On paper, the Kurio 7 almost lives up to its tagline: "The ultimate Android tablet for families". It has a customised interface for kids, full parental controls and web and content filtering, preloaded content for kids, a rubber bumper to guard against accidental drops and access to the full Ice Cream Sandwich Android interface for parents. It's not even absurdly expensive. See also: Group test: best tablet for children
See also: LeapFrog LeapPad 2 review
Turn the device on, and things bode well. The set up sequence, using the custom interface, takes you through connecting to your Wi-Fi network, setting the time and date (although this part falls back to the Android interface), creating user accounts, choosing age-appropriate content filters and which apps the account can access (including whether it can go online or not). It's also possible to set the times when a child can use the device, and a maximum session length. See all: children's tablets reviews.
For each user profile, you can choose an image or photo, change the interface's theme, add a password, restrict internet access to certain sites or use the content filters. The filters provide options for under 7s, 8-9, 10-11, 12+ strict, 12+ normal or custom. See also Group test: what's the best cheap tablet PC?
In addition to session control where you can set a maximum length and a rest period between sessions, there's a global control where you can set a start and end time for each day - the device can't then be used outside of those hours.
See also: Arnova Child Pad review
It's also good to be able to choose which of the installed apps are available, so if you don't like the idea of your child playing a maths-based boxing game, you simply uncheck it and it won't appear in the menu when they log in.
Kurio 7: Apps
Although none would break the bank if you were to buy them yourself on another tablet, it's good to see Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Fruit Ninja, World of Goo, Doodle Jump and Where's My Water installed. Separate Boys Colour and Girls Colour apps are also decent, while MeeGenius includes 20 books which are read aloud, with the words on the page highlighted to help your child learn to read.
Other apps are less impressive. Toon Googles is a kind of cartoon YouTube full of American cartoons with no content UK kids are likely to know or demand, and the range of Mr Nussbaum games look as if they may have been made in the 1980s, presenting basic arithmetic puzzles and giving kids no reward for doing well. In fact, in some games it's practically impossible to win.
Aldiko is an eBook reader, but as with Kurio's own store, prices are in dollars and there's an inescapable US-feel to everything.
In fact, this brings us to a big bone of contention: the absence of the Google Play store. This is a shame, since it limits you to what's in Kurio's store. Naturally, the selection is much more limited, and some apps which are free in the Play store aren't in Kurio's.
Although the Kurio 7 supports Flash 11, some kids websites which use Flash wouldn't load, such as www.mrmen.com. It also failed to play videos on the popular Channel 5 Milkshake site. Plus, the low resolution means that most sites don't display properly, such as www.peppapig.com. As we'll see later, the tablet's slow processor can't really handle these Flash-based sites anyway, and they run extremely slowly.
Kurio 7: Content filters
Kurio provides its own web browser in the kid's interface and sensibly uses Google's SafeSearch for Kids which provides reasonable protection when searching for websites. Even if a questionable link appears in the results, Kurio's content filters will usually kick in and block the site.
No filter is 100% accurate, and you may have to resort to compiling a white-list of sites you're happy for your child to visit, but in general, the Kurio 7 is one of the better tablets to give young children unsupervised.
Kurio 7: Hardware
At this price, comparisons with Google's Nexus 7 are inevitable. The most noticeable difference is the screen resolution: 1280 x 800 is much higher than the Kurio 7's 800 x 480. Not only this, but the Kurio's screen is one of the worst we've seen in a modern tablet. Apart from the low resolution which makes text blocky and a little hard to read, it's a cheap panel with poor vertical viewing angles.
This is a problem when you rotate it to portrait mode, as anyone sitting to the right of you can't see what's on screen. It isn't a particularly bright screen, either and has a grainy look to it.
We also noticed that it could be unresponsive at times, making it impossible to adjust a slider, for example. At other times, it would work fine, even when colouring in a picture with five fingers at once.
Kurio 7: performance
The 1.2GHz processor may sound quick, but it isn't. In Geekbench 2, for example, it scored a miserable 363. In the SunSpider JavaScript test, the Kurio 7 took 3,913ms. By contrast, the Nexus 7 completed the test in just 1665ms and scored 1452 in Geekbench.
We've already mentioned the sluggish performance when browsing Flash-based sites, but even attempting to navigate around Google maps is a frustrating experience. Pinching to zoom or just scrolling around the map results in huge lag.
Kurio 7: connectivity
There's 4GB of internal storage, plus a microSD slot to add up to 32GB more - something the Nexus 7 lacks. There are also mini-USB and mini-HDMI outputs (not the usual micro versions) and a standard 3.5mm headphone socket. You can use the HDMI output to watch videos and photos on a TV, and the USB input allows you to attach storage devices.
There's a front-facing VGA camera and a rear-facing 2.1Mp snapper. Both are poor quality and shouldn't be a reason to buy the Kurio 7. You can see an example of a photo taken with the rear camera on a sunny day below. We found the white balance was occasionally completely wrong, turning green leaves purple.
Battery life is also disappointing. In general use, it lasted less than a day before needing a recharge, and couldn't even manage four hours in our video-looping test which we run at full brightness.
Follow Jim Martin and @PCAdvisor on Twitter.
Comments
Maris said: I bought my son a kurio 7 tablet for Christmas if it worked properly it would have been great The kurio kept switching off so I had a replacement which lasted 24 hours and that kept switching off Not impressed at all would not recommend it Waste of money looking for a different tablet now
steve said: My screen has been cracked Cant get help toysrus policy sucks and I cant find a replacement
sharon said: We got two Kurios for Xmas and the kids love them Sadly they are not living up to expectations and the spec The battery charge is very poor One of the charger plugs just came apart when my daughter pulled it out of the socket And one of the Kurios has been returned due to the charger pin becoming loose and no longer fitting in the Kurio All in all disappointed and looking around for a new alternative replacement
jenny said: kurio completely blacked out no power at all bought new charger from kurion store and still no luck this was my sons xmas presant lost recipt so cant replace and this money doesnt come easy
Jrosswebster said: it workedthanks
Tanyabaker said: So right mine cracked to I cant get no help
Corcoran Gillian said: Does any one know how to keep the kurio on android every time its turned on I have to manually go into the parental controls and switch the android on
Sylvain said: do no buy I have returned twice this product as it has failed to power and I was told by a CSR at kurio the reason there is no google play market is that their tablet does not meet the minimum requirement ie tablet hardeware junk save yourself the and buy another supported product I needed an RMA for it I took too much effort to track this down I suffer a 200 cnd loss and bought an ipad mini instead They are not worth it
guest said: Im on the 3rd one since Christmas It just goes black and will not turn on Tried all the things i have found on internet but nothing So just recieved the 3rd one finally so if it does this im done with this junk
Guest said: I bougth one and when Ienter Androidit has the option I could not go back to the Kurio system so I shutted down and it did not started I had togo backto the store to get my money back
Breda Os said: for a three year old the Leap pad would be better as Kurio is recommended for age 6 My child loves his Kurio I find the parental settings excellent it is very easy to use and very good games We have it for 3 months with no problems Unfortunatley we took it to Grandparents house and granny leaned on it extremely heavily with her elbow as it was left on the arm of her chair and she didnt see it now the screen is cracked and Im worried that I might have to buy a new one as I think the screen is beyond repair But I would replace it with another Kurio as he is very happy with it
Pete said: Ours just did this- after some Googling found the answerSwitch on when loaded press and hold power button and vol until shuts down keep holding until restarts Pic of android robot with warning triangle should appear using vol and - select wipe user datarestore factory settings yes you are sure RebootYoull have to set whole thing up again complete PITA and any game progress is lost but at least it works HTHPete
Rosesandrahyde said: I bought mine from Best Buy and I got a cracked screen on they will not replace it
Kerrypalmer471 said: Just took mine back to Argos due to cracked screen they wouldnt just replace it Had to pay 4899 for replacement but had 1 there and thenMaybe you should try claiming on your house insurance or take insurance out on the KurioOn the receipt it states that products are covered for at least 1 year but its not for a cracked screen apparently Ive only used this from christmas day
Limby1245 said: hi could any of u help me please - i brought my daughter a kurio 7 for christmas and its sayin unfortunatley android keyboard has stopped How do i get it back working again wouldnt mind but she hardly used it so up to now im not all that happy with it
M Amos1 said: I purchased this for my 7 year old son instead of an iPad but were really struggling with it such as how to use it Considering putting it on EBay as its just sitting there unused Shame really
Rachaelmaddox said: Just been told by kurio that theyll replace it as a goodwill gesture if they deem it to have been broken without excess force or theyll charge you a total of 54 for looking at it
Calbertflowers said: I cant get the keyboard to pop up on my daughter tablet what can I do
Rebecca Watts 25 said: Have you managed to get the screen repaired yet
Keith Ward21 said: our kurio screen has broke to kurio says they will collect it and see about repairing it do you know how much they take for this just wondered if its worth it thnaks louise