Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022)

Sure, the Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022) is a repurposed Kindle (2022) in all however identify, however the additions show to be each considerate and glorious worth. The added cowl and the two-year assure alone make it way more kid-friendly, whereas there’s loads of free content material from the Youngsters+ library entry. In order for you your children to learn extra – and nicely – it’s near being a no brainer of an funding.

Introduction

The Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022) may sound like a cute and vibrant bespoke e-reader that’s been purpose-built for kids, nevertheless it’s a much more prosaic providing than that.

It’s actually an Amazon Kindle (2022), however with a pre-applied protecting case, a yr’s subscription to Amazon Youngsters+, and a two-year assure.

What it lacks in stand-alone wow issue, the Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022) makes up for in pure sensible worth. When you’ve got a child who’s mad about studying – or one you want was mad about studying – it’s just about the very best £104.99 (on the time of writing) you would spend on them. However is it well worth the £20 premium over the common Kindle?

Design and display

• 6-inch 300PPI show
• Easy button-free format
• Compact plastic design
• Protecting case as commonplace

As I discussed on the outset, the Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022) is an Amazon Kindle (2022). Fairly than ask you to traipse by our 4.5-star evaluate of that effective e-reader, nonetheless, let’s summarise the way it seems to be and feels with the added perspective of somebody with teeny-tiny arms and a complete incapability to take a seat nonetheless.

The largest and greatest function of the Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022) is its show, with a super-sharp 300 pixels-per-inch (PPI) decision that actually makes textual content pop. This function alone is an efficient cause to improve from the 2019 mannequin and its (comparatively) fuzzy 167 PPI display. 

This display remains to be a reasonably compact 6 inches in measurement, like its predecessor. That makes much more sense packaged up on this Youngsters model, the place the arms holding it is going to be on the petite facet. What was simply wieldable by a single grownup hand within the Kindle (2022) stays simple to wield in two right here.

It’s very compact for an e-reader, with a shorter peak than many present telephones. At 157.8mm, it’s not a lot taller than an iPhone 14. Clearly it’s a lot wider at 108.6mm, with a side ratio that’s supposed to imitate a web page out of a paperback. At 256g (together with the duvet), it weighs just a bit greater than a big smartphone, which looks like nothing in any respect unfold over a bigger floor space. 

The super-simple Kindle design makes excellent sense within the arms of a child, with no page-turning buttons to get jammed up by slobber and cookie gunk. All interactions are by that show, which is recessed barely in a manner that additional discourages nicks and scratches. It took me some time to even discover the tiny energy button on the underside edge, proper alongside the USB-C charging port.

Going again to that display for a second, the lighting isn’t the boldest or most even of any Kindle – a transparent signal of budget-induced compromise. The Kindle Paperwhite Youngsters is obtainable for £139.99 if you would like absolutely the peak of display readability in your youngster. However it’s not so unhealthy that you simply’ll be fearing in your youngster’s eyesight after they’re studying in mattress of a night.

The important thing differentiating level between the Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022) and the Kindle (2022), a minimum of externally, is the protecting case that the previous is available in. It’s a reasonably low cost and plasticky folio that’s out there in a few vibrant designs. It’s very efficient at heading off knocks to the corners, whereas the thick padded show cowl will preserve the display suitably protected when not in use. Delicate however sturdy magnets ought to preserve the lid closed even when shaken up in a faculty bag.

One associated design criticism we had for the Kindle (2022) maybe applies doubly so with the Kindle Youngsters (2022) – it has no type of waterproofing in any way. So if little Jenny’s drinks lid comes off in stated faculty bag shake-up, their Kindle is unlikely to outlive the encounter. You’re greatest off investing additional within the Kindle Paperwhite Youngsters if that’s prone to be a difficulty.

Fortunately, that is the place Amazon’s two-year worry-free assure is available in. Just like the earlier mannequin, any unintentional harm inflicted upon the e-reader can be lined by the retailer. If it breaks, you possibly can return it and Amazon will exchange it free of charge.

Efficiency and software program

• Acquainted Kindle expertise
• Amazon Youngsters UI arrange from the off
• Free 1-year Amazon Youngsters+ subscription
• 16GB storage

You get the identical software program expertise on the Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022) as you do on every other Kindle, however with the Amazon Fireplace for Youngsters function set-up from the off. 

By means of this UI you get a streamlined expertise, with solely kid-friendly books pushed to the fore. You may as well choose which of the books in your personal private library you need to share and make accessible to your children. 

There’s a gamified aspect to the Kindle Youngsters UI too, which awards achievements for reaching your every day studying quota, ending a e-book, and the like. There’s additionally a built-in vocabulary builder, which makes a observe of any phrases that the kid has seemed up for later reference. 

And sure, you possibly can simply deactivate Kindle Youngsters within the Settings menu and easily use the Amazon Kindle Youngsters (2022) as a plain previous Kindle. Should you’re a one Kindle type of a household, this may very well be all of the e-reader you’ll ever want.

As a part of the bundle, you additionally get a free one-year subscription to Amazon Youngsters+, which provides you free entry to greater than 1,000 child-friendly e-books. It’s a good choice, however removed from complete, as we identified in our Kindle Youngsters (2019) evaluate. I seen a few comics on there too, and the Kindle’s compact monochrome E-Ink show shouldn’t be nicely suited to such an image-led format.

Some may query the choice of Amazon to position a retailer choice prominently on the second hub display, tantalizingly exhibiting off heavyweight titles like The Books of Earthsea and The Starvation Video games. It’s clearly designed to prod mother and father into hitting that Purchase button when the pleading digital requests begin to come by.

Whereas we’re with regards to Amazon sneaking cash out of you, Amazon Youngsters+ is ready to mechanically renew your subscription after a yr, at which level you’ll have to pay £3.99 per 30 days. On the optimistic facet, simply totting this up over 12 months (it’s about £48) tells you you’re getting worth for cash from the £20 premium you’re being requested to pay over the plain Kindle (2022).

When it comes to basic efficiency, I seen the odd stutter when scrolling by content material and downloading books, however the core expertise of flicking by digital pages is clean sufficient. And that’s what actually issues.

16GB of onboard storage is ample for storing loads of books, each textual content and audio, with the latter doable should you hook up a set of Bluetooth earphones. The swap to USB-C is a welcome one too, because it means children will have the ability to cost their Kindle with their telephone, pill, Change or laptop computer charger – no matter occurs to fall at hand. The shortage of an influence brick within the field provides to the worth of this swap.

Not that charging the Kindle Youngsters (2022) can be such a typical prevalence. This factor lasts for weeks, not days. We’ve beforehand famous how the Kindle (2022) that sits on the core of this bundle will hit 10 days of strong utilization and nonetheless have 60% left within the tank.

Standby time is equally sturdy, so it received’t drain away whereas your youngster goes by one among their fickle non-reading phases.

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