Kohls for Christmas: Vivitar Camelio 7” Android Family Tablet #HolidayGiftGuide2013 #TechReview

How much Christmas shopping have you already written down? Do you have certain items you are getting certain people already thought up? If someone on your list asked for a new tablet, or you just want to get them one—and you aren’t sure which to get them.. let me help.

The Vivitar Camelio Family Tablet from Kohls is a 1GB memory, 7’ touch screen with a built in camera (front and rear facing), HD video, speaker slot for headphones, and microphone. It also has a mini sd card slot, so you can add as much storage as you wish.

The Camelio is a unique, Android tablet that allows you to customize and personalize the tablet with your favorite characters! The Camelio Tablet lets you have the option of “personality packs” that have licensed themes like Hot Wheels, Barbie, Monster High, Hello Kitty, and more.

The “personality packs” are sold separately but come with a tablet case, as well as a special code that unlocks branded content such as videos, music, books, wallpapers and widgets designed around the theme pack.

I created a profile for Aidan & one for Adisyn. It comes with a variety of apps already installed and available to each profile. There aren’t many “games” that were downloaded to the tablet but  I immediately connected via Wifi and started downloading more apps from the Google Play store.

It is lightweight yet very durable. It isn’t a tablet that is going to get broken easily. I love that my kids can easily play with it without me worrying about an accidental drop. It has a textured back that makes it easier to grasp. If we HAD gotten one of the character play packs with the rubber case, it would most likely seem almost unbreakable.

This would make the perfect “first tablet” for any age child. I love the fact that it is customizable. Even without the personality pack, each user can decide which apps/games are on their homescreen. As soon as it opens their name, all the games they play are already RIGHT there! Pretty cool.

The Camelio also has a 1.1GHz processor and 1GB of memory for running apps and games, as well as a 4GB flash hard drive that's expandable up to 32GB using SD cards for storage. This makes ANYTHING possible. Pictures, music, games/apps galore!

Most of the tablets made for kids don’t have access to the Google Play Store. There are so many free games and educational apps that make having access awesome. We didn’t have to pay anything extra to get the games/apps we downloaded. It’s an option to buy BUT it makes it unique to kids because most work with THEIR own cartridges/discs that have to be bought separately.

At least as a parent we have the option of searching for free games/ educational apps with this one. I downloaded some cute little preschool games for learning with my daughter. She absolutely LOVES them. We count flowers, learn letters and their sounds, and shapes. It makes it so worth it.

If you are worried about their access to the store, everything is parental controlled. YOU get to say if they do/don’t. If you give them access to the web you can control the websites they visit, which is also cool. There are tons of amazing websites geared to making learning fun with games now, so that makes is a great plus for having for homework!

Aidan really liked the race car/truck games that were available from the Play Store. He would stand over my shoulder saying “yeah, that one Monster Truck game mom.” It really helped having this waiting in the doctors office waiting room forever. I was able to keep them busy while we waited for 3 hours!

Alex came over and the Cut the Rope game pulled him in. Adisyn and I had been playing it and I was showing her how. When Alex came over, she asked him to play it with her and he loved it.

My kids have had fun with the camera. It has both front and rear-facing cameras. The camera doesn’t have a flash, but it makes for great daytime camera or for use inside. My kids ran around taking pictures of everything.

See a picture of our new puppies? The kids just love them! I love that it has everything they need to learn, to play, to be inspired at an affordable price. It comes with certain apps/games and more can be downloaded. It is more convenient and cheaper than buying each “game” that has to be bought for other kid tablets.

You can use this as an on-the-go book reader. I downloaded the Kindle app, which already had access to the books in my Amazon list online. So I could immediately start reading a book from my own chosen list! I have a smartphone, but if I didn’t—Facebook, Gmail, and all the social media apps are available to download for us parents!

Get it:

Vivitar Camelio Family Tablet $134.99

 

 

Jessica Renee