Slashdot Mirror
Ask Slashdot: Easy Wi-Fi-Enabled Tablet For My Dad?
An anonymous reader writes "I'm looking to pick up a tablet for my father. He is in his 70s and the internet is a bit of a mystery to him, but he asked me about a way to send/receive email and watch online videos. He is not interested in getting a smartphone or changing his cheap phone plan that doesn't include data. But he is interested in getting a tablet and using the free Wi-Fi that is available in his building. Here is my question: can you recommend a tablet equivalent to those phones with the big numbers that they sell to older people? Does there exist a tablet with an interface that would be simple and easy to use for someone who has very little experience with computer GUIs?"
Likewise. My mother-in-law is in her mid-eighties and loves her Nexus 7. She still has pretty good eyes or I might have had to go with an iPad or some 10" Android tablet.
As it is, she has less problem seeing the display than she does manipulating it because of arthritis. My wife let her play with her iPad when she was here and the older woman still says she prefers the Nexus.
Of course, I set up her email and skype and the kindle app and put the websites she likes into an RSS reader. She shows off Google Now to all her old-lady friends, and they look at her like she's some bad-ass hacker because she can talk to her tablet and it goes and finds stuff for her, even with her Eastern European accent.
Saves us a bundle on phone bills too, because she prefers to skype us rather than using the phone. She can slip the Nexus into her coat pocket or handbag when she goes out and knows to go to a coffee shop or library or other place that has public wi-fi to connect. She's frugal, so she likes not having to have a telecom bill in order to connect when she's out and about. She lives in Belgrade, and apparently in her part of downtown there are lots of places with free wi-fi.
You are welcome on my lawn.