If you don't feel like shelling out the $499 or more that a top of the line Android tablet will cost, Amazon's Kindle Fire may fit the bill. It boasts some solid 7" tablet hardware, with a relatively small price tag of $199. I'm sure we've all heard about Amazon's pricing strategy whereby they take a slight loss on the device with the hopes of making it back several times over through selling content. They've done a great job making that content very easy to acquire, and with the ability for Amazon Prime members to stream lots of content to the Kindle Fire with no additional fee, they should do quite well with this device.

Amazon has done a very nice job streamlining the user interface to incentivize us meddling geeks to leave their highly-customized Android interface alone, but should the mood strike (and we all know it will), there are resources all over the tubes that will help you root the wee tablet and make it your own. That said, your intended recipient should be taken into consideration before deciding its fate. My mom's Christmas present will have Amazon's intended interface quite intact, but perhaps the one you give your daughter will not?