additional Rs 3,000.
Games console for children
The Android operating systems are not just for phones and tablets: Innovative developers have used the platform to create affordable gaming platforms, possibly aimed at those who may not be able to afford a Sony PSP or a Nintendo.
Mitashi has launched a gaming console specially tailored for children in India. The GameIn ThunderBolt series comes in three versions: ThunderBolt (Rs 5990), ThunderBolt2 (Rs 7,990) and ThunderBolt Plus (Rs 7,990). They vary in the size of the screen -- 4.3, 5 and 7 inches respectively -- and the on board memory (4 GB to 8GB) and camera (single or dual).
What is common is that all three models come preloaded with games from Electronics Arts and Disney which would cost Rs1000 or more if bought separately.
The best selection is on ThunderBolt 2, where the preloaded games (full-function versions) include 'Need for Speed: Shift', 'Hit Out Heroes', 'Toy Story: Smash It', 'The Game of Life' and 'Cricket T20 Fever'. This console is also better powered than the other two and runs a later (Jellybean) version of Android.
The console also allows for direct download from the Google Store where you can find over 900,000 games of both the educative and entertainment type
So there you have it: whether it is reading or gaming that your children prefer, there's something out there that will keep them out of mischief -- and who knows they'll learn a thing or two!
(IndiaTechOnline)
