A Handheld For My Kid

[sebt3]

Hi there,

I need your help and opinion, I'm sure I'll gather the best of the cream here

My son (11) keep bugging us to get an ipad (or at least an ipod touch) for christmas. As a matter of fact we cant buy it but with the rest of the familly that could be done.
He already have a DS, an eee 10", an mp3 player in his room. He don't use them much to not say at all.
But he say he will use it to replace everything. But my guess is that it's just about fame in the schoolyard.

In the other hand, he play our wii regularly and I have to agree with him on one thing : gaming on DS is becoming old...
He would have liked the 3DS, but the release date make that a no-go.
The caanoo price tag could make it a good candidate, but how is the screen ? and no browser is kinda stopping it.
He like my pandora. But he don't use it (but that might be because it's not available ). And the availability make that a no too.

So what do you think ?

 

[Goity]

The Caanoo's probably a bit specialist for your son to actually enjoy. If he wants games, I'd suggest a PSP, depending on his tastes of course.

How much are iPod Touches these days? I don't think they're much more than the other things you're suggesting, and it may well be a good choice, again depending on what he wants to use it for and whether it's just to enhance his his street cred. Of course, he wouldn't be able to replace everything with an Ipad or Ipod Touch; his netbook will be much more functional in every single way. IMO the iPad is a completely pointless piece of hardware that doesn't do anything useful beyond being fashionable.

 

[danielliu88888]

the netbook and mp3 player already replace it.

 

[dnlgreenwood]

When I was 11, I had a GBA SP... and that was good enough for me... by now the GBA is kind of old, and the DS is also becoming old. I'd suggest getting an iPod touch. It has quite a large library of games. I think the touch screen on the iPod touch is better than that of the DS. The iPod touch can be "jailbroken" to run unsigned software, and it is supposed to be easy to do.

I've actually used an iPad before (in a store) and the only think I really like about it is it's nice and big screen and 10-finger multitouch... I don't want one because it lacks a proper keyboard... I can't stand typing on a screen!

I think your best choice would be an iPod touch, but if he's more into emulation and gaming, I think a Caanoo would be better... or you could get a Sega Nomad for the hell of it. I think he'd look cooler with a Nomad than an iPad!

Or you could get him a PSP if he needs a more powerful handheld that also supports media playback.

 

[sebt3]

It has quite a large library of games

Some pointer please ? so far what I found out a very limited list of "good" games But I dont have itune installed so I cant realy check either

@Goity and Xian, thanks for your feed back

 

[hosant]

Buy him one of those chine android tablets.

 

[Bosbeetle]

get him a commodore 64 and learn him to code

 

[dnlgreenwood]

get him a commodore 64 and learn him to code

I LOVE that idea! Make him learn 6502 assembly! It could be usefull in coding NES games in the future... The only problem is that I wouldn't consider the C64 very portable. Maybe get him an Atari Portfolio.

I haven't played the iPod touch enough to give you a definite answer, but I've seen some games in these categories:
Role playing
First-person shooting
Racing
Cart racing
2D platformer
Puzzle
Rythm
Real-time strategy

I guess it has games for pretty much any category, and I've seen some jailbroken iPods with hundreds of games on them. There seems to be an abundance of puzzle games.

 

[Orion4874]

The Caanoo does have a web browser, Rikku2000 ported it. I've never tried it but it's there. If he likes retro games I'd get him that.

 

[Esn]

If I wanted something expensive that wasn't out yet when I was a kid, I would ask for a promise to buy it when it came out. Teaches delayed gratification. (might be too late to teach it, of course, depending on the kid)

By the way... DS gaming: old? How? Aren't new games still coming out?

 

[dnlgreenwood]

If I wanted something expensive that wasn't out yet when I was a kid, I would ask for a promise to buy it when it came out. Teaches delayed gratification. (might be too late to teach it, of course, depending on the kid)

By the way... DS gaming: old? How? Aren't new games still coming out?

Well, with a new handheld Nintendo console coming out it WILL be old... it's just a matter of time before the DS follows in the footsteps of the Gameboy Advance. Maybe another couple of years.

 

[HackModford]

Hi there,

I need your help and opinion, I'm sure I'll gather the best of the cream here

My son (11) keep bugging us to get an ipad (or at least an ipod touch) for christmas. As a matter of fact we cant buy it but with the rest of the familly that could be done.
He already have a DS, an eee 10", an mp3 player in his room. He don't use them much to not say at all.
But he say he will use it to replace everything. But my guess is that it's just about fame in the schoolyard.

In the other hand, he play our wii regularly and I have to agree with him on one thing : gaming on DS is becoming old...
He would have liked the 3DS, but the release date make that a no-go.
The caanoo price tag could make it a good candidate, but how is the screen ? and no browser is kinda stopping it.
He like my pandora. But he don't use it (but that might be because it's not available ). And the availability make that a no too.

So what do you think ?

Id go with the ipad or ipod touch. For sure the touch can replace a Ds and mp3 player. If your kid basically users the laptop for the web than the ipad can take a stab at that. Tell him to sell his mp3 player... His ds... And maybe the laptop and put the money towards a ipod touch. I know I absolutely love mine and it did quite literally replace those kind of devices.

 

[Unfathomable Depths]

This looks nice. In fact, I want one.

http://www.techradar.com/news/mobile-computing/portable-computing/in-pictures-elonex-etouch-android-tablet-714456

 

[sebt3]

Thanks everyone for your input.

I'll think about that and talk to wife and so on.

This community rock

 

[dnlgreenwood]

Good luck!

But I fail to see what others find so attractive about tablet PCs... apart from the non-clam-shell design. If a tablet had a real keyboard I guess I could buy it. Touch screens are so tedious, especially for typing.

 

[sebt3]

Good luck!

But I fail to see what others find so attractive about tablet PCs... apart from the non-clam-shell design. If a tablet had a real keyboard I guess I could buy it. Touch screens are so tedious, especially for typing.

Most people are consumer. Tablet are to consume media, that's all. Even If Steeve say his tablet can do anything, it is just about consuming media. Then the virtual keyboard is only used to type in url. A task the virtual keyboard is just good enough to do...