Laptop for Kids

Product: Laptop for Kids

Age: 4 and above (might be interesting for smaller ones also, but full potential can be realised by this age group)

Features: Informative and educational, similarity to its original counterpart

The more the options in the toy, the more it will be put to use by the kid. The exploring nature of kids is well utilized by some toys by way of creating lot of options worth exploration for a kid. This laptop is one such toy which has a good educational value. This laptop is very much similar to its real counterpart.

It contains a main unit and a mouse
The opening action is quite similar to any other laptops. The press switch is very simple to operate. Once opened also you will see quite a resemeblance to the other laptops
Now have a close up view of the display.Only the centre portion of the display is the area where display is updated. It is a black and white display only. The other portions contains stickers which contians the option numbers to be typed for getting to that screen. From the screen you can see that there are 36 different options grouped under four major titles viz Vocabulary/Grammar, Mathematics, Music/Drawing and Games.
Selection of these options by the usage of the keyboard.
From the picture we can see that it is a "QWERTY" keyboard. So once kids are used to this they get quite familiar with the normal computer keyboards.

The vocabulary/grammar and Mathematics section contains questions related to basic English vocabulary/grammar and fundamental maths only. To make the question and answering interesting, images are shown and if the answers are right there is a good audible word of encouragement followed by a round of applause which the kids will appreciate. Also while doing this the keyboard familiarity automatically increases. We can see what is covered in each of these topics in the close up view of the display above.

The music/drawing and games section also contians some interesting things which are of interest to the kids.

Once the kid understands the basic operations leave the kid alone with the laptop. Never try to teach him how to play/use, after selecting each of the options. Let him explore and find out how to play. If he cannot play or use any of the screen let it be like that, coz if you are not helping, then you can see that he will try to learn it as he grows up a little bit more bigger. That means the interest can be sustained a little bit longer.

No guidance means, the explorative nature of kid is not hampered with. Otherwise after selecting each option they will come to the parents and ask them how to play. In this case the kid will soon lose interest in this.
See this laptop in action.

Pros

• A whole range of options
• QWERTY key board
• Educational value
• Proximity to its original counterpartBattery life

Cons

• Not so rugged
• Display is not colorful

The wide range of options in this educational toy is sure to sustain its interest for a prolonged period provided parental intervention and support is minimal.

Remote Control Jeep with Crash Recovery

Toy: Remote control Toy Jeep

Age: 4 yrs and up
Special feature: Crash and crash recovery simulation
Lots of Remote control toys are available in the market now. Kids generally lose interest in such toys after the initial 2 - 3 days of usage. The reason behind this is that there is no much innovation except the regular movements.

This Jeep is much more than a normal remote control car just by the addition of one feature.
The jeep is a good looker.

The jeep is a little bit on the heavy side. Move it using the remote and make it hit to a side wall.

OOOPS the jeep breaks apart, doors hang out, the back also jump out, along with the sound of a big crash. This event is exciting to watch.

See the crashed jeep.

Now just press the recover button of the remote. The jeep is back to its normal, along with the sound of a recovery.

The recovered jeep.

This one action makes the kids really interested in this toy. The joy of getting the crashed jeep back to its normal state is quite visible from the child's face.Even though it is just one additional feature, the kids never seem to get bored doing this.

Other pros

The toy is ruggedly built,

The vehicle's battery is rechargable.

The remote's battery is really long lasting.

Maruti Suzuki Swift - Diesel

The SWIFT as the name indicates is quite a swift mover and at the same time a very sedate fuel drinker.
The purchase price in the range of 5 to 6 lakhs made me think of why people buy this when we have an option of buying low end sedans in this price range.
But this vehicle offers much pleasure in driving with almost the same comfort of those sedans around, ofcourse with the exception of boot.
The pros and cons are as follows.

Pros

1. Superb power delivery. Those who like the effect of Aircraft take off is sure to like this vehicle too. Partly this feeling is due to the low torque in the lower RPMs and the sudden increase in torque when RPM rises above 1800 mark.
2. Superb mileage. In city 16 to 18 is guaranteed and in highways it is sure to return something in the range of 20Km/litre. (the max I got is 24 km/litre)
3. Suspension is very much suitable for Indian Roads. This car comfort levels is as good as the sedans in the same range
4. Pretty decent boot space when compared with other hatch backs
5. Looks - quite subjective, but surely this is one car whose looks grew upon us pretty faster than any other model.
6. High speed stability. The car seems to be very well stable even at high speeds. As the speed increases we have a feeling that the car is lowering further down. I travelled at a speed in the range of 140 - 150 in this car without knowing that I am doing such high speeds
7. Service - Maruti service need no special mention at all. There service network is tremendous and almost all dealers maintain a minimum level of quality
8. Service costs - Paid service cost are not exhorbitantly high. It is in the tune of 2k per service, provided there are not failures
9. Good chilling AC.
10. Very good noise insulation in the cabin.
11. A good candidate for external modification. Even though it is better not to tamper with the exterior, this is one car which the car modification enthusiasts really like, coz almost all the modifications seems to suite the car well.
12. A real value for money product in terms of mileage, comfort, cost of ownership.
13. No driver fatigue even after long driving session (max I did was 10hr in one go)

