Fuhu doesn’t cut corners with new top-end tablet for kids
If you’re going to buy a kid a tablet, the cheapest one will do, right?
Not so, according to Fuhu Chief Executive Jim Mitchell, whose technology company recently launched the Nabi Elev-8 tablet for $169 — more than three times the price of Amazon’s $50 Fire tablet.
Running on the Android 5.1 Lollipop operating system with a Snapdragon 64-bit Octa-core Processor and 32 gigabytes of memory, the Elev-8 may seem overpowered for kids, but, according to Mitchell, it’s exactly where tablets need to be to satisfy the notoriously finicky market.
“Lately across the market, there’s been this race to the bottom in terms of pricing,” Mitchell said on a call with the Los Angeles Times. “It’s kind of alarming and worrisome in a way because a lot of people getting hurt the most are the kids and parents that are believing this is a cheaper device, so why don’t I go ahead and get one, believing [these devices are a toy].
“These low-cost tablets are not toys. They are inferior in tech.”
Mitchell criticized other low-cost tablets for often lacking the necessary parental controls while also not being robust enough to handle the way children typically use tablets.
“Kids expect much more of their device because they’ve seen their parents’ devices — top-end devices — so they want that quick response time,” Mitchell said.
The Elev-8 also comes with a free six-month subscription to Nabi Pass, which gives users access to a frequently updated list of kid-friendly movies, TV shows, games, and the educational Wings Learning System.
Twitter: @traceylien
