If you'll recall, it was just yesterday that the company announced its second iteration of the device, the LeapPad 2, and today we were able to spend some time with near production-quality engineering samples.
Join us after the break for a brief rundown of what's been improved and our initial impressions of both. While the LeapPad two looks nearly identical the original LeapPad Explorer, there are some notable enhancements. Moving around the device, all of the ports have remained the same and it still includes a stylus, but now there's a secondary front-facing 2MP video and stills camera for easier self-portraits the rear shooter has also been upgraded to the same resolution.
Aside from that, it still features an accelerometer and a resistive 5-inch touchscreen x , but we're told that this time around the screen is less power-hungry.
According to a LeapFrog rep, this allows for an extra hour of battery life from that of the previous generation. We did notice that the screen had a much warmer look to it, but we're told that the color-calibration is still being worked out. Internally, the unit now packs enhanced bracing for better durability, 4GB of storage up from two and a Mhz processor up from Sure those specs might seem weak up against the last smartphone, but its more than enough juice to run and growing apps LeapFrog has for it, not to mention that the new unit really is noticeably quicker.
Difference Between Similar Terms and Objects. MLA 8 S, Jeyakanth. Name required. Email required. Please note: comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment.
There is no need to resubmit your comment. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Written by : jeyakanth. I've got a ton of Enerloop rechargeables, so this was never an issue for me, but if you don't want to purchase rechargeables and also don't want to spend a fortune on alkaline batteries, this is definitely the way to go.
The LeapPad chewed through 4 AA batteries at an astonishing rate, but there have apparently been improvements in the LeapPad2 in terms of battery consumption. I don't have any hard-and-fast stats to give you, but it does seem like I haven't had to replace the rechargeables in the LeapPad2 near as often. This may not sound like a lot, but the apps that you can purchase online and download to the LeapPad2 are just not that large in size.
I downloaded 8 or 9 apps for the first version, and I didn't even come close to 1GB of usage. That said, videos and photos and artwork that your child creates are all stored locally, so your experience here may vary. Also, because most of the more advanced apps for the LeapPad2 come in cartridge format, these don't chew up your storage. A faster processor is now available, and that's one of the more noticeable improvements.
With the original LeapPad, there was some latency at times. It was most noticeable in the ebook apps where pages would turn or in games where new screens would need to be loaded.
That's definitely been fixed in the new version, and I was quite impressed with how fast apps would open and close. Screen size, resolution, and other features such as headphone jack and USB port all remain the same. The main unit itself is also the same size in terms of height and width, although they did change the color scheme; the original version has mainly white with green corners and the new version is mainly green with white corners. The green is also semi-metallic and has a nice look to it — I don't think my 2 year old cares, but I was secretly wishing for a metallic green finish for my iPad I was quite happy to see that cartridges I purchased for the LeapPad are compatible with the LeapPad2; kudos must be given to LeapFrog for ensuring that this compatibility has continued not only between LeapPad versions but also with the LeapPadGS that I'll cover shortly.
My 2 year old absolutely loves the LeapPad2. I don't allow him to use my iPad by himself, so he's quite impressed with himself when he's allowed to pick it up and walk around with it. We even let him take it with him in the car, although I've lost track of the number of times my wife has had to unbuckle to reach back and pick it off the floor after he's dropped it.
The key point here is that the thing is not only rock solid and tough, but that's its extremely engaging for a two year old. When he first turns it on, he sees a picture of himself and his name that he's since learned to tap on with the stylus to open up access to his apps. And even though he doesn't understand most of the rules of the games available or some of the more advanced drawing and animation tools such as those found in the really cool Disney drawing app , he still has a blast playing with it.
The LeapFrog Connect service is also still available; you can connect the LeapPad2 to your computer and upload data from the various apps that track your child's progress with spelling, math, reading, and more. It's not that useful for me right now with my 2 year old, but I imagine it won't be much longer before I can actually start making sense of some of the results.
It's more demanding than the Sonic title on Leapster 2, and involves a few maths challenges that are quite nicely slotted in to the main gameplay. My favourite, though, is Harmonies, a musical time waster which simply has four little characters singing along to a few classic ditties; the player's only input is to switch off the spotlight over any of the vocalists removing them from the soundtrack. For some reason this has amused me for ages.
Finally, the Explorer contains its own persistent virtual pet for users to look after. It appears on the menu screen, but also has its own little app, where your children can customise their creature and play a few micro-games with it.
It's a nice addition that would probably benefit from Bluetooth connectivity so the kids could exchange their creations. But then, the Explorer is still half the price of the DS, and all its games are clearly designed with the educational benefits in mind. My sons are definitely getting more use out of this than the old Leapster 2 — plus, they enjoy the convenience of having several mini-games available on the machine at once, rather than having to get mum or dad to swap DS carts over for them and we don't have that many DS titles that are suitable for young children, anyway.
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