Tablets

Marc

Marc

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Looking for a tablet for my dad. He currently has an ageing laptop which e constantly has problems with and we think he would be better off with a tablet. My father-in-law showed him his Kindle Fire last week which he seemed quite taken with but then my sister pointed out a Lenovo Tab 4 (even though she uses an iPad) so that's confused him a little.The Lenovo is also £40 more than the kindle.

We have an iPad so have no experience of either Android or Fire tablets so I'm looking to find out the difference between the systems and if one is more intuitive than the other. He's 83 and not very technologically minded so it needs to be as simple as possible.

I'm taking him out to buy one on Thursday. :help:
 
Hi, I have an Lenovo Tab 10" screen, only two buttons to worry about on the outside on/off and volume, gives a good clear image on screen although like most it struggles in harsh sunlight. Icons are big enough to see and touch, obviously no book reader as far as I no but I use as a screen with QDSL Dashboard to controll my camera and view a larger image than the LCD screen on the back of the camera. Also have an older Kindle but just for reading books and the like. Russ.
 
TBH Marc, I would recommend a small laptop, depending on what he wants it for
One of my elderly neighbours needed a new device earlier this year, told her to go somewhere like PC world and they
would help her, but no she went to John Lewis, got a smallish tablet which she just couldn't get the hang of at all,
liked to have a keyboard and use of a mouse
 
Gremlin said:
TBH Marc, I would recommend a small laptop, depending on what he wants it for
One of my elderly neighbours needed a new device earlier this year, told her to go somewhere like PC world and they
would help her, but no she went to John Lewis, got a smallish tablet which she just couldn't get the hang of at all,
liked to have a keyboard and use of a mouse
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He's had a play with our iPad and my FIL's Kindle (both 10 inch) and he seemed to get on better than his laptop, I think the mouse & keyboard just get in the way
 
russellsnr said:
Hi, I have an Lenovo Tab 10" screen, only two buttons to worry about on the outside on/off and volume, gives a good clear image on screen although like most it struggles in harsh sunlight. Icons are big enough to see and touch, obviously no book reader as far as I no but I use as a screen with QDSL Dashboard to controll my camera and view a larger image than the LCD screen on the back of the camera. Also have an older Kindle but just for reading books and the like. Russ.
Click to expand...

Thanks Russ
 
if he likes the Ipad that's the choice i would go for, there pretty much fool proof when it comes to finding your way around them once there set up

i'm an Android fan personally but i do have an ipad as well, My 8 year daughter ( Kate ) who has severe learning difficulties has had one for the last couple of years and she gets along fine with it which tells me if Kate can use one fluently more or less anybody can
 
cosmicma said:
if he likes the Ipad that's the choice i would go for, there pretty much fool proof when it comes to finding your way around them once there set up
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He likes both but the iPad is way over budget!
 
Don't go for a Kindle if you think he might need GPS. They don't have them built it. In my opinion, the best Android tablet you can get for the money is the Huawei MediaPad M3 8.4. Have a look at the reviews on YouTube to see why. They were over £300 new but I picked one up second hand and in immaculate condition for £135. It has 4 GB RAM, 32 GB storage, 2560x1600 display, Android 7, dual 8MP cameras, brilliant (and loud) Harman Kardon speakers, a fingerprint sensor, and a 5100 mAh battery that lasts me more than a day. A really excellent tablet.
 
Neilc28 said:
1st Gen iPad Air’s got quite sluggish on iOS11, would definitely go for an Air2 refurb at minimum, certainly wouldn’t pay a premium for an iPad when the experience wouldn’t be smooth. It’s also too soon to judge whether iOS12 solves this...
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just updating my wifes ipad air gen 1 to IOS 12 as i type this and before i started the update it was running IOS 11.3 and it was not sluggish at all

have you read somewhere about them being sluggish or is it from your own experience with the 1st gen ipad airs ?

an ipad air 2 would be great but if money is a concern it's gonna cost another 100 quid to get one in any sort of condition hence my suggestion of the 1st gen air
the price is quite reasonable second hand now and they are still reasonably up to date software wise so to speak
 
My own experience, I now have an Air2 but when I had the original Air I was running minimal apps, had it factory reset and still it was a bit glitchy. After researching further I found I was not alone and that it was unique to iOS 11, can't comment on 11.3 as I believe I had sold it by then and moved onto my Air2.
 
I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7-inch, which I use virtually every day for playing games, emails and generally browsing the internet. I have found it excellent compared to the Tesco Hudl I had before. Generally with Android tablets unless the manufacturer really customised there version of Android they are pretty much the same. Another thing I liked over the Hudl was the menu button to get to all the apps.There are larger versions, and looking at Amazon, a large spread of prices. :confused: Not sure the differences between them all. :thinking:

With any Android tablet I would look for a pretty recent version of Android, as if you get one too old, newer apps may not be available. And most tablets don't allow you to upgrade to a newer version.
 
I'd always be a little wary when it comes to buying second hand and Li-ion batteries which can't be swapped out. Lifespan could be shot.
 
My old mum couldn't cope with a laptop anymore. So I got her an "Acer Iconia Tab 10". It gave her a new lease of life and a year and a half later the Tablet is going well. Only Skype's famous UI mess ups confuse her now.

My girlfriend didn't want a tablet to replace her laptop. So I bought a convertible 12" laptop/tablet with detachable keyboard, (Odys12) which came with an Android office suite on it. Now she has taken to using it as a tablet. And rarely uses the keyboard.
 
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Voice recognition is also surprisingly good and accurate now as well.
 
gman said:
Voice recognition is also surprisingly good and accurate now as well.
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Yes, that's one of the things my father-in-law loves about the Fire as he's blind and relies on Alexa a lot. It works very well given that, after 30+ years, I still struggle to understand half of what he says! :LOL:
 
Well, the deed is done, spent the afternoon setting it up for them and showing them how to use it. Trying to instill in them that it's a touch screen and not a push screen! :rolleyes:

chrism8 said:
Certainly recommend a Galaxy Tab A, been using one for years, Android based and excellent.
Click to expand...

Went with the Galaxy tab A6 in the end and they're pretty happy as was I as it would have taken a lot longer to set up if it was a Fire!
 
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