I am dealing with some serious health issues and I’ve been thinking that right now a tablet would be much easier for me to use than my laptop. I’m fairly familiar with desktops and laptops but I’m a total doofus when it comes to tablets. I’ve never had one and have no idea how to select one. With all the medications I’m taking right now I fear making a bad choice. Here’s what I’d like to do with it.
I’d like to be able to browse the 'net. Primarily I want to read message boards, shop on ebay, watch youtube videos, and read other people’s Facebook pages. (I don’t have one of my own.) I have an early generation Kindle that won’t hold a charge much any more. I’d like to read the Kindle books I already own (and maybe download some new ones). Watching movies and older television shows might be cool too.
I play a lot of games at pogo.com so that’s important to me. Some of their games require Java and some require Flash.
Ease of use is important. My vision isn’t the best, so a large easy-to-see screen would be great.
The Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" Tabletseems to have good reviews but I’m not sure if it does everything I want. I’m not sure any tablet does everything I want. What do you think? Would I get more bang for my buck with another device? Your insight and advice would be appreciated.
I have an Asus Transformer 101 with the extra keyboard. I love it, I have added this heavy and klunky gooseneck mount to hold it mostly steady while I watch or listen to media, read - though for typing I put it on my hospital table and games I will put it on the table or in my lap. I bought sugru modeling silicon glop to replace the protective pads that one commentor said were inclined to slide off.
Hm, the tablet is larger than what you looked at, but I treat mine as more of a small laptop for functionality - I wanted a larger sort of screen to make surfing and doing email easier on the eyes, and I will pull up recipes to use in the kitchen and I definitely don’t want to have to pick up and scrutinize the tablet to find out whether it is baking soda or baking powder I need right that instant!
I do a lot of reading, and I find calibre on my full sized laptop interfaces just fine with my tablet. It will not support flash, and I was under the impression that ther eis not currently a tablet that does support flash. You might try hitting up the various forums for the different tablets you are interested in.
Reason I ask is because if you are not willing to travel the learning curve to master a different system (like me) then if you’re a Mac person, go for an Apple product. If you’re used to Android, look for tablets that use an Android platform.
Personally, I am used to Android since I’ve had those smartphones for years. Because of that familiarity, I bought a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 tablet a couple of years ago and found it very easy to familiarize myself with it. My usage is similar to yours - web browsing, a couple of message boards.Haven’t had a problem with videos at all, but I don’t play games on mine.
I use a windows computer and have an android phone, but I love my iPad. I bought one when they first came out and then a newer model last year. I love it, but no flash, and that’s a real pain sometimes.
If you could do without flash, I’d say get an iPad.
Any tablet will let you do that. I don’t mean that flippantly, just that you don’t need to worry about finding the one tablet that doesn’t access Facebook.
Kindle has an app for both Android and iOS so you should be able to access your library on either style of device. Likewise, both will give you access to Netflix, Hulu and similar services.
iOS products (iPads) don’t support Flash. Android still does but Flash is going out as a system anyway. Don’t forget that either operating system has thousands upon thousands of games for it as well, many of them free. That includes card games, board style games, mahjong, etc. But if you’re committed to Pogo.com (I’m not familiar with it, maybe you have rankings or friends there) then iPad won’t support Flash which could be a problem.
iPads are very easy to use. Android isn’t so much “harder” as that there’s a lot of different versions and manufacturers tend to tweak it a little for their products. So a lot like Macs vs Windows machines. I personally like 10.1" screens but I don’t really travel with my tablet and just use it around the house or a hotel room on vacation. If you want something for the bus or whatever you might want a smaller screen.
The Kindle you’re asking about is a solid machine. Amazon has done well with making the Kindle a real competitor in the tablet field. It does have the one drawback of not being able to access the Google Play store which is the largest source of Android apps. Instead it uses the Amazon app store (go figure) which is also very large but smaller than Google’s Play store.
If not a Kindle, I’d look at the tablets made by Samsung, Asus or the Google Nexus line (which is currently made by Asus). Do not buy one of the $125 knock-off models you’ve never heard of. There’s deals and tablets that offer more for the buck than others but, broadly speaking, with tablets you get what you pay for and the cheap ones are garbage.
If you are interested in an iPad and health issues are a consideration, here is a link to Apple’s iOS Accessibility page. It has information on such features as VoiceOver, Speak Selection, Dictation, Siri commands, screen Zoom, Closed Captions, hearing aids, Braille displays, etc.
