Ipad or Kindle Fire or a Non-brand

There are so many more than just Ipad and Kindle Fire.
The Barnes and noble version is the Nook Tablet, or Nook HD ( the new one) both great devices. I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 , which is GREAT. I LOVE it. The only thing I Can't do that an ipad does is access itunes. But that's not somethign I worry about. It's an android tablet, it has access to the Google play store. I can do skype or google talk on it. Netflix , hulu , etc .You can get a real keyboard for it , it has a touch screen one. I can even control my cable box with it. I can change the channel and see what's on using the peel remote ap, easy to set up and comes with it.
Most tablets are cheaper than an ipad.

Well I work in IT for a living so I might be able to help you out with these things. First, I would stay away from the $88 tablet from the pharmacy. My ex got me (possibly the same) inexpensive tablet from Walgreens. It was junk. Would shut itself down all the time, books were more expensive, getting on the internet was difficult. I'm an iPad fan myself, however an Ipad is probably overkill for someone 90 years old. You are going to spend alot of money on it, and she's probably not going to utilize all the options on it. I would say the Kindle Fire would be your best bet. Only $170, large screen, wifi capable. Everyone I know that has one loves it. Just my 2 cents.

We got the kids tablets at Staples for $149, they are Nexus