Chinese tech giant Huawei is rolling out the latest iteration of its MediaPad tablet, which now comes equipped with family-friendly features including a “Kid’s Corner,” an eye-comfort mode and built-in fingerprint sensors to enable parental controls.
Announced at the CES in Las Vegas today, Huawei’s M5 will be packaged with the latest M-Pen Lite stylus and priced at US$299 when it becomes available in late January on Amazon and Newegg in the US.
In addition to an updated design and screen, the 10.1-inch device now includes a customized environment for children where parents can set time limits and control access to content. Once a parent/guardian and child have both registered their fingerprints, the Kid’s Corner app will automatically open and lock in when a kids fingerprint is used, and then switch back to regular mode when the adult’s print is entered. This kid-friendly section also lets parents see statistics on what their children are doing there.
In answer to health concerns, the M5 tablet has a new distance sensor that detects when the tablet is less than 9.8 inches away from a face, and will then remind the user audibly and visually to move the tablet back. And if they are looking at the device while lying down or at certain angles, a posture sensor will kick in and encourage them to find a better body position. A blue ray filter also mitigates eye strain by blocking out that color of light, and the ambient light sensor adapts on-screen color and brightness automatically based on surroundings.