Cons

1. Back seat leg space is a concern.
   
2. Back seat head rest design is very poor. We are sure to get irritated if the travelling time is more
   
3. The cocoon design, which means the passengers are placed very low inside the cabin, means the visibility of the back seat passengers to the outside is very less. Some people may like this, but if the travel is through winding roads, then this will cause travel sickness
   
4. Braking is not enough for such a high power car capable of doing very high speeds.
   
5. The plastics are Prone to rattles. I have not experienced this so far, but some of my friends have this problem.
   
6. Very low torque in the lower rpm band sometimes makes it difficult to drive in the city, but once we are used to it, we will overcome this difficulty. This also has an impact while climbing up ghats, for new users this can cause a lot of difficulty, but it is a matter of getting used to it.


7. Not a Value for money product in terms of space it offers, both for passenger as well as for luggage.

It is a known fact that this is a best seller for Maruti.

Who would have thought that this will be a winner, when maruti launched this model which is priced way ahead of Indica which was ruling the market of diesel hatches.

Unlike Indica this became popular for the private users even though they had to shell a few lakhs more.

Laptop for toddlers

Product - Laptop
Age group - 8 months and up
Positives - Attractive color, rugged, battery life, educational value

Laptops - kids are used to see this with their parents and wish to play with them. What if we can gift them a laptop for their very own use.
Their are many kids laptops available in the market now. This laptop is suitable for those toddlers who don't even have 1 year life experience to their credit.
This one is really rugged, for it can withstand some minimal falls, the color is quite attractive, the shapes of animals, combined with the lighting is sure to make a kid interested in this piece.
This is the laptop.


It can be opened like this, a la laptop kind of lid.

The scroll mouse has all the actions of its real counter part.
A press on this bring this to life. There is a sort of a game in which a light starts to roll around the different images on the screen. The kid has to press the button which contains the image where the light stops.
If the answer is correct, then applause will be heard along with sound corresponding to the image (train, boat, bus etc)


On one side of the main keyboard there are shapes of animals/birds and on other side musical instruments. Pressing these will initate the sounds corresponding to these shapes.

All these will keep the kid intriuged with this. You can even see that the kid soon identifies the sound which he likes the most and he can been seen pressing that too often than the others.
The wide range of options in this simple toy is surely a good educational toy for the kids. Another thing which is really commendable is the really long battery life. This automatically switches off if there is no activity for 5 minutes. There is no special button for switching on. Pressing any of the key after opening the flip open lid will bring it to life.

There is another laptop which is for ages 3 and up, review of which will follow suite.

Battling Tops - An exciting battle of TOPS

Kids are likely to spend more time with toys which keeps their interest sustained.
One of the ways to keep the interest sustained is by having a game,which involves some physical activity. If the game contains something which is akin to fight then it is sure to make it even more interesting.
One such interesting toy is the "BATTLING TOPS". As the name implies this is a game which contains tops which are battling each other for supremacy.This is similar to the bay blades but contains a battle field and the tops does not weigh as much as a bay blade.
The packing contains a round podium. Four players can play this simulatenously. See the contents here

The tops have to be tied using a string. On starting the players have to pull the strings harder from the launch area.
Then the fun begins. See two tops spinning hard.The tops will try to hit each other out of the game. See the attack here, One is about to fall.

The blue one is dead, the yellow is the winner here.
The slight slope of the podium towards the centre makes the tops come to the center. It is real fun and exiting to watch the collision of tops since after each hit they move towards the edge and again come back for attack. This attack is very interesting to watch and it is sure to catch the interest of the elders. The last top which stands tall will be the winner. Sometimes if the speed of top is very high, it may even hit other tops out of the podium.

The tops will keep on spinning for atleast 2 to 3 minutes making it quiet interesting to watch.

The winding of the string to the top takes some time. This time adds to the excitement and other discussions regarding the previous battle and ensures that the interest of the game is sustained.