I'm looking into finding a tablet for my 9 year old brother as he enjoys games such as Angry Birds, Bad Piggies, and other various Android oriented games; however, I'm also aware that some games will become unsupported on lower firmware versions and as some devices end up losing support in terms of updates to newer versions of Android, I'm having a hard time finding something that'd be the perfect fit for him. As mentioned above, he's nine years old; however, he is high functioning with autism, which will more than likely end up reclassified as a mild case as aspergers as he gets a bit older. Honestly, he's an extremely bright kid and really creative, and I just want to find something that'll allow him to play some of the more popular games for these platforms, and have options to use other types of applications for art-related activities since he's really into doodling and coming up with his own comics which typically feature characters from various video games. Also, I exposed him to retro game consoles as he was growing up so he doesn't necessarily care about the next big thing, so I was wondering if there's any tablet within a price-range of 150 USD or less, but other products may be considered as long as it isn't a huge leap from the "budget." I'm just looking for the best bang for the buck that won't be left in the dust due to software incompatibilities in the near future, and if there's a device that has some type of blue tooth support for usage with say a controller, that would be a great feature for him to have for various games and possibly for emulators of seriously old systems because this kid really enjoys the classics. If there's a problem with the usage of emulators for retro systems, please let me know and I'll be more than happy to remove that bit from my post; however, I'd prefer it if people reading this with the potential to reply would operate under the assumption that the ROMs for retro systems for use with an emulator will be dumped from a physical cartridge. On the topic of a controller of some sort, the reason I ask for this is because my brother enjoys platformers and it seems like it'd be really insufficient and unenjoyable to use the touch display for those types of games. As far as technical specs go, we'd be willing to settle for at least a decent dual core and a gig of RAM, and a microsd slot for the device would be a must for obvious reasons. If there's anymore information I can supply to people who'd be interested in giving advice on this topic, I'd be more than willing to supply whatever information I can. Note: The main reason we're looking into getting him a tablet is because he's intent on always trying to use our phones for games that he really enjoys, and it'd be nice if he had something of his own to play with and do what he wants with it. I'm confident he'll be able to take care of it, but I'm just not sure on which tablet to look into as there's so many to choose from, I just don't want to pick something out and it ends up being completely useful for what he wants to do with it soon after he gets it. Also, I'd appreciate if people who take the stance of kids don't need devices like this would walk away from the topic, as I'm not looking to start a debate on these matters; besides, I think more exposure to technology such as this would be a good learning experience for him and if he's anything like me, he'll be exploring and figuring out stuff that the "normal" consumer wouldn't ever think of doing. The main issue here is that I don't own a tablet and I've never had the desire to have one myself because I prefer gaming on my computer among various other activities involving a computer. I'm not the one shelling out the money for a tablet for him, it's going to happen no matter what, but I've been given the responsibility of finding a product within the budget that'll do what he'd use it for and maybe have a bit of future-proofing. Basically, I'm asking for this community help to help me prevent the purchase of something that'll ultimately end up utterly useless for his uses.
The kindle fire HD is what i would generally consider perfect for this type of situation. The reason being is that it is one of the few tablets that are exceptionally built for it price. Amazon loses money on the hardware so they can make money on the media sales. Most other tablet manufactures don't make money from media sales, so they try to make money on the hardware. It can also be rooted and have other android roms installed if you don't like the fire OS. But i rather like the fire OS for kids as it is very simple and does just about everything other android systems do. My next choice would be an older google nexus or a samsung galaxy tab. EDIT: i see you need a micros slot, so that rules out the kindle fire.
Galaxy Tab 3 7". I'm not an android user but if I were it'd probably be the tablet I'd choose on the account of it being pretty reliable, up to date and not that expensive. Also it being a 7" it's going to be easier to use for small hands whilst being powerful enough to do what you need it to for a couple of years.
Go with an older Nexus 7- they're more power that you'd need for now, allowing it to be futureproof for a bit. Plus, if bought used they can really be a steal: a quick search on a local craigslist brings one up for just $100 (8gb storage, quad core, 2gb ram) As for controllers, I don't personally know any but I'm 100% certain bluetooth controllers exist.
I'm a Nexus 7 tablet user myself. It's a very good system but they don't have a SD card port so you'll need a large storage model (32GB) if you plan on putting a lot of stuff on it. Also, with the Nexus being a Google system it will get the latest version of Android. Mine is a 32gb 2012 MODEL yet runs the latest Kitkat 4.4 version of Android.
If you want future upgrade compatibility, go for a decent brand (as per those mentioned above, really). You might find the budget is a bit restrictive and you're probably going to have to go second hand for that price. If I were getting a tablet and intending to use it for gaming for the forseeable future, I'd be buying a quality brand and probably waiting until I had enough for a decent model. That said, my Galaxy S II manages Nintendo 64 reasonably well. I haven't tried my Mum's generic Android tablet for gaming yet, but it's already not running on the latest Android. As for gaming, use a Wiimote with WiimoteController and add a Classic controller, preferably. Works great.
Another vote for the Nexus 7, the 2013 Model has far better specs and costs around $220, but the 2012 model is also fantastic and will cost around $160.
The Nexus 7 2013 model has been on sale at Staples and Best Buy for as low as $180 for the 16gb model. Not sure if they're current fly running the sale but I've seen a lot of opportunities for it at discount and it is a great tablet.
i own this one and its really worth the price i can't believe it was so cheap http://www.aliexpress.com/item/new-...re-Dual-Camera-Wifi-HDMI-with/1447571982.html i love it
Thanks for all the advice, that 7" galaxy tab 3 looks interesting enough; seriously, I appreciate all the responses. I was up near a Best Buy -shudder- looking at the tablet, and it looked pretty neat from what I could tell, but the "sales dude" didn't know his shit about it, haha.
