Galaxy Tab S or Ipad Air 2 For My Mom's First Tablet

[zanemoseley]

My mom is looking to make the jump to a tablet and I don't know which to recommend. I myself don't use tablets much, we have and older generation Ipad I got free from Dish that my 7 year old uses all the time. I was going to recommend a cheaper Samsung tablet but she wants a good camera and their cheaper offering only has a 3mp camera where the two I listed above have 8mp cameras.

I know if I were buying for myself I would get the Galaxy Tab S as I use a LG G2 phone and like Android OS. She isn't extremely technically savvy, she can use a PC decent but doesn't have any smart phone experience so its not like she's experienced with one OS.

The two tablets are only $40 apart on Amazon now so I'm having a hard time suggesting one versus the other. The Tab S has expandable memory where the Ipad doesn't. I'm also not sure if she's going to love having to screw with all the Itunes and cloud crap versus just being able to drag & drop with the Android OS. On the other hand the Ipad might be more intuitive with her being a beginner.

 

[SAWYER]

Facepalm at using a tablet for its camera. Ask your mom which she prefer, take her to best Buy and let her use them

 

[zanemoseley]

I know a tablet is going to be clumsy for pictures but take into account she doesn't have a smart phone so she wants something for "fun" pictures without getting out her digital camera.

I did recommend she go to best buy or something to test drive both.

 

[Commodus]

My mom is looking to make the jump to a tablet and I don't know which to recommend. I myself don't use tablets much, we have and older generation Ipad I got free from Dish that my 7 year old uses all the time. I was going to recommend a cheaper Samsung tablet but she wants a good camera and their cheaper offering only has a 3mp camera where the two I listed above have 8mp cameras.

I know if I were buying for myself I would get the Galaxy Tab S as I use a LG G2 phone and like Android OS. She isn't extremely technically savvy, she can use a PC decent but doesn't have any smart phone experience so its not like she's experienced with one OS.

The two tablets are only $40 apart on Amazon now so I'm having a hard time suggesting one versus the other. The Tab S has expandable memory where the Ipad doesn't. I'm also not sure if she's going to love having to screw with all the Itunes and cloud crap versus just being able to drag & drop with the Android OS. On the other hand the Ipad might be more intuitive with her being a beginner.

Sounds like you've already determined the answer: iPad Air 2.

Android isn't all that difficult, but an iPad is definitely going to have a gentler learning curve. And let's face it, if it's hard to find an Android phone with a good all-around camera, it's even harder with Android tablets. The iPad Air 2's camera is pretty reliable as far as tablet cams go.

And when it comes to syncing and such... well, how is she going to share and transfer content in the first place? If she's taking photos primarily to post on Facebook, she's not going to need to plug into her computer on a regular basis, or at all. Same if she mainly intends to stream music and video. If you're worried about a photo backup beyond iCloud, you could always install Google Photos and set that to auto-backup.

One thing to remember: you're buying the tablet for her, not for yourself. Drag-and-drop isn't very intuitive for most people, especially if they don't know their way around a mobile device's folder hierarchy.

 

[Jester666]

for the non tech savvy, ipad air

 

[Midwayman]

Ipad simply has a better tablet ecosystem, hands down. Android has some okay hardware, but precious few tablet aware apps. Phones are a different ball game, but for a tablet I'd tell someone to get an ipad every time unless they are extremely heavily invested in android.

 

[poofyhairguy]

I like my iPad Air 2, but the camera is pretty damn meh. In fact I don't think they make a tablet with a camera that isn't meh.

Does she not have any cell phone? Honestly to me given her needs it screams "mom needs a phablet!!"