Educational toy maker LeapFrog has released the successor to its child-friendly LeapPad and LeapPad Explorer tablets: the LeapPad 2. While the overall design of the tablet looks very similar to its predecessors, the LeapPad 2 sports some internal hardware upgrades, an improved high-resolution front camera, and an all-new rear camera - each of which can also capture video.
The LeapPad 2 is aimed toward children aged three to nine years old and can be controlled with fingers or stylus. The tablet ships with five apps: Pet Pad, Cartoon Director, LeapFrog Learning Songs and Art Studio, plus one free download of a popular title of the user's choice. More content can be purchased as a cartridge or via the online LeapFrog App Center, which is a repository of games, apps, books, music and videos, in addition to "Ultra-eBooks" - educationally-themed eBooks containing movie-style graphics and written in three tiers of complexity to suit each child's own needs.
Under the hood, memory has doubled to 4GB since the original LeapPad and processor speed is increased from 393 MHz to 550 MHz. The 5-inch touch screen's resolution is unchanged at 480 x 272, though the unit's four AA batteries now give a reported nine hours of usage, which is an extra hour.
The LeapPad 2 will log all relevant data gleaned from children's play time and parents can choose to be updated via email on their child's learning progress, with areas which need more attention highlighted.
The LeapPad 2 comes in green, pink and a Disney Princess bundle. It is now available in much of the northern hemisphere at a price of US$99.99 and is set to appear in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand and other Asian regions later this year.
The promo video below shows the LeapPad 2 in further detail.
Source: LeapFrog
