American Girl tablet powered by Nabi

[blakegriplingph]

Put a whole world of American Girl play and creativity right in her hands! This Android tablet has a berry-colored bumper and more than 400 features dedicated to kid-focused experiences and peace of mind for parents. It comes pre-loaded with more than 70 apps, videos, and games featuring American Girl. She can learn how to make her own movie starring a cast of American Girl dolls, enjoy games featuring American Girl characters, and discover creative craft ideas. It also includes Google Play™ for access to even more games, movies, and books.

In addition to the robust and engaging immersive experiences, each of the tablets also contains the features that the nabi® brand is known for, providing kid-safe exploration and peace of mind for parents, with dual modes (kid and parent), plus comprehensive parental controls, time controls, and more. The tablets feature high-quality specs including 7-inch 1024X600 high-resolution touchscreen, quad-core processor, 16GB storage (expandable via MicroSD up to 32GB), and Marshmallow 6.0 Android OS.

A friend of mine over at XDA Developers has this device, and whilst the tab can be rather sluggish at times, this seems to be in some ways better than the LeapFrog Epic (which also runs on the same MediaTek SoC). This comes with Google Play Services pre-loaded, along with Android 6.0. I kinda' expected better than this though - apps like Pokemon Go may not work, and apparently this doesn't support OTG either (i.e. no wired joystick or thumb drive support). Not that I can't work around these restrictions, but to an average user, this may present issues especially if a kid would try to plug in a joypad only to find out it isn't compatible. And the camera leaves a whole LOT to be desired too - 'tis way worse than the Lenovo tablet I had previously. For a kid this is fine, but even then they might end up taking pictures off some other device.

Tech specs:

• 1.3 Ghz MediaTek MT8127 quad-core processor
• ARM Mali 450MP GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 7" capacitive touch screen with 1024x600 resolution
• 16GB ROM (8GB user-accessible, expandable to 32GB with a microSD card)
• Android 6.0 Marshmallow with Blue Morpho UI
• 0.3 MP front camera
• 2 MP rear camera (720p video)
• 2500mAh rechargeable lithium-ion battery
• Sensors: Accelerometer
• GPS: no
• FM radio: no

Grade: 3.5/5

P.S.: I might upload a ROM backup from this for repair purposes, in case some of you ended up bricking or messing up the system software.

[Cupcake Cutie Pie]

I bought my daughter this system last February. She had a leappad Epic prior. She was 8 at the time I got it for her. I'm very disappointed in this product. While she has outgrown the apps for leappad the system has a more solid delivery than the nabi. We also live out in the country and don't have ready access to wifi. Many of the games on the nabi have to be connected to wifi to work at all, the leappad does not. The nabi is also a lot more sluggish than the leappad ever was. I think this is common for nabi products because we upgraded my son to a star wars nabi at the same time and his nabi experience is pretty similar to the American Girl version. My kids don't get online at all so that aspect is lost in this family and the fact that you have to be online to use a lot of the apps is a real turnoff. I wish I would've known before I bought them.

[blakegriplingph]

Here's some screenshots I took off the tablet: imgur.com/a/eEjoO





Antutu score for the tablet seems to be on par with a sub-100 dollar phone you can buy off Amazon or DHGate, though I also blame the kids menu (i.e. Nabi Mode) to be horribly unoptimised; LeapFrog's Kids launcher may take a few seconds to load but it rarely gets unresponsive as far as I can tell. In my case I was forced to install Nova Launcher and set it as default due to how unbearable the stock UI is.

[blakegriplingph]

Some more pictures of my AG tablet:





Also to note that Nabi discontinued online services for their tablets so functionality will be crippled. I do intend to port LineageOS to this and the other Nabi SE variants, but I've been told by customer service that they are unable to find the Linux kernel sources for some reason, presumably due to Mattel's acquisition of the company in 2016.

[blakegriplingph]

PSA: Think twice before buying one of these things. The battery that came with mine recently kicked the bucket and left an unsightly bulge in the case.

[blakegriplingph]

And regarding the batteries debacle, it looks like the Cameron Sino replacement battery meant for the Fisher-Price Nabi tablet should work on the AG tablet (and basically every other variant based on the Nabi SE):
www.amazon.com/FisherPrice-TE69-1S3000-TCL-Nabi-NBFP07PMKG-Li-Polymer/dp/B07MSGTL47/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=NBFP07PMKG&qid=1592527360&s=electronics&sr=1-1

Removing the LCD is just the matter of heating up the four corners of the screen just enough for you to use a pry tool or a suction cup. Though in practice this is hard as nuts and I'd recommend having a qualified cellphone technician do all the dirty work for you.