Last March, I decided to take a road trip with my children to Fort Worth during Spring Break. Thankfully, I have friends in high-tech places who hooked me up with some tech toys to make the trip go more smoothly. Among the swag were a DROID RAZR, a DROID XYBOARD and some supporting navigational and Wi-Fi tools. I was happy to test them out and report back, and my children were over-the-moon excited, as they don’t get their hands on the latest and greatest products very often.

Entertaining the Kiddos

My son immediately claimed the RAZR, announcing that he’d happily “trade in the iPhone for it any day.” He loved the super slim design, the easy navigation and the fact that he could set a very complicated password to keep his sister guessing. I was impressed with the quality of the camera—the 8-megapixel photos were clear enough that we used it exclusively to document the trip.

My daughter fell in love with the tablet. Like the RAZR, the XYBOARD is very lightweight and slim, and like any tablet, you can download games to keep any age child happy. By adding a Verizon jetpack, we were able to stream movies from Netflix on the road without having to worry about Wi-Fi. The tablet proved its worth to me when I was able to download Hulu Plus and watch the season finale of “The Walking Dead” after the kids went to sleep—because I promise you don’t want to get in the way of me watching my zombies.

I enjoy traveling only once I reach my destination. I’ve never been one of those parents who can entertain children while in the car. If I’m driving I have to concentrate on the road, and since I flew solo on this mission it was very nice for each child to have to have a handheld device to entertain them. There was very little arguing, which was a welcome change. And despite both children being plugged into screens, we still chatted, laughed and sang along with the stellar Spotify play list I created and streamed through the RAZR.

Throughout the week, we used various apps to help us find the cheapest gas prices (Gas Buddy) and where we parked the car (Carr Matey). Open Table helped us find family-friendly food when we desperately needed it. In addition to Spotify, we entertained ourselves with music from Pandora.

Navigating the Road

Part of the test package included a navigation window mount. Inserting the RAZR into the mount turns it into a GPS device. Once we entered the Dallas metro area this became a lifesaver, although I have to say I’m not sure how it would have worked if I’d had to read it by myself while driving. Mounted to the window, it was too far away for me to really see my route. Luckily, my son was riding shotgun and used it to be a great front-seat navigator.

The only negative I found with either device was that they both tend to get very hot to the touch. After watching a movie and playing games for an hour or so, my daughter had to insulate her lap from the XYBOARD’s heat with a pillow. My son had the same issue with the RAZR and even felt compelled to turn in off every night in order to “let it chill out.”

We’re not a tech-heavy family, so I may not be the best at comparing devices. But all in all, I found both devices and their supporting accessories worthy additions to the family road trip. The products are child-friendly, easy to use and provide wonderful entertainment value.

(Disclaimer: In exchange for a week’s use of the smartphone, tablet and accessories, Jennifer agreed to share her thoughts and opinions in the magazine. Other than the loan of the devices, she was not compensated for this review.)