Summary: Tech News & Commentary Darryl in St. Cloud, Minnesota listens on KNSI 103.3 asked: "On that pad you sent me as a prize, my grandson got a hold of it and cracked the screen. Is it cheaper to go and try to replace the screen or just buy a new tablet? I'm on a really fixed income. Wondering what was the cheapest way to fix that so I can get back on the internet. Or would it be cheaper to buy one of those new notebooks that turn into a laptop. Those look really interesting, but as I said, I'd have to save up several months to get one of those things." We’ve sent out a few different kinds of tablets, but according to our records we sent you a Ubislate. The Ubislate is… well… not disposable, but the tablet itself costs something around $35, even if you bought the screen and replaced it yourself it would cost you around $13 plus shipping. (http://intotomorrow.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/intotomorrow_logo.gif) The cheapest way to get you back online would be to replace the screen on your current tablet. If you do decide to replace the screen, either you or a store will probably have to order it just for you, the tablet is not popular enough for them to have it in stock, and they may end up charging you a little more than if they just had to go to the back and grab a screen from the stockroom. Pay attention to the final cost, because it may make more sense to just order a new Ubislate if they cost is going to be over $35 anyway. Even the cheapest convertible laptop/tablet combos will probably cost you a couple of hundred dollars. Having said that, those computer will also be able to do more, so if you feel restricted by your current tablet, they may be worthy of some consideration too. By the way, we’d like to mention that your cautionary tale is precisely the reason we feel there is a market for very low end, low cost tablets like the Ubislate. Kids can have fun with them and learn to use a tablet, and if they break it you’re not out $500. There’s also the situation of a harsh environment. If we were going to pack a tablet to take to the beach and read something on a Kindle app, or type some notes in a text editor, there’s no way we’d want to take an expensive iPad Air 2 (for example). Low cost tablets have their place, even if their function is limited for people who want a tablet that can do anything, and do it quickly. For more information tune in to Hour 3 of our podcast. "Into Gaming Update" Weekly Feature with Mark Lautenschlager Vicky in Lexington, Kentucky listens on RealTalk 1250 WLRT asked: "What is the best young-child educational type toy that you know of? I have a 14 month old granddaughter and I'm looking for something for her to use in the next few years for education." There are lots and lots of educational young kid laptops and tablets, it’s hard to pick one, but we’ll give you a few to choose from. For about $50 you can get a Fisher Price iXL 6-in-1 Learning System. It features a touchscreen with a stylus that kids can use, and it’s an ebook reader, mp3 player, photo viewer, art studio, notepad, and gaming system. It comes with some games built in, but parents can buy new ones featuring Disney characters, SpongeBob, Dora, and other kid favorites. If you want something that will probably last her a while, you could go with an Amazon Fire HD Kids Edition, it does cost more, around $130, but it comes prepared to survive being used by young children, and it comes with a year’s worth of access to a large library of kid friendly content via Amazon’s FreeTime. The main advantage the Fire has is that it’s a real tablet, with real access to other content, like the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. For something in between those two, the LeapFrog3 features dual cameras, a pretty powerful processor for a tablet for kids, and can do everything the iXL can do and more, on a package that feels like it may hold her interest for a while longer as she grows up.
