As if its line of Galaxy tablets wasn’t diverse enough, Samsung has announced that a kid-friendly version of its Galaxy Tab 3 slate will be available in the US starting Nov. 10. Announced earlier this year, the $229 Galaxy Tab 3 Kids can be pre-ordered from Nov. 1 and features a Kids mode that makes it easy for families to share the 7-inch tablet.
A child-friendly version of the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3, the 7.4 x 4.3 x 0.4-inch Tab 3 Kids packs a 1.2-GHz dual-core Marvell CPU with 1GB RAM and 8GB storage, same as the processor on the regular Galaxy Tab 3. Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Tab 3 Kids will come pre-loaded with kid-friendly apps such as Fruit Ninja, Disney’s “Toy Story: Smash It!” and “Kids Planet Discovery.” The tablet also offers parental controls such as an Applications Manager that lets parents review the apps their kids can use and when they can use the device.
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The Galaxy Tab 3 Kids also comes with a $10 credit toward content bought in Google Play, 12 months of free Boingo Mobile Wi-Fi access, three months of Hulu Plus membership for new users and two years of 50GB DropBox storage.
The kid-friendly tablet market is saturated with brands like VTech, Fuhu Nabi and LeapFrog fighting for dominance, and Samsung’s relatively late entry seems like an underwhelming attempt. We’ll have to wait for our review of the tablet to see if it stands up against the competition. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 Kids will be available via Amazon, Best Buy, Office Depot and Toys’R'Us, and a hard case bundle will be offered starting at $249.