Best tablet/pad for very low-mobile parent?
December 3, 2019 2:06 AM Subscribe
Hi all!
I am buying my parent a tablet (ideally Android as I will be setting it up and that's what I'm used to, but I can be flexible). There are certain provisos however!
She is extremely arthritic, has bad eyesight, and cannot sit up at all. She also has NO experience with apps etc (although she uses a laptop ok). So please can I have recs for a tablet that is
- VERY VERY lightweight
- easy to use and maybe with the option of making text, apps, etc, larger
- easy to use
- long battery life, ideally
- large screen
Thanks :)
She is extremely arthritic, has bad eyesight, and cannot sit up at all. She also has NO experience with apps etc (although she uses a laptop ok). So please can I have recs for a tablet that is
- VERY VERY lightweight
- easy to use and maybe with the option of making text, apps, etc, larger
- easy to use
- long battery life, ideally
- large screen
Thanks :)
You should contact a senior centre and see if they can provide an essential apps or settings list for people with bad eyesight.
posted by parmanparman at 4:14 AM on December 3, 2019
posted by parmanparman at 4:14 AM on December 3, 2019
Feel free to ignore this if you all have talked/experimented and decided that a tablet is the way to go but: what does your parent want the tablet for? Is it so she can hold it up herself close to her face, as opposed to a laptop? A potential alternative:
My MIL has similar constraints (bad eyesight, can't sit up, limited use of her hands) and loves her MacBook. Big screen, accessibility features (recently the ability to enter text with her mouse has been huge, in addition to things like sticky keys and font enlargement).
We've talked with her about getting a tablet, but touch screens are actually a no go for her- she doesn't have the dexterity in her hands. And the laptop weight is actually a plus for her for her set up. She's usually fully or mostly reclined in her chair; the laptop is on a pad in her lap (one of those laptop lap desk things with a squishy side and a flat side, but with the squishy side up, and a no slip pad underneath) and the weight keeps it on her. She's got a wireless mouse on a mousepad on her chest, and what she affectionately calls her "poking stick" to get at the keyboard.
posted by damayanti at 4:14 AM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
My MIL has similar constraints (bad eyesight, can't sit up, limited use of her hands) and loves her MacBook. Big screen, accessibility features (recently the ability to enter text with her mouse has been huge, in addition to things like sticky keys and font enlargement).
We've talked with her about getting a tablet, but touch screens are actually a no go for her- she doesn't have the dexterity in her hands. And the laptop weight is actually a plus for her for her set up. She's usually fully or mostly reclined in her chair; the laptop is on a pad in her lap (one of those laptop lap desk things with a squishy side and a flat side, but with the squishy side up, and a no slip pad underneath) and the weight keeps it on her. She's got a wireless mouse on a mousepad on her chest, and what she affectionately calls her "poking stick" to get at the keyboard.
posted by damayanti at 4:14 AM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
You'll want to give thought to a case, holder, or stand, because using a tablet with nothing to hold it by means lots of accidental touches and tired hands.
posted by scorpia22 at 6:49 AM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by scorpia22 at 6:49 AM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks for responses!
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 10:24 AM on December 3, 2019
posted by low_horrible_immoral at 10:24 AM on December 3, 2019
This thread is closed to new comments.
It uses a proprietary Android system and apps are generally downloaded from Amazon's app store which is much more limited than Google Play but you can usually sideload apps directly from a software maker's website and now it's possible to install Google Play itself without having to root the Kindle first.
As with every tablet, you can pinch and zoom. It has Accessibility options in the settings which increase the default font size to 14 pt. which is not really very big. The keyboard pops up quite large at 24 pt. "High contrast text" basically throws a white or black outline around the letters.
Obv it comes preloaded with a lot of crap which you can't uninstall but you can "hide" in a folder on the home page. If you pay a bit extra, you can get the version that doesn't have ads on the wake-up screen. The Home screen has different tabs if you swipe left or right, for News/Books/Videos etc which could be confusing. With diligence, you can block *all* of the Amazon offers and notifications which pop up but it will take some effort in the Settings.
Kindles are a loss leader to push Amazon products, so you might not want to deal with that, but since they are cheap, it can be an inexpensive way to see if a tablet is workable in your circumstances.
It comes with Alexa which can be hands free, activated with pushing a button, or turned off. The battery life is *excellent*. The price and the battery life are its two major advantages. For reading in bed, I bought this small easel which is very stable and works great with an 8" tablet.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:44 AM on December 3, 2019 [1 favorite]