Is the ipad a good buy for my technophobe mother

alanrowell

MadTechie wrote: »

it has no sockets or plugs except for the power cable and A 30pin data cable!
of course you can load photos!

If you buy the optional devices that allow you to load photos - one of which is a PC or a Mac

You've also got the problem of limited storage space for photos - so you'd need an external storage device (ie a PC or Mac) to save them on.

If I was OP I'd go and find the cheapest Mac laptop they can find as that will be most suitable for non-technology aware. It may cost more than an iPad and it will cost a LOT more than a Windows laptop but it will be much more use

noapron

Re Flash dd now tells me that no it is not available on the Touch - but that Apple must have an agreement with the Beeb because she can use iPlayer. Dh was reading about at the w/e but he's not here so I can't ask him at the moment.

BillScarab

noapron wrote: »

Re Flash dd now tells me that no it is not available on the Touch - but that Apple must have an agreement with the Beeb because she can use iPlayer. Dh was reading about at the w/e but he's not here so I can't ask him at the moment.

iPlayer on the iPhone doesn't use Flash. It's been specifically designed for the iPhone. On the iPhone it streams video in H.264 format with AAC sound.

I presume the youtube app does something similar.

gaming_guy

BillScarab wrote: »

I presume the youtube app does something similar.

yep, it uses the (usually higher quality) MP4 streams instead of the usual flash streams.

noapron

You are right MadTechie, it is a large iPod and for me with the carp eyes, it is proving very useful as normal pc screens are proving very difficult for me to use, even fiddling with the brightness control as my eyes are so light sensitive. I did ask in the apple store if you could enlarge text on a Mac and the chap couldn't do it and said no.

I do like the radio on it a lot - very light to port from room to room. I look forward to using it as an ebook reader because I will be able to enlarge the text sufficiently for me to read. I suppose because i'm not a techie by any stretch of the imagination, I tend to think 64Gb is a fair capacity. However I am an end user and I think it's great - it had to be a present though - I just wouldn't have spent that much myself.
Funnily enough dh and I were only saying yesterday that an iPad would suit my sister who would browse all the gardening sites and do her Tesco shop, and she is 65 too. Perhaps the answer is to let your mum have a go with a laptop, an iPad and a pc, preferably with a salesperson who won't fluster her or sell her what they want to get rid of!

Marty_J

BillScarab wrote: »

The thing Apple have against Adobe si simple. There are lots of websites with Flash games on them that are free to play. If the iPad etc. supported flash you could play them, so then there would be no need to download casual games at a cost from the App Store.

I very much doubt that's the reason. If it were, Apple wouldn't be pushing for a technology to replace Flash.

alanrowell wrote: »

If you buy the optional devices that allow you to load photos - one of which is a PC or a Mac

The camera connection kit allows you to load photos directly from your camera or SD card.

You've also got the problem of limited storage space for photos - so you'd need an external storage device (ie a PC or Mac) to save them on.

Every single computing device on the planet has limited storage.

Even the 16 GB iPad is capable of holding thousands of photos. Given that the OP's dear old mother has an "aversion to computers and technology", I think we can confidently assume she's not a digital media fiend with external HDDs stuffed full of photos, music and videos.

scottishblondie

My mother has a netbook we got for her 60th, and she loves the little thing! I don't know how she would feel about an iPad, I think she would actually find it difficult to adapt to the lack of a physical keyboard. Also I have heard that it's heavier than it looks and so can be tough on the arms when holding it at a good viewing angle.

I'm not poo-pooing the idea, but I would suggest you let your mother try one out before you commit to buying it, especially given that it'll probably cost twice as much as a basic netbook.

BillScarab

Marty, they may be pushing for a technology to replace Flash or it could just be an excuse. They don't allow anything on their devices that might impinge on the App Store. It's not just Flash, it's Java, Python, Ruby and .Net.

Basically they don't like anything that they can't control.

Having said that they control their ecosystem and it's up to them what they allow and up to consumers whether that suits them. It seems to suit a lot of people so they must be doing something right.

Simon_B_2

I think its an ideal piece of kit for the not so tech savvy, though as scottishblondie says let her try it before you buy it. Nothing like spending £400-600 and finding out it'll never get used.

I'd recommend one to my mum if she hadn't already sussed out email herself, now i'm baraged by joke emails and animals doing funny things 24/7.

edgex

Pythagorous wrote: »

My mum, good bless her, has always had an aversion to computers and technology - like many people in their 60s I'd imagine. But she has now seen the benefits to getting online and has just ordered her broadband.

So I'm now trying to decide what type of laptop to buy her. She only needs something to bowse the internet and load/browse photos. Can't really imagine her using it for much else.

I'm thinking the ipad might be suitable for her as its easy to use, load up, likely to encounter less problems with viruses etc and she'll be the coolest 65 year old in her village:rotfl:

what do you guys think?

Also does anyone know what the lowest spec price is going to be when it is finally released at the end of may?

the answer to your question: NO


it is not a computer, so cannot do what youve mentioned as wanting to do