Most families now seem to have at least one tablet that the kids have access too – a lot of kids also have their own, of course. And tablets are pretty awesome – I completely denied they had any use for a few years when the iPad first came out, and predicted an early demise – what a stupidly unnecessary bit of kit, why do we need a tablet when we have a computer at home?
Silly me.
My iMac is on all day every day (except at weekends when working is banned and it breathes a hot gusty sigh of relief). But my tablet is also in use daily – I use it for recipes in the kitchen, to prove I’m right when we’re arguing over who the bloke is in Vicious (yes, alright, it’s Derek Jacobi, I get it…), to add items to my grocery order (when I remember them as I finally sit down in the armchair and can’t be arsed to run back upstairs to the computer), and to stream movies to the tv. The children all have their own tablets – but it appears that it’s MY tablet that has become the ‘family tablet’ and has become the automatic choice for group movie watching over casual lunches, game playing on holiday and YouTube sharing when the teen has found yet another new band/song/movie trailer to show me…
And when we travel, the tablet becomes my sole business access. I use it for everything… and every single time we’re away, I swear that next time I’m going to buy a laptop because using a tablet for more than random browsing is just… painful. Frankly I just miss my keyboard!
So when Venturer asked if we’d like to review the new BravoWin 2 in 1 tablet I was really excited to see how it performed – with an Intel Atom 1.3 GHz processor running Windows 10 and 2 GB RAM it should certainly be adequate for basic browsing, plus blogging/emailing etc.
And it might just be a perfect step towards a laptop for an older child; without the big investment. Priced at under £150, this tablet won’t break the bank… but will it perform well enough to keep a busy family happy?
I passed it over to Tanya from HappyHandley blog – as a ridiculously busy Home Educating mother to four, I thought that if the Venturer BravoWin could handle her day-to-day requirements, it would handle most people’s :)
Tanya says…
I’m not sure when we went from being a family of small children playing Barbie and Thomas the Tank to being a family of tablets and youTube. I think it was a slow transition, but even with 2 iPads, a pc and a Kindle Fire we still didn’t seem to have enough to go around. With 4 children, a hubby and myself we were always short of screens.
When I was offered to try out the Venturer BravoWin 2in1 tablet/laptop I jumped at the chance. Excellent, I might finally be able to blog in peace!
Its a great little laptop; easy to use (even *I* managed to figure it out!), and it converts very easily into a tablet. I really like the way the keyboard is attached by magnets so popping the screen on for laptop mode is super easy. The 10.1 inch screen is crisp and clear, which makes it perfect for a cheeky bit of Netflix when the children have stolen the TV!
In terms of connectivity, the Venturer BravoWin is equipped with HDMI and USB ports, and connects via Bluetooth and wifi (no ethernet port for wired cabling). There’s also a handy Micro SD Card Slot (up to 64GB) to expand your space if necessary.
For me the one downfall is the camera – there’s front and rear facing cameras, but they are both only 2mp… When you’re used to a 12mp on your phone, that’s quite a drop! But the kids didn’t notice, and snapped stupid pictures of themselves gurning into the screen quite happily.
Obviously as it’s windows the app store is more limited than Android or Apple, but to compensate you do of course get Office Mobile which includes Word, Excel and PowerPoint
When not in use I found the battery lasted considerably longer if the tablet was turned off completely rather than just on standby.
The children gave it a test drive too, of course; 8yr old R prefers to type with a proper keyboard so she really enjoys using it as a laptop, whereas the younger ones preferred to use it as a tablet. All of the children found it simple to navigate, and quickly found the way to play all their favourite games and inevitably to watch YouTube.
At £149.99 I think the Venturer BravoWin is a great option for us. I have loved using it myself for online shopping, blogging and general day-to-day noodling. The kids have found it does everything they need, and I particular like the fact that they have the option available to use (and learn to use) a full size keyboard. I definitely recommend (and have already done so to friends and family!).
The Venturer BravoWin with the 10.1″ screen is currently available on Amazon for £147.08