I always give the same advice: go to a store that lets you try one. The things that will cause you to love it or hate it are largely subjective: responsiveness, how it feels in your hands, the look of the screen, the way you navigate menus and apps.
Wow. Thank you aruvqan, chiroptera, Pai325, Jophiel, zbuzz, tellyworth, and thelurkinghorror for all your info and advice. Your posts were all very helpful. Unfortunately going to the store to examine devices with my own hands is not an option for me right now. It looks like I may have to sacrifice the games at pogo.com. If I choose an iPod or other non-kindle option, how hard would it be to download my Kindle books to the new device?
OP, please clarify why you think your health issues would make a tablet a better choice as I, personally, would think the opposite: 1. that you need high manual dexterity to use a tablet successfully–otherwise your clumsy fingers would keep making mistakes–so a large keyboard is better. 2. That a large screen is much easier to see than the small screens on tablets. 3. That the tinny little speakers on tablets are hard to hear. In fact I consider a desktop to be the best choice.
Was referring more to “out of the box” style stuff rather than 3rd party services that could be disrupted, Google changing how they check*, rooting your device, etc.
You can get Flash-compatible browsers for Android. iOS straight up doesn’t support it though.
Incredibly easy. You just download the Kindle app (from Amazon app store for Android or Apple App Store), install it and log in. All of your books should be accessible. You’ll have to re-download them to your device, of course.
I’m assuming that your “Kindle books” were all purchased through Amazon’s Kindle service and weren’t downloaded from other sites (plenty of places offering free books).
Get the Kindle app. log in with the same username/password that you use for Amazon and go for it. Ninjaed by Jophiel
I’ve had a 1st Gen. iPad (nice), a 1st Gen. Nexus 7 (which I didn’t really like - the battery life was awful and the buttons were poorly placed). I’ve now got a Nexus 7 (2013) which I love - a few tweaks can make for a much longer battery time (the button placement still could use some work).
My wife has had a few iPads - the newer ones really aren’t much different from the old ones apart from a camera, faster processor and higher res. screeen.
I looked at the iPad mini but figured that the N7 was better bang for the buck (for me).
If you want something to work straight from-the-box and don’t mind the look and feel of iOS go for an Apple. If you like to tinker or customise the look and feel of your device (different icon sets etc) something running Android may be a better bet.
Perhaps in the holding and supporting of a tablet is easier - I know I have stopped reading tree books because the arthritis in my hands simply doesn’t like the weight of a hardback or larger paperback.
Sorry, not sure what you mean. Rooting or otherwise voiding warrany is absolutely not necessary here. Updating them might be more of a pain in the ass, yes. But I’m not sure if it’s even possible for Google to disrupt your programs. It might introduce bugs - Firefox has some bizarre Swype errors on Kindle (not sure if also on other platforms).
Transferring books is easy. Most things are linked to your account already and run on the app there (no comment on if the functionality is different on iPad et al.) On a Kindle they also provide a email address to send things to your device. You can also do a search here or elsewhere on how to convert book formats and just copy normally. I think that’s supposed to be a more “grey” area, especially if the book has DRM, so no further information. And reading PDFs or some other formats can be harder.
I meant that I assume CowPatty is looking for the easiest and most solid & reliable manner of getting stuff. Not third party work-arounds and the like. I didn’t mention rooting explicitly about your site, rather just that yeah there’s ways to get Google Play on different devices but I doubted they wanted to rely on that.
Your site appears to download the .apk file from Google Play and then distribute it to you to sideload. Which I assume is a violation of the copyright on the app and Google’s Terms of Service but how much anyone cares about that is up to them.
Anyway, I suspect this is getting more technical than anything that will help CowPatty.
For what it’s worth: I’ve been using computers since the 80s and none of them were made by Apple. This year I bought an iPad Air; it has a short learning curve, but is very easy to use. I would get one that has cellular capability along with wi-fi so you can use it where there is no wi-fi network. There are game apps galore, and a lot of them are free, so you shouldn’t have a problem there.
I was given an iPad Air for Christmas. I like it and use it a lot. It has cellular connectivity and I use that function more than anything else. I envisioned using it more as a photo album, to show other people pictures of things but I find iPad’s photo management system pretty irritating to use. I am happy with it but if something happened to it I would replace it with something that runs Windows.
Just my .02.
Thank you for the continued responses. I am learning a lot. I’ve already changed my mind at least three times about which device I’m leaning toward. And aruvqan is correct about my physical difficulties. I suspect holding and supporting a tablet would be easier for me.