Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is the 2nd generation tablet from Fuhu, a company well-known for their educational online services such as Foozkids. The original Nabi came out in November of last year and was really the first tablet geared specifically towards younger kids (age 4-10). While revolutionary in that sense, it was not without a few hiccups as a first generation product often is. However, realizing this, the company bent over backwards to make things right with its customers and fixed most of the issues in software updates as well as a charger replacement. Learning a lot from that first tablet, they've come out with a new one that really blows the competition away. Now that there is competition - many of whom copied the original Nabi in many ways. But the Nabi 2 is so fast and responsive, comes with so much additional software, and is backed by such a customer-centric company, that really there's no REAL competition! Full disclosure: I am a Nabi Fan-a-tech. When the initial Nabi came out, a lot of people started using it's Facebook page to trade information, ask questions, and get support. Some of us who had purchased the tablet for our child and are a little more tech-savvy, decided to try to answer a lot of these questions, and Fuhu made us "Fan-a-tech's." Which means we just keep helping the community by answering questions, providing tips, app ideas, etc. We also test updates out before they go public, and in the case of the Nabi 2, we got a chance to try them out and find issues before they went on sale. So I've been using one for a few weeks now and it is very fast and responsive with no freezes, crashes, etc. It is truly one of the fastest Android devices I've used. Aside from speed, the other nice thing about this Nabi is that it is now able to do video chatting. It comes with Skype, and my daughter has Skyped a bunch of times already with both grandmas. In the next month or two Fuhu has said they will be coming out with an add-on rear-facing 8-megapixel camera (the included front-facing one is 2MP) that, among other things, will be used for an augmented reality game they will be putting out. In some of the reviews that have been published on other sites, it's been noted that the Nabi 2 does not have the Google Play store or Google apps. This was true of the first Nabi, however someone was able to provide the Google Services Framework apk that would work with it and allow for the Android Market to work. I've tried the Google Services Framework on the Nabi 2 and I'm able to get Gmail working, but so far not Google Play, however, one of the other Fan-a-tech's is working on a solution, so I have no doubt that within the next few weeks, there will be that support. In the mean time there is of course the Amazon app store, and if you have an Android phone or tablet that DOES have access to Google Play, you can always transfer the apk's from that store via an app like Android Backup and Restore, which works really well for most apps. The other issue around the Nabi 1 was availability, but that's because there was only one partner for it, who did not order units based on the true demand for the product. Thus many people waited months in vain. With the Nabi 2, this is solved by the fact that Fuhu now has at least 5 different major retail partners in the US alone, and will also be partnering with retailers in Canada, the UK, and other countries starting in August. They're committed to producing over a million tablets over the next few months, and more if necessary, so supply should be no issue this time around! Fuhu will be coming out with a bunch of accessories for the Nabi 2 starting in August, including a set of different colored bumper cases, (volume-limited) headphones, a Bluetooth keyboard, a car charger, the aforementioned rear-facing camera, and a lot more. As I've alluded to and what I'm sure you will see repeated in other reviews is that Fuhu is a unique company in how they treat their customers. They are all about making a difference in the customer's life, and making sure the customer is not just satisfied but truly happy with their purchase. They bend over backwards to make this happen. They also have decided to put a lot of effort into the Special Needs community, since they have received many emails from parents of children with special needs who got so much out of the tablet. By the way, although the tablet is geared specifically towards the 4-10 age range, that doesn't mean it can't be used by those who are older. The bumper comes off easily to reveal a sleek white tablet. If you want you can even disable the Nabi Mode (kids interface/launcher) and stick to the stock ICS launcher - or load your favorite third-party launcher. I can tell you that I use mine for normal day-to-day purposes without issue or feeling like I'm using a kid's tablet or a "toy." As you can tell, I'm a big fan of Fuhu and the Nabi 2. I may be slightly biased, but I'm also totally honest when I say that I've been nothing but impressed with both the Nabi 2 and Fuhu's commitment towards their products and their customers!