Best Teen Tablet

Personally I recommend a 7 inch tablet over it's larger 10 inch cousin

Choosing a tablet for your teen has never been so tempting, nor has there ever been so much choice. Count on your teen wanting to use their tablet at school as well as at home, for searching the internet (Wikipedia), socializing (twitter, Facebook etc) and more.

The good news is that they'll be able to do all of that on any tablet you choose.

Shown here: my Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1

In fact, though I'll share some exceptions below, most apps can be used on any android tablet as well as on an iPad.

When it comes to your best buy tablet, I have only one thing to say: if you're in the US, the best tablet for your teen is undoubtedly the Kindle Fire. It gives the best value for money. It's basically an android tablet, so most android apps can be installed on it. However, it does have some limitations and I'll share those below.

If you do have money on your hands, and aren't looking to draw with pixel precision, the Windows 8 / RT Microsoft Surface Tablet may be the best for your teenager. It's the only tablet around that I would consider a laptop replacement.

 

 

Picking the right tablet for your teen - some issues

1. Your kid is not a child any more
   For most teens - excepting perhaps very naive young teens - the world is their playground. It's wiser to give them the tools and be open to talking with them about issues they run into, than to close their world and expect them to play safe in the garden.
2. All tablets are learning tablets
   The internet is the biggest library available. For teens specific learning apps no longer make a lot of sense, except perhaps for learning specific skills like typing ten fingered (though you'd do that on a laptop or desktop I think).
   Do check with your teens school if they have a preference.
3. Your teen is still a kid
   Some teens can handle the necessity of budgeting internet access and stuff like that. Many teens can't. Make sure there are clear controls to stop your teen from buying out the whole Amazon or iTunes store. Unfortunately such controls are not built into ordinary tablets. The Surface tablet by Microsoft will have something that comes close though: the ability to have separate accounts for different users. This should enable you to install apps from the master account, give your kids access to specific apps on their account while not giving them the ability to BUY apps.
4. WiFI or WiFI + 3G / 4G
   I recommend sticking with the cheaper option: a tablet with only WiFi access to internet. This gets rid of the whole hassle of dealing with download limits and maxing out mobile accounts.
5. A tablet is not a laptop replacement
   If you're looking to get a tablet OR a laptop for your teen and expect them to do serious homework on the machine, I would advise getting a laptop. The only option that may (but we can't know for sure yet) be as good as a laptop in functionality is a Windows RT (aka Windows 8) tablet. However, user reviews so far are mixed. However, unlike on Android and iPad, you CAN actually edit excel documents on a Windows 8 tablet.
6. Games / Gaming
   Your teen will thank you if you pick their tablet by looking at the topic of which games can be played on it. At this point the Microsoft tablet offering has least games on offer, but developers are eager to get into the windows app shop, so that won't last long. Still, if this is a Christmas present, you might want to go for Android or iPad if you want your teen to have a wide choice of games. Long term however, this is not likely to be a consideration unless your teen has very specific gaming taste. In that case you should of course ask them to recommend the best tablet themselves. See my 'your teen is no kid comment.

Kindle Fire

7" Android Tablet for teens

As I said, since price is obviously a major factor in buying a tablet for your teen, I recommend the Kindle Fire. It has almost all the options of an Android Tablet, because it is in fact one. It isn't marketed as one, but that's another story.

What you'll get that your teen will love is access to the Amazon market for books, video (if you're in the US), the major games and more.

Otherwise this is just another tablet.

The Kindle Fire does not, as we speak, have access to Google Maps. For educational purposes this is an obvious limitation.

Windows 8 tablet Surface

Nobody really knows how this is going to pan out yet. However, it looks like Windows 8 tablets will change the tablet game a LOT.

The main difference is that with Windows 8 tablet makers stop pretending that tablets are anything other than touch screen computers. On a Windows 8 tablet you'll be able to edit ALL your MS office files. That makes a big difference for homework.

Shown here Windows 8 Tablet Surface with touchcover - makes it almost a laptop replacement.

Don't get me wrong: you can edit text and excel files on Android and iPad as well, however - in both cases there are severe limitations. Windows 8 is designed to work on both PC and Tablet. The tablet will include it's own keyboard, so it may well replace your teens laptop.

However, when it comes to apps - Windows is far behind Android and Apple. So your teen may NOT be able to play their favorite game on their Surface tablet. I'm sure though that the main players will create apps very quickly.

In many ways the Surface tablet is what we would have expected tablets to be like if we hadn't experienced iPad and Android tablets by now. It does have a USB port, for instance. It does have an option to put in a micro SD card. Android usually has the second, not the first. You can use it to edit MS Office files and browse the web.