Full-blown tablet newbie with some questions

[jrttoday]

We see eye to eye on this one.

 

[rogerwa]

I spent a $100 about this time last year on a kindle fire HD7 for my wife. I didn't want to spend more than that as the last time I bought her an e-reader, she frowned and said take it back. I bought it for her as she was going to undergo surgery that would have an extended recovery and thoght this would be a good thing for her to use while recovering.

Paired with Amazon prime, she is using is all the time. Prime has some book lending features she uses quite often and the overall usage really meets her needs.

At $100 I could buy over three Ipads (I own one so I know they are a different breed) - and paired with Amazon works very well for her..

 

[jbcurt00]

Between now and Tues after Thanksgiving is a fairly good time to buy tech stuff, esp online to avoid the crazy crush Thurs/Fri.

Gotta be hands on 1st though.

 

[lakelover]

Between now and Tues after Thanksgiving is a fairly good time to buy tech stuff, esp online to avoid the crazy crush Thurs/Fri.

Gotta be hands on 1st though.

We'll probably go this weekend and put our pawprints all over one.

 

[bruceb58]

Paired with Amazon prime, she is using is all the time. Prime has some book lending features she uses quite often and the overall usage really meets her needs.

This is actually a feature that can be used with all devices, not just the Kindle. My GF shares her books with me and I am on a pure Android device.

 

[thumpar]

I have a Galaxy Tab 3 with data service. My son uses it but it is more than capable. I have had a few of the cheap android units and they are crap. Their screens are terrible and you have to be very careful with the chargers/charge port. I would go with a Kindle Fire, Galaxy Tab or Ipad. Play with them and see what you like.

 

[bassman284]

Ha! I moved to an electric phone Years ago!! Actually, getting no phone calls must be heaven! I'd say that 85-90% of our calls are sales/political/robocalls. And we ARE on the Do Not Call list.

tried electricity.... but couldn't hang up/let go of the can! lol
I just figure that I don't need to be that accessible anymore.... Those that need reach me know how to[/QUOTE]
Ah, so you go outside and look for smoke signals every now and then?

 

[lakelover]

Depends on which way the wind is blowing that day.

 

[lakelover]

We went to Wal Mart and poked around at various tablets. It was good because they had the exact Samsung we are considering, but still not decided yet. And the woman working there was quite helpful. Thanks for all the thoughts so far!

 

[Boomyal]

At home we have Verizon DSL. (Aside: Verizon is one of several providers currently being investigated by the NY Attorney General to see if they are really delivering the speeds customers are paying for. Sometims I doubt that they are!)

If they are anything like CenturyLink DSL, out here in the PNW, I doubt that they are delivering advertised speeds. They will always blame it on network use/loads at peak times.

As for the Tablet, I just got set up on Kindle for getting ebooks. Also be sure to get setup on the free website BookBub. They feed you a constant email stream of choices based on your loaded preferences of reading subjects. The prices are mostly cheap and you don't need to worry about where to store the book when you are done with it.

I use a $100ish dollar Lenovo and it does just fine. It is much quicker to boot and to open the kindle app than my wife's Nexus.

 

[thumpar]

With CenturyLink DSL they advertise optimal or maximum speeds. Even those speeds are pretty slow. I switched to Comcast and get 50mb. With Comcast the speed is the minimum. I have customers on 22mb and will consistently get around 75mb.

 

[NYBo]

If you are willing to go with WiFi only, here is the one I have: http://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-Yoga-M...qid=1448846991&sr=8-3&keywords=yoga+10+tablet
I'm very satisfied with it. Good battery life, and it plays video content via the Dish Anywhere app very well.

 

[lakelover]

We pulled the trigger on a Samsung Tab A 8". She tried it out at WM and liked it, got it $40 less on Amazon. Now please don't start telling me why they're horrible! We'll see how it goes. Thanks for all the help & comments!

 

[jbcurt00]

Let me know how you like it. We picked up a different, lower cost 1 for my MIL this week. She wanted 1, but is prone to dropping stuff. Hello electronic protection plan.......

Good luck. My mom LOVES her Samsung tablet, but I dont know which 1 she has.

Get the 1 w cell service? My moms has it, but it isnt tied to her carrier, so its wifi only.

 

[GA_Boater]

But they are horrible, LL. LOL

Samsung seems to get good reviews when reading about them. You know what they say - As long as the Admiral is happy

 

[lakelover]

Let me know how you like it. We picked up a different, lower cost 1 for my MIL this week. She wanted 1, but is prone to dropping stuff. Hello electronic protection plan.......

Good luck. My mom LOVES her Samsung tablet, but I dont know which 1 she has.

Get the 1 w cell service? My moms has it, but it isnt tied to her carrier, so its wifi only.

Good question! But not really interested in that anyway. For the next 9-10 years, she can use her work cell for emergencies.

But they are horrible, LL. LOL

Samsung seems to get good reviews when reading about them. You know what they say - As long as the Admiral is happy

Ha Ha Ha! I knew I could count on somebody!

I'll post back later after she (we ) have a little time with it.

 

[GA_Boater]

One hint. I don't know if the Samsung comes with a stylus. If it doesn't pick one up. Those fake keys on the screen are tiny when typing.

 

[thumpar]

My Galaxy tab 3 has been dropped on concrete, the tile floor, hucked down the hallway, and sat on and still lives just fine. It doesn't even have a case on it. A 7 year old boy is a true test of devices.

 

[dolluper]

I have already been this route with wifee ..went the tablet route used it for a month then started complaining {as usually}so got her a notebook ,only had to increase the storage with a memory card...she loves it....hard to believe.... save youself the step buddy go for the notebook ... the one I got was 200 and change plus the cost of the card 65 ....it was ASUS brand

 

[lakelover]

A February update after a little use-

She likes it so far and says it's good for facebook and the like, and has fun with it. It is slow to respond to screen touches, but I guess we can't complain at the price range we chose. She hasn't tried downloading & reading books on it yet.

I hate it---sort of.

The thing I (WE!) hate most is the AUTO CORRECT, and I've googled how to turn it off on a Tab A, but have only found how to do that in many other Samsung models. CURSE THAT FEATURE! If anyone knows how, we'd be forever grateful if you'd share it! There are some things that you absolutely-can-not-type because of that feature. And there are a lot of words it does not know and won't let you type. Today before our computer was fixed, I spent 15 minutes trying to make a post on facebook, finally giving up in frustration because I couldn't say what I wanted to say, and its corrections were incomprehensible. I bet it doesn't know that word. I usually end up swearing at it and giving up.

Excluding that, I have to admit that it was handy to have when our hard drive crashed recently. It was most helpful for emailing, emergency tending to ebay auctions, and messaging & googling for direction on fixing the computer.