The LeapPad
The first thing you’ll notice is the shape — it’s smaller than the iPad but it’s most obviously designed as a tablet. The LeapPad comes in two color styles — green/white and pink/white. Decker received the green/white tablet for this review.
The screen is larger than many similar learning devices on the market, and it’s a touchscreen. Thankfully the LeapPad comes with two styluses (one’s a spare) — the stylus is held magnetically on the side, but you can also use the included tether-line to keep it from getting lost. The device uses 4 AA batteries, two per side under small removable doors that don’t come off accidentally. (They’re easy to remove, though, by pressing on a slot with the stylus — a nice design.)
Unlike the iPad, the LeapPad does not rotate its screen completely 360 degrees. Depending on the app you open, the screen will display vertically or horizontally (holding it like a Nintendo DS is the best way I can explain it). For me, this was a major bonus to the device because the ability to display horizontally allows a child to play apps and cartridges designed for the Leapster Explorer. The Leapster Explorer is a LeapFrog device that’s been out for a while now, and the available cartridges for it are quite extensive. That said, LeapFrog has already released a large number of apps designed specifically for the LeapPad.
When held in the vertical mode, all the buttons your child will need are in reach but not where they might cause an accidental turning off a game mid-play. The power button is recessed in the top-left corner so just running your finger over it isn’t likely to power down the device. The volume controls are easy to spot (nice for parents), and the Home button which will immediately jump the player to the home screen where all the apps are displayed is in the lower-right corner and the house icon was easy to explain to Decker.
The speaker is on the front, too, so even in a noisy car or restaurant, Decker hasn’t had difficulty hearing the instructions or sounds needed to play.
You might also notice the large silver button near the bottom-middle of the device. This is what makes playing Leapster Explorer games possible. With the Leapster Explorer, the control buttons for games were on the left side of the device (like a standard game controller) and allowed you to move things on screen up, down, left or right. The LeapPad’s version works the same, but since it’s round I’ve noticed that Decker has an easier time using it than the cross-shaped controls or even controls where each U/D/L/R has its own button. When you play a Leapster Explorer game, the A and B buttons that would normally be on the right side of the Explorer are now displayed on the touchscreen as A and B buttons. Again, I love this feature because Decker has a friend with a Leapster Explorer and dozens of cartridges to share and Decker will be able to play them!
On the back of the device is the Camera and Video Recorder. Yes, the LeapPad comes with these features, and Decker has had great fun taking pictures of his family and applying patterns, drawing mustaches, and adding special effects (more on this later). All the pictures he’s taken are saved on the device and his videos as well — with 2GB of memory, he’s not going to run out anytime soon… and the apps are small in filesize and often less than 25MB each (I hear you wondering).
When Decker turns on the LeapPad, he’s greeted with a sign-in screen that has his picture and name displayed (two more users can have their profiles stored and game settings saved as well). You use the built-in camera to shoot the picture and an on-screen keyboard lets your child tap out his or her own name. When Decker taps his name, he’s taken to the Home screen that will hold nine apps — additional apps are stored on extra home screens that are reached by tapping a large arrow at the bottom of the screen.
On a side note, Decker loves seeing his name and picture at the top of the home screen as well… a nice reminder that this device belongs to him. One benefit I’ve already seen is how he treats the LeapPad. He’s much less rough with the device, and I’ve seen him carefully set it on a table or put it back in the small bag I’ve given him to hold his tablet, cartridges, and extra batteries. I’ve talked to him about taking care of his LeapPad and how disappointed he would be if it broke, and I think it sunk in. That said, he did drop it once when getting out of my truck (fell about 3 feet) and the device powered up just fine. LeapFrog states that the LeapPad is designed to take some abuse from its young users — good to know.
I want to tell you more details about the individual apps that Decker plays on the LeapPad but before I do that I want to cover two more items that are probably going to be of more interest to parents than kids — the App Center and the LeapFrog Connect service.
