Hi,I've got friend who is an older lady and she'd like to get a tablet for general web browsing. She'd also like pre-paid data. I have no idea about tablets, so advice and recomendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Tablet for Older Lady
subywagon on 24/01/2016 - 11:58
Comments
The one from Aldi will do :)
You'd need a 3G or 4g unlocked tablet then. Much more expensive than wifi only models. Doubt an old lady will use a mifi dongle
What kinds of price would a 3 or 4G tablet me arounds? She's pretty adament that she doesn't want NBN on as she wont use it excessively.
For iPad it is minimum $100 more than wifi models.
I agree with OZBargain Police but without the snark. People can love or hate Apple, but its hard to dispute the fact you'd get the simplest tablet out there to use, plus they without question offer the best level of customer support. I know this having had Ipads and Nexus tablets break down on me in the past…
You've given no indication on your budget, but as you have said cellular connection is important- I would suggest this is your entry point into the market (apple refurbished ipad mini 2):
http://www.apple.com/au/shop/product/FE814X/A/refurbished-ip…
If budget is tight, feel free to venture down the cheap android route, but please do your research as you could buy a paperweight. For what its worth my Nexus 7 (2013) was great until it started dying on me. Android is still less intuitive vs IOS at present.
She has NBN connection available if she wants to activate, but she a bit of a technophobe and weirdly doesn't want to activate it. I might look into cheap deals for her, as she won't use the tablet outside of her home. I'm not 100% sure of her budget, just something fairly cheap as she's only you g to be web browsing, no movies etc. I was thinking a cheap Ipad. It would have to be something new, not 2nd hand.
Tablet for Older Lady
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I know a few old ladies who have very little technological knowledge and they pretty much all have ipads. I think the reason they all have ipads is either their children bought it or they observed each other using an ipad and purchased it. Never used an android tablet so can't comment on it but I can see for a basic user perspective that ipad is simple but not so much from a backend. The settings in ios take some figuring out and not having the ability to drag and drop or lack of file system is annoying. Sure you may think these things aren't important initially but my observation of basic ipad users is that they think they are buying an ipad for one reason and then they realise all the cool things they can do with it. This will lead to questions on things where drag and drop or a file system may be required such as with photos.
On that topic of the reasons a person buying a tablet changing with time would apply to the internet too. The person may be buying it for some basic internet browsing and then they realise that they can watch videos or send photos etc. All these things eat into data. Not to mention app updates. App updates eat a lot of data and for instance on apple you could have 5 to 10 updates a week depending on how many apps you have.
Does this lady have the ability to go into the store and buy the appropriate recharge credit and be able to recharge her device? It may sound like a silly question but I've observed some old ladies who have no problems using facebook but their technological knowledge does not extend to buying the right prepaid credit and recharging their device. Once a wifi modem is set up and the details inputted on the tablet, as long as everything is working there's not much else to do but make sure you don't go over your data and pay the bill.
Tablets that have a modem built in are more expensive. It may be a cheaper option to buy a wifi only tablet and a separate prepaid modem. Often coles and woollies have discounted modems in their catalogue. Just be aware the modem may be locked to a network. The advantage of having a separate modem is that she can turn it on when she uses the net and if she uses the tablet to say play offline games then she doesn't have to have the internet on and waste unnecessary credit in the background. She can obviously turn off the built in modem in the settings menu of say an ipad but she may not be confident enough to do that. I guess its an individual thing. Also you need to consider storage. App files are getting bigger and base models of tablets usually contain just 16gb including operating system so you need to consider whether its enough.
Just some advice. However you decide to help this lady do it in such a way that it will easier on you. Old ladies like to talk to their old lady friends about everything including their tablets or they will see her use the tablet. This conversation or observation will inevitably lead to topics where they have no technological knowledge and this will lead to being volunteered to help people you don't even know. I don't mind helping people but when your constantly hounded for tech support, it gets over the top and you become unfortunately less interested in being helpful especially when its the only thing some people will talk to you about. Hence why I know a few old ladies who have ipads if you get my drift.
Look these are some general thoughts. What you and the older lady choose to do is up to you.
You might want to start by looking at the ozbargain tablet deals section and maybe check out officeworks. Because of their price matching policy they generally but not always have lower prices. At least you will get some ideas.
If price isn't a concern and she has problems with eyesight:
- Samsung Galaxy View - if she doesn't need full portability
or
- Ipad Pro - I assume it's still small enough for the average old lady handbag but quite expensiveElse, an Ipad mini could do.
Ipad pro is too big to put in a hand bag.
I think your right in saying that a persons eyesight is an important factor when choosing a screen.
My brother bought my 70+ year old mother an iPad after her having a Nexus tablet. She actually struggles to use it more than the Nexus. She finds it extremely frustrating, so I'm going to completely disagree with most of the other comments and say avoid the iPad!
I think it might be more along the lines that a person has learnt a particular operating system and when they have to adapt to another they might finding it frustrating.
I find some things apple does annoying when I'm used to windows and then on the odd occasion they do something better. Everything has their pros and cons. That's why its up to the individual.
I think the issue always comes down to "ducklings". People are always more familiar with what they first used. If you start with an Android you will probably prefer Android - if you start with iPad you will probably prefer iPad. Personally I am an iPad person so I have learnt to live with the limitations because I see the positives. (The lack of "drag and drop" is not really a big issue because I am not loading and unloading stuff all the time from the tablet, and you can go straight to the store to download apps and there is always iCloud if needed.)
For home use look into a good ADSL service with a wireless router and set everything up for her. Once online it should be pretty much set and forget. If she has issues show her how to reboot the router as that often fixes the issues and how to check the wireless connection in her tablet.
Make sure you write down the sort of things she is likely to use often; I'm a big believer in documenting every thing so I don't need to remember.
Writing things down is a good idea. Its a good reference point.
It will make her more confident to try out a few things with the tablet without mucking things up. You can also show her that "Google is her friend". I use Google all the time to find out how to do things with my Ipad - the answers are usually pretty clear.
The other thing that might help her is to buy her some iTunes/Google cards for the app store; rather than leaving an open credit card on the respective store. I was never comfortable with Apple having an open credit card that doesn't limit how much can be purchased off it. This will allow her to download her freebie apps, and purchase ones she likes, without feeling exposed.
Whatever you are getting for her make sure you take her along to the store and see what she likes.
Get her an old iPad, to suit her old age.