Buying a Tablet

gletley

My husband has AMD and is gradually losing his eye sight. He can't see the picture on our television anymore, but can see our computer screen as he sits quite close to it.
He can still see his mobile phone because again he has it close, but sadly he has started to struggle to read a book.
I want to buy him a tablet so he can enlarge the text, read books on it, go on Facebook, YouTube and send emails etc, but having tramped around shops looking at them today, we are no wiser.
We know we want a,10" one and I suppose 64gb, we will want to put Google chrome on it, but we don't know what else to look for. We can't afford an expensive one, but my husband has been told to register as a sight disability, but don't know if we will get any financial help. So could anyone advice us please, I would really like to give him some help so he can at least enlarge text and read again.

flaneurs_lobster

This bit of the RNIB website may be of use

https://www.rnib.org.uk/living-with-sight-loss/assistive-aids-and-technology/tech-support-and-information/phones-and-tablets/

datostar

I'm having something of the same problem with AMD and another problem in my left eye making everything permanently blurred and cataract in my right eye not helping either.  I already had an original 9.7 inch iPad Pro (bought as a refurb from Apple) which I find invaluable as there are a lot of settings for visual impairment.. I use an iMac computer and iPhone so I'm well in the Apple setup and everything works together.  You can install Google Chrome on an iPad. You wouldn't need the iPad Pro - the cheaper 10" iPads have the same facilities Might be worth checking for 2nd hand or refurb models.

elsien

Where does he want to get his books from? If it’s downloading from Amazon he’ll need a kindle. There are workarounds but they’re a faff. 

If he uses the library and EPUB format then anything non-Kindle would be fine.

400ixl

What sort of budget are you thinking of as that could narrow down options.

gletley

We would like to stay below £250.

gletley

There are so many out there. Would he be better of with a 64 or 32gb?
Does it need to be 4ram?
Do refurbished ones last long or would we be better of buying new?
What would be a good make and what to avoid?

MikeJXE

You won't  do better than a refurbished iPad with 12 months warranty for under £250, you then have iBooks with plenty of choice from free plus download the kindle app and get amazon books

gletley

elsien said:

Where does he want to get his books from? If it’s downloading from Amazon he’ll need a kindle. There are workarounds but they’re a faff. 

If he uses the library and EPUB format then anything non-Kindle would be fine.

I don't think he is worried about downloads from Amazon, we have downloaded books on the main computer, but as it's a tower, it's not portable 😄

flaneurs_lobster

gletley said:

elsien said:

Where does he want to get his books from? If it’s downloading from Amazon he’ll need a kindle. There are workarounds but they’re a faff. 

If he uses the library and EPUB format then anything non-Kindle would be fine.

I don't think he is worried about downloads from Amazon, we have downloaded books on the main computer, but as it's a tower, it's not portable 😄

It might help if you were to say where these books were downloaded from and what software you use to read them on your desktop computer.

MikeJXE

datostar said:

I'm having something of the same problem with AMD and another problem in my left eye making everything permanently blurred and cataract in my right eye not helping either.  I already had an original 9.7 inch iPad Pro (bought as a refurb from Apple) which I find invaluable as there are a lot of settings for visual impairment.. I use an iMac computer and iPhone so I'm well in the Apple setup and everything works together.  You can install Google Chrome on an iPad. You wouldn't need the iPad Pro - the cheaper 10" iPads have the same facilities Might be worth checking for 2nd hand or refurb models.

Another plus for Apple is no matter how old your device within reason there are Apple Stores in the big city's that will help you with your device free of charge