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Despite running on Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the Archos ChildPad doesn't get any love from Google, though we're not sure whether it's a lack of certification or a belief in a ring-fenced web that persuaded Archos to leave off access to Google Play apps.
Instead, Archos has downloaded a flurry of apps - essentially from Google Play - to the Archos ChildPad before bolting the door.
There are no official Google apps, so the likes of Gmail is via a browser only, but some standard Android apps remain, such as Camera, Clock and Settings. The lack of any social media apps will likely put off anyone over the age of about eight years old, though all websites can be visited if that parental software is left unactivated.
AppsLib is the big news on the Archos ChildPad, and for the most part it's a sensible, if basic approach. Its 30,000 apps are divided into Selection and Top 50 on the home page, with Categories (Books & Comics, Education and the slightly ill-judged 'Productivity'), and My Apps.
Although some apps have a green tick and the word 'approved' by the side of them, we do have a problem with MyLib in that it's not been designed for kids.
As well as requiring an account to be set up, something an adult could and should be in charge of, apps are sold in both Euros and US dollars, which is confusing. It would have been better to ring-fence free, approved apps that a child could download and install.
We have a bigger problem with the Puzzle (Flight Frenzy, Memory for Kidz), Learning (Word Tree 3D, Math for Kidz), Entertainment (Mini Piano Lite, Magic Doodle) and Games (Angry Birds, Glow Hockey, Speed Skater and Stellar Escape) groupings of apps on the home screen, which have a few French language apps in them.
There are also adverts embedded in some of these apps, which advertise other games but take you straight to the security warning panel in the browser if you interact with them.
