Should I buy the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition?

The Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition is part of Amazon’s great range of kid’s tablets, all of which feature in our best tablets for kids guide. So, you know it’s a good tablet but if you’re wondering if it’s the right purchase for you stick around and we’ll run you through the basics.

The Fire 7 Kids Edition is the 7-inch version of Amazon’s kid's tablet line. If you think you might want something a little larger for your little one, check out our reviews for the 8-inch Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Edition and the 10-inch Amazon Fire HD 10 Kids Edition.

One thing’s for sure, Amazon knows how to do tablets for kids, and that's more evident today in 2022 than ever before. When it comes round to making tablets for kids, Amazon is number one.

What are the specs of the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition?

Tablets for kids have an explicit purpose, they’re designed so that you don’t have to worry about what your child is stumbling across in the often-dark world of global connectivity. This is to say, the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition isn’t the most technically advanced of gadgets, but it’s not supposed to be.

In terms of the stats, the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition has pretty much the same specs as the grown-up Fire 7, another cost-effective tablet that isn’t designed for intense tasks. This is to say, you’ve got a 1.3Ghz quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM.

There’s also 8GB/16GB of hard drive space, which is pretty standard for this sort of tablet, but you can expand that by up to 128GB on the 8GB version and 512GB on the 16GB version with a Micro SD card.

It also has two cameras both 2MP and can shoot video in 720p. It’s always hard to judge whether these will be good enough or not. For adults, used to smartphone quality cameras these pictures won't look very good at all but for young kids, messing around and having fun taking pictures it’s going to be fine.

It’s got a 3.5mm headphone jack for when you need some quiet time and Amazon list the battery life for the Fire 7 Kids Edition as up to 7 hours. This might be true with low-intensity activities such as reading but will likely drop below 4 with game playing or video streaming.

What are the best features of the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition?

Perhaps the first thing to talk about here is the case for the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition, it’s big and bouncy enough to protect the tablet from a drop as well as being moulded and textured to make it easier for small hands to carry around in the first place. The newer version also has a little flip stand so the kids can use it as a TV.

Perhaps the most lauded feature of the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition is Amazon Kids+, which is the new name of FreeTime Unlimited. You’ll get a year’s free subscription when you buy a Fire 7 Kids Edition and it opens up thousands of books, apps, games and audible audiobooks for your kids.

While you are locked into what Amazon can supply, it’s not as limiting with other Kids tablets, as Amazon’s content library is huge. Amazon Kids+ can also be used in conjunction with the Fire 7’s parental controls which are great.

You can block, or allow permissions for pretty much anything you want. You can also set limits on how long kids can be on the tablet, or any app as well as setting educational goals. So, for example, you could set it up so that your child can only watch cartoons and play games after they’ve done half an hour of reading.

This can all be managed from the parents' dashboard on your smartphone, so there’s no need to wrestle the tablet of your kid. You can just pause the tablet from your own device.

What else do I need to know about the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition?

Amazon has a pretty generous returns policy for its Kids Edition tablets. They’re so confident in their design that if the tablet breaks, for any reason, within two years - they’ll replace it no questions asked.

This 7-inch tablet is also quite small, with just one speaker. If you have multiple children that you hope will share the device, they’ll likely end up struggling to get the best out of it when watching something together.

It’s also worth noting that while you do get a year’s free subscription to Amazon Kids+, you’ll have to pay thereafter. It’s not a huge price, £1.99/$2.99 per child, per month if you have Prime.

If you don’t have Prime that goes up by £2/$2. Though there is a family plan if you have a bunch of little ones it’s still worth thinking about the future investment this tablet might require.

What are the alternatives to the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition?

Of all the specified children’s tablets out there, the Amazon Kids Range is probably the best value for money, in terms of the longevity of the devices. You can set content ranges up to 13+ and Amazon have a library deep enough to back that up.

Brands like LeapFrog offer narrower, education-focused tablets, with stricter native restrictions. But you’ll find your child might want a bit of a broader range of activities by the time they get to the 8/9 years old mark these brands top out at. 

Something like the Kurio Connect is the most similar to Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition, using more basic Android for its OS, without all the Amazon aesthetic.

Really the best alternatives to the Amazon Fire 7 Kids Edition are the Fire HD 8 Kids Edition and the Fire HD 10 Kids Edition. They’re bigger, faster and have HD displays, though they are more expensive. It’s worth judging whether that extra investment is worth it against the age of your kids – when are they going to need something a bit more grown up?  

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