While it’s true that many parents are doing their best to reduce screen time as much as possible, there’s something to be said for the Kindle Kids Edition. The best and worst things about the device are its limitations. It’s purpose-built for reading, and that’s about it.
For that reason, the Kindle line makes a lot of sense to get the kid treatment. Kids can’t really play games or get into too much trouble on the E Ink display — not any more than they’d be able to get into at the local library, at least. The Dewey Decimal system is a gateway to all sorts of shenanigans.
From the looks of it, the Kindle Kids Edition is basically a repurposing of the standard Kindle — much as Amazon did with the Echo Dot. It’s got a six-inch, 167 PPI E Ink screen with a front light, coupled with the standard weeks-long battery. The color, drop-friendly case is included in the $200 price. As is one year of FreeTime Unlimited and a two-year warranty. There also are a slew of different kid-friendly features, including activity badges, kid wallpaper and vocabulary-building tools.
A few weeks after introducing a ridiculous number of new Echo devices, the company is revealing a bunch of new kid-focused products in addition to the new Kindle. There’s a new version of the Fire 10 Kids Edition, featuring 12 hours of battery and a USB-C port — the latter of which appears to be a first for these Fire devices.
FreeTime, meanwhile, will also be arriving on Fire TV, first through the Fire TV Stick, followed by Fire TV Edition smart TVs. Echo Show devices are getting access to the app, as well.