I tested this Meep tablet myself before handing it off to any kids to try, so this review is from an adult's point of view.
***EDIT 10/12/12: To readers with a Meep!: If you're having any kind of bugs or issues, please upgrade to the latest version of the OTA software (Version 1.2 on Oct 12, 2012), which fixed nearly all of the bugs and issues I have experienced with the Meep. To upgrade, tap on the lower right hand corner of the Meep where it says the time. Clicking on the time will pop up a little window, and there should be a tiny status update symbol that says something like "OTA update ready to download". Make sure your battery has a mostly-full charge, as it takes some time and juice to upgrade, then click on that and confirm you want it to download the upgrade. Once it seems to have finished everything, click the time again to see if any more upgrades are available, and repeat the process till you appear to be up to date (this entire process may take many days). You can check the version of your software by clicking the "Help" icon from the home screen.***
***EDIT 12/26/12: It appears that many people are experiencing problems with the new Meep! OTA software. I have not experienced these issues personally but if you are considering buying, you should absolutely read all of the comments on this review to see what many parents are having to deal with. It sounds like many of the latest updates have made things worse, not better, and have proven a mess for parents trying to get things set up.***
*Things I like about the Meep!:
Runs Android 4.
SD card slot for expansion.
VERY easy to get online initially. Came fully charged, thank goodness, and I was browsing the internet on my wifi connection in about three minutes, most of which was spent looking for my wifi password.
The orange part seen in the photo is just a silicone sleeve that is easy to remove or put back on. So if your kid's not a fan of orange, just take the sleeve off. Their site shows other colors of sleeve available for purchase, like pink and blue.
The voice control for typing is fantastic, just like my smart phone.
Liked that a lot of the games included are ones like Angry Birds that anyone can enjoy.
Cord to charge in an outlet is long and easy to use.
Can view the screen from any angle.
Integration with YouTube is now fully functional with Version 1.2 software, and I had a total blast watching Maru and other silly cat videos online.
I have not personally tested this, but it appears to have the capability of doing video chat. If you are a parent who travels, this could be a fun way of staying in touch with your kid and getting to see them on the nights you aren't home. Of course, you could always use Skype on the family computer, but this could be a way of getting in touch easily with your child without having to pre-arrange a time with your spouse.
*Things I don't like:
Lots of lag time between when you select an action and when it finishes loading. It can take a minute or more to start up, and 15-30 seconds to load the games screen or apps, or whatever.
The device feels overly heavy and I don't enjoy holding it up in one hand. I wanted to set it on my chest or on a table to use because of the weight. This may make it more durable, so it's possible this is a plus overall, but I disliked that.
The screen sits low, 1/4 inch under the front of the device. This is a benefit if your kids intend to drop and smash it a lot, as it protects the screen. However, it also makes it hard to push some of the controls. For example, when browsing the internet, I kept wanting to press a button right in the upper corner and it was tough to make the push register.
Speakers are on the back of the device, so they're directed at other people rather than the user.
The camera lens is on the front only, so it's hard to take pics/ video of something besides yourself. There's no screen on the back, so if you do turn the Meep around to take a photo or video, you also have to reach around to the front to snap the pic or start/ stop the video.
Video and photo quality is poor in comparison to smart phones and other tablets. (I've uploaded a video as an example, and you can see my photos at top to view quality.)
The orange sleeve makes it difficult to turn the device on or off, as it's a very thick sleeve and the button's set close against the device.
Cord to connect to computer is about eight inches long, which makes it tough to control while plugged into the computer.
Recommended for ages six and up, yet some of the apps on it are clearly for tiny kids. There's a "toddler songs" app which is clearly meant for, duh, toddlers and not the six and up crowd. The ebook "Muddypaws" is another thing that's meant for the littlies. When my niece was six she was reading books with lots of words, not storybooks with a sentence on each page.
In addition, clicking on the "Safety" section brings up horribly condescending safety instructions like "Be polite and kind to others" and "Do not make threats". Seriously? If someone is old enough to understand what making a threat is, does anyone think they'd be swayed by a little orange splat of a cartoon character telling them not to? They should have eliminated the "Safety" section as it's condescending and unhelpful.
If you have spotty internet service like I do, you may find that apps from Google Play don't fully install the first time - same with the OTA upgrades, and this can be frustrating because the Meep doesn't deal with that gracefully. There are a few apps I have had to install a couple times before they'd work, and the OTA upgrades can take days because they seem to stop updating when there's a blip in internet service, yet the meep sits there acting like it's doing something (which it isn't). This isn't an issue I have with other devices, and it's frustrating.
Can't stream videos from my Amazon Unbox account because Amazon Unbox needs Flash, which apparently no Android device supports. This isn't the Meep's fault, but is something you should know before buying a tablet for a kid (My extensive Olivia collection in Unbox is apparently only good on my desktop!).
The online instructions and FAQ read like someone from another country created them, with numerous spelling and grammatical errors. When I think of a company like "Oregon Scientific", I like to hope that even if they do farm out the work overseas, that they'd at least take the time to EDIT the work that's done!
I don't like that they make you give a credit card number to sign up for the parental portal. This felt invasive. They charge the card $1 and give you 100 coins for that, which is enough to purchase an app in the Meep Store. There are a number of apps for 100 coins ($1), but many, such as the Spiderman app, are $3.
EDIT: 9/13/12 I called support (1-800-853-8883) for help with some of the issues I was having with the Meep, and it was a mess. The person on the other end did not speak English well, and did not have any idea how to do things as basic as check for the version number of the software or install the software (she had to put me on hold to look that up, and actually got it wrong before she got it right). She advised me that my early issues with the parental control portal were due to me using the wrong browser (I use Chrome), so I dutifully opened up a Firefox browser as advised, only for the Meep site itself to tell me to switch to Chrome! And of course, every time I asked a question, I got put on hold for two minutes while she figured out the answer. Then at the end, she told me she'd just signed me up for the Meep email newsletter. She didn't ask, she just told me she'd done it, and then acted snippy when I asked her to please UN-sign me up. Calling support took some time and was extremely frustrating.
Overall:
I like the concept of a children's tablet and see a lot of great potential here. I am relieved that most of the bugs I initially experienced with the Meep have been fixed with operating system upgrades that I've downloaded to the Meep, and in the two days I've been able to play with the Meep since then, I've been having a much better time using the Meep. I do feel their attitude towards offering support needs a major overhaul (read above). But the Meep seems exceptionally sturdy and with the latest updates to the software, it's a serious, if imperfect, addition to the tablet scene.
If your intention is to give it as a gift, I'd open it a week early and download all the upgrades (it took my Meep a number of days to fully upgrade) plus get the parental portal set up, so the gift will be fun and not frustrating.