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It is 20x15x1cm and weights 426grams. The viewable screen is 16x12cm giving the notional diagonal imperial measurement of 8 inches.

The tablet itself worked fine it comes up with the logo nextbook during boot up. The boot takes around 20 seconds with shutdown being less than two seconds. Battery life was rather good and no doubt it will be left in standby most of the time.

It is Android 4.1.1 which today seems rather old but it is stable. The Wi-Fi on it works well but there is no Bluetooth.

It comes with 8GB of flash memory and it can also support a micro SD card up to 32GB. Apart from basic Android it comes with a single App installed called iNote which I assume should work in conjunction with other items.

The top of the right side – when held in portrait mode – has the volume up and down rocker button.

All the other connections are along the top. These are mini HDMI, micro SD slot, micro USB, DC input and headphone/earbud socket. Finally the on/off button, the unit comes with a soft carry pouch.

There is a perfectly adequate Getting Started Sheet that describes the unit’s connections etc.

The unit is charged by a 1.4metre long lead ending in a power brick with a two pin plug. There are also two USB leads supplied both one metre long, the first USB to micro USB and the second USB to mini USB which is what connects to the pen mentioned below.

When I requested this unit the opening price was £69.99 with the bundle I am about to try to describe, before it arrived I was told they were sold out and a new batch would be available at £79.99.

The bundled items had no instructions this was a folder of 28.5x19.5x2cm. When flipped open the tablet should I assume sit in the right part of it but as the fitting is 23.5x16cm the tablet is not properly held in place.

The left side I assume is designed to hold papers as there are two clips at the base there is a micro USB lead (13cm long) emerging from an area just below the clips.

The pen is described in the press release as a ‘Bluetooth Pen’ as the unit does not have Bluetooth I assume this is a mistake, it does write and has a button its edge which I assume should have a purpose but without any instructions both the oversized flip case and pen were of little use.

As a basic Android unit it works OK with decent batter life.

As something to save a child’s back the idea is nice and if all the textbooks they need were available digitally it would be good.

But giving a child a tablet with no safety barriers from the wider Internet is not a good idea the charger I was sent would need to be connected via a shaver adapter again not a good idea and the pen and case seemed to have no real relevance as there is no Bluetooth and the case was oversized. Perhaps if I had had instructions then I could have made sense of it.

I print in full the relevant part of the reply I received from the company to the questions I raised.

The pen connects with the receiver on the case and transmits signals to the tablet via the USB cable.

The tablet would come preloaded with a third party parental control app on it - Net Nanny.

The pen is primarily used for students' illustrations in diagrams/pictures.

iNote stops working when a previous file is not properly saved; you may need to close the app and reopen it to be able to use it properly.

Finding a link to it now shows it at £99.

https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/8091-happybird