VTech InnoTab 2S Review

My boys were nothing short of thrilled when their very own VTech InnoTab 2S arrived last week…they are so excited to have their own computer tablet and, so far, request to play on it regularly. Here’s a link to a fact sheet.

We have mixed reviews coming from our home…I’ll start with my boys:

My 5 year old has figured the InnoTab out very quickly and can get to whatever he wants to use without a problem. He seems to especially enjoy the camera and loves adding the “sticker” or decorations to pictures he takes. It’s pretty funny to hear him laugh so hard at those pictures.

My 3 year old does really well with the stylus and is very into the games. I can’t tell how well he is doing, but it keeps him entertained for quite a while, and I do think he is learning more about the alphabet through some of the games. Though, I think he mostly enjoys using a “computer”.

My husband has a grown-up tablet, and to him, the InnoTab just doesn’t compare.

For me, I enjoy that the boys have a tablet like Daddy’s that they can use without me worrying quite as much about it breaking. It seems sturdy and the edges have a rubber coating to prevent slipping. I think my favorite part about the InnoTab is the camera…I can have my boys take their own pictures and I don’t have to worry about my camera getting broken! It’s also neat that the camera rotates so my boys can take self-portraits or pictures of others. I  appreciate the educational games and plan to take this on our next road trip because I know it will keep my boys entertained. The tilt sensor is pretty cool too!

But, I do have a few complaints:

• The touchscreen is not very sensitive. If we try to use our fingers to navigate the screen it gets confused. A stylus is required, and I just hope we never lose ours, though, thankfully it came with two.
• There is volume control, but it’s impossible to get my boys to keep the volume down, so the InnoTab is always on full volume.
• It runs on AA batteries and seems to go through them pretty fast. Either buy the adaptor or get rechargeable batteries!
• The music is annoying on some of the apps.
• The InnoTab comes with a few apps, but if you want to buy more, it can get quite pricey. I realize that for any tablet you have to pay for the apps, but I don’t want to spend $19.99 on a game for this tablet; that can add up quickly!
• The InnoTab is slow! It takes quite a while to get from one screen to the next and drives my husband and myself nuts. Thankfully, my boys don’t know any better and they are perfectly willing to wait for the next app to load.
• Though it’s kind of cool that the InnoTab can connect to the internet through Wifi, I haven’t bothered connecting it because I don’t want to deal with my boys accessing the store and begging for more games. Call me cheap…

So, there you have it. I think most kids would really enjoy the InnoTab 2S. Personally, I would have loved to have one of these as a kid…I just think parents should also know what they are getting themselves into :).

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for VTech and received a VTech InnoTab 2S to facilitate my review.