Paquito Mini, we tested this Imaginarium children's tablet

Tired of your kid stealing your iPad to fiddle with the screen? The Paquito Mini is the solution. A tablet for children with a very colorful and fun interface and several advanced parental control options. Thanks to this function, we will be able to mark the hours in which our children will be able to use the tablet, establish the pages allowed in the browser or restrict their communication over the Internet to school friends. All this with a design very similar to the iPad Mini and a resistant construction to survive battles with the smallest of the house. The Paquito Mini is now available for a price of 170 euros. We have had the opportunity to test this tablet. We tell you our impressions.

Design and display

The Paquito Mini tablet has a design aimed at children, but with lines that are very reminiscent of the iPad Mini (you can immediately notice both the white color chosen and the screen size). The first nod to children is the cute monkey logo that replaces the typical central button on Android tablets . Of course, in this case it is surprising that it is only a decorative resource, since it does not work as a button. The ones that do work this way are the buttons to access the main screen and to go back. It also highlights the appearance of the garnet red back cover with the Paquito monkey drawing. What we have not found so good is that the material used is quite slippery, and can cause the tablet to end up on the ground more than once. Be that as it may, this device has a fairly robust format, which should withstand more than one battle in the hands of our children without problems. In general, Paquito Mini has a quite attractive appearance but it is somewhat heavy in the hands, nothing to do with formats dedicated to adult audiences. The capacitive screen has a size of 8 inches with a resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixels. The response of this panel is quite acceptable, although it is sometimes more difficult for it to recognize the touch of the fingers well and it can become a bit desperate if you are not patient.

A universe of apps for children

MagicOS . That is the name of the platform that has been built on the Android operating system to create an ecosystem of tools and games aimed at the smallest of the house. A universe in which the color of the menus and the different applications stands out from the first moment . From the same lock screen we find that presence of color, with a background full of cards in which we find monkeys, stars or pencils. Within these applications deployed by Imaginarium we really liked the agenda for school, with the external form of a notebook and the possibility of entering the classes of each day or the tasks that must be carried out at certain times. What we have missed is that the design of the cartoon is changed every time we introduce a task, since only a smiling face is repeated that can be heavy for the child after seeing it in all their tasks. In this case, it would have been very fun to have different figures depending on the tasks, such as drawings of Paquito, stars, dogs ... The application that serves to take notes and that we can save or export through a text file is also very useful or an email.

Precisely, another aspect that we have to highlight is the casual design that the email application has . The little or small can write their emails and read the emails received in a simple and fun way. Finally, we would like to also highlight the rewards application.Parents can set a series of goals for the boy through various tasks such as showering, brushing teeth or eating fruits and vegetables. Each time the child marks that he has completed one of these tasks, the parent gives him a score of between zero and three stars. If at the end of the week a series of star objectives are achieved, the little one will receive a reward or rewards that we have agreed with them before starting. A beautiful and fun way to get children to be more responsible and perform various actions without getting bored as if we had just ordered it without any kind of game involved. For those parents who want to expand the applications of this tablet, you can create an account in "Paquito Land", an application store with a good number of children's apps.

Although the MagicOS software layer practically covers the entire experience of this tablet, parents have the option to continue taking advantage of the possibilities offered by the Google Play application store . A complete ecosystem with more than a million apps available that you can download for your child or to use on your own. And is that this function of dividing the account for parents and various accounts for children is one of the key aspects of the Paquito Mini.

Parental control

As we have said, parental control becomes one of the main reasons (if not the main one) why this tablet becomes such an attractive option compared to traditional Android tablets . In addition to dividing the accounts between parents and our children, we can also configure various aspects such as the applications that our children will use , the hours and days in which the little one can use this tablet (for example, the device can be restricted in the hours of the night so that it does not rob you of sleep time) and even the hours that the tablet can be used throughout the day. It also highlights the option to bookmark web pageswhich you can access within the browser, or the ability to restrict your Internet communications to your friends at school, and thus ensure that you do not speak to strangers. Options that will allow us to breathe more calmly about the making of contact of the little ones with new technologies and the dangers they contain.

Memory, power and camera

The Paquito Mini incorporates a quad-core processor and 1 GB RAM , enough to run MagicOS menus and apps fluently , although sometimes we have seen a certain slowdown when opening apps or loading somewhat heavier processes. In the field of memory, it opts for an internal memory of 8 GB . It is a sufficient space, taking into account that it is not a device designed to store a large number of multimedia files. In the event that we use this tablet to put movies on the child, it may be necessary to use a Micro SD card to increase the available capacity by up to 32 GB more . On the other hand, thePaquito Mini integrates a rear camera with a resolution of 2 megapixels and a front camera with standard VGA resolution. These two lenses have a rather humble performance and are more intended for children to have fun taking photos or making video calls with their friends than for a real utility for taking videos and photos.

Connectivity

In the field of connections, the Paquito Mini has an HDMI port to connect the device to the television and view its content in high quality, a micro USB port , a slot for Micro SD memory cards (up to 32 GB) and a headphone slot. In addition, the wireless connection is carried out through WiFi , and it also has Bluetooth to connect it with compatible devices and transmit information.

Autonomy, price and opinions

The Paquito Mini is not a tablet that stands out for its autonomy, although in our tests it has easily exceeded the figure of six hours of normal use. This tablet may come up a bit short on long commutes and trips, but it will work well for use at home or school. The price of this model amounts to 170 euros . In short, the Paquito Mini can become a great gift for young children for Christmas, due to its colorful and attractive interface and the good balance between the fun offered by its games and educational applications and the advanced control options parental, much higher than what we can find in an Android tabletto use. Do you want your child to stop stealing your iPad all the time? This is your team. On the negative side, it is a somewhat heavy piece of equipment and it is more slippery than it should at the rear. We have not been convinced either by the tactile response of the screen, which can cause the kid to despair more than once.

Data sheet