Which tablet?

[Polar Bear]

I have been invited to select a tablet for sofa browsing and on the move use.  My old Galaxy S2 has become slow and clunky and unreliable as well as not being able to play a video clip for instance from the BBC website.   It doesn't need to be 4G capable as I will tether it to my phone.

I would like something that doesn't become a paperweight in a few months though with tablets I think that is almost impossible to avoid.   

Screen size is very important for me so around 10 inches is better.

Over to you guys for recommendations.   

[PaulF]

I'd go for an iPad, great screen, fast and reliable

[ian]

I still use an iPad 2 in the kitchen – that makes it about seven years old, so they don't necessarily become a paperweight. It's a bit slow but it's OK for looking things up when I'm cooking and playing tunes through the bluetooth box.

[Kim]

If you have any interest in VoiceOver at all, then an iThing.

[Polar Bear]

#2 son dropped in today.  He has an ipad 2 and says that it no longer gets ios upgrades and also some of bis apps are no longer upgrading.   He also has had it for 7 years.  A new ithingy is spendy but it might just have a far better life expectancy tgan the Samsung Paperweight 2 that I currently have.

Oooo, aaaaah, a 12.something inch pro version.   Nice!

[barakta]

Wile the iThings are spendy they are also very good

And I agree with Kim about Voice Over - that was on my list of things to suggest to you at an opportune moment. Most of my blind friends and acquaintances have iOS devices because of voice over which can be used to varying degrees and switched on/off with 3x press of the home button which is good for device sharing with non-speech-access users. It is better to start learning how to use this stuff *before* you really need it, and it might be a way to offload some of the effort of reading if you get fatigued easily.

[Polar Bear]

Wile the iThings are spendy they are also very good

And I agree with Kim about Voice Over - that was on my list of things to suggest to you at an opportune moment. Most of my blind friends and acquaintances have iOS devices because of voice over which can be used to varying degrees and switched on/off with 3x press of the home button which is good for device sharing with non-speech-access users. It is better to start learning how to use this stuff *before* you really need it, and it might be a way to offload some of the effort of reading if you get fatigued easily.

Hmmm, a very good case made.

Do you have any opinions across models?

[Kim]

If you're a *pure* voiceover user then I expect one IOS device is pretty much the same as another, bar unwieldiness and how long they're going to be updated for.

If you're going to be using the screen, obviously there's more to choose between them.

[barakta]

Kim gets to the point as usual  

I'm not a mac nerd these days so I don't know the specifics of models but the bigger iPads can be heavy and a bit unwieldy but you may prefer them from a vision perspective. You'll want to consider your ergonomics while using it for both reading and typing. When I bought my mum a 10" iPad for her 65th I got a fairly expensive logitech keyboard case so she has a reasonable keyboard for it which is well worth it in my view.

The best way to tell is narrow it down to a few options on Apple's website - they let you compare features then go to a suitable retailer and fondle a few to see how heavy they are etc. You may not be able to see how good the screens are till you try them and it's worth looking at accessibility options around tweaking fonts/colours/contrasts etc which may make a huge difference for you. If you know anyone who knows how to use the wretched things then they may make a useful companion, alternatively consider an actual apple store and if you can book some time with a genius for advice. One ex colleague who was blind used to use the store in Brum and said they were quite good - I imagine there's quiet times of day a retiree such as yourself could go in

[Aushiker]

I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 [SM-T819Y] and Anne has an iPad 4. The iPad 4 feels like a brick compared to the weight of my Galaxy Tab S2. I am very happy with my Galaxy Tab S2 but I am actually going to replace it with a Galaxy Tab A 8" as I want a smaller tablet for bikepacking/touring. The 10" Tab S2 is a tight squeeze in my framebag.

Oh I have moved well and truly on from Apple IOS products [still have my Macbook Pro but] and would not likely go back. I find the whole Android eco-system much more user friendly and functional for my usages including touring, riding up my daily ride notes etc.

[Karla]

I'm in the market for a tablet: for an extended touring trip this/next year, I'm thinking of one plus a bluetooth keyboard for the same sort of use: typing up daily notes plus a bit of light web browsing when I need to sort the internet side of officialdom. 

I'm thinking a 7" Kindle Fire, mainly because they're cheap and given that this is going to lead a hard life on the road, I don't want to be lugging around £300 worth of delicate electronics. 

Does someone want to talk me out of this idea?  What are the disadvantages of the Fire, compared to a vanilla Android tablet?

[hubner]

Do iPads have memory card slots?

If you want to move your files around between devices easily then a memory card slot is essential.

[pcolbeck]

Do iPads have memory card slots?

No. And they dont even have a file manager. They are getting one shortly I think.
With an iPad Dropbox is your friend.

[Feline]

If you have other iThings the iPads are very good at seamlessly syncing your stuff to all your ddvices over the cloud without actually haveing to do anything. Manually transferring files is not something you really need to be doing these days.

I would recommend iPads for your sofa surfing purpose. Not particularly robust for cycle touring though. Mine will fit in a Barley but needs wrapping in bubble wrap for protection.

[hubner]

I have the use of an old iPad mini, it's not mine, but I thought Apple might have improved their newer products.

I wanted to use it watch films that I have on my laptops and external drives but I couldn't find a way to transfer the files easily so I gave up on that idea. I suppose it's a deliberate restriction.

Uploading GBs worth of files and then downloading them is a complete waste of time and resources compared with using a memory card.

[Kim]

I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 [SM-T819Y]

Me too.  My only real complaint is the poor accessibility of the quick settings tray (where you do things like frob the WiFi on and off).  For reasons best known to Samsung, they've changed the perfectly clear default Android colours to pale blue/grey on white, with the result that you can only tell if a given setting is on or off by cranking the brightness up to full.  This hasn't quite built up enough inertia to make me install an alternative firmware, but only because I'm lazy.

I find the whole Android eco-system much more user friendly and functional for my usages including touring, riding up my daily ride notes etc.

Touring was the main reason I got such a high-end tablet:  I wanted something that had a real filesystem so I could transfer data to and from my eTrex and potentially a camera, which meant Android rather than IOS.  I wanted to use it as a substitute for paper maps, so SD card storage was almost essential and GPS was highly desirable.  I wanted cellular connectivity so I wouldn't have to drain the battery on my phone to connect it to the internet, and so I could hedge my bets with two different service providers.

I have the posh keyboard/case for it, because the rest of the time it gets used as a mobile SSH and IRC device, for wrangling of servers and talking to barakta.  I tried a cheaper keyboard and sent it back because the case was shoddily made and meant portrait mode (which I use extensively for reading in bed) was impractical.

[Kim]

I wanted to use it watch films that I have on my laptops and external drives but I couldn't find a way to transfer the files easily so I gave up on that idea. I suppose it's a deliberate restriction.

It's a usability thing, mostly.  The idea is that your iThing is a window to Apple's cloudy services, and as long as you play by Steve's rules it works extremely well.  Try to use it as a proper computer and you're in for a world of pain.

Uploading GBs worth of files and then downloading them is a complete waste of time and resources compared with using a memory card.

It's not so much the memory card, as the tromboning.  Downloading files to internal memory is fine (assuming it's big enough), but it needs to be directly across the LAN, or over a USB storage mount, not via someone else's computer at the wrong end of a DSL connection.  Sneakernetting with microSD cards, while occasionally necessary, isn't exactly fun.

[ian]

I have the use of an old iPad mini, it's not mine, but I thought Apple might have improved their newer products.

I wanted to use it watch films that I have on my laptops and external drives but I couldn't find a way to transfer the files easily so I gave up on that idea. I suppose it's a deliberate restriction.

Uploading GBs worth of files and then downloading them is a complete waste of time and resources compared with using a memory card.

Mine will play MP4s from any available server (even if they're not in iTunes) – I use an app called File Browser. Find the file, click, and off it plays in the standard iOS player. There's similar applications.

You can do the same with the cloud (most apps now let you select between iCloud, Dropbox and others for storing and opening files). I'm not sure to be honest why Apple haven't simply unrestricted iCloud, I doubt they make any money from storage services.

[Aushiker]

I have the posh keyboard/case for it, because the rest of the time it gets used as a mobile SSH and IRC device, for wrangling of servers and talking to barakta.  I tried a cheaper keyboard and sent it back because the case was shoddily made and meant portrait mode (which I use extensively for reading in bed) was impractical.

I have a Logitech keyboard but didn't take it on my last bikepack because it makes a tight fit even worse. I surprised myself as to how quickly I adapted to not having it and haven't used it since I got back. Probably a good thing as it does not seem I can get one for a 8" tablet anyway.

[Aushiker]

If you have other iThings the iPads are very good at seamlessly syncing your stuff to all your ddvices over the cloud without actually haveing to do anything. Manually transferring files is not something you really need to be doing these days.

I have Android phone and Android tablet and a MacBook Pro here at home and work. I have no problems synchronising in the background. Simply a matter of the appropriate apps, Dropbox mainly, Google Chrome and I use some Microsoft products on the tablet and computers such as OneNote and Word. They synchronise without an issue and without my involvement and most importantly without any Apple restrictions.

[LEE]

I would have said iPad 3 years ago but now I'd say Samsung.

I'd say the same for iPhones as well.

[dave r]

My current tablet is a Lenovo tab 4 8", using it mainly for Internet, E-mail and music, compared to my main computer, a linux box, its a bit slow on the start up but other than that its been good.

https://www.tesco.com/direct/lenovo-tab-4-8-inch-tablet-quad-core-2gb-16gb-wifi-android-70-slate-black/634-1916.prd?source=others

[Polar Bear]

Samsung S3 is the current favourite.  Part of the decision making is that I am totally familiar with Android but not Apple.  Having spent time with the younger son's Apple I wasn't convinced of any extra benefits.

[Polar Bear]

Seriously close to buying an S3 now but is there a version which takes a SIM card and can be a 'phone'?

Anything better android wise out there?   

[Aushiker]

Seriously close to buying an S3 now but is there a version which takes a SIM card and can be a 'phone'?

Here in Australia there is a version with 4G which means it will take a phone SIM and hence can be used for mobile data, phone and text. I personally only have a data SIM now in my tablet but previously had one with ability to make calls and texts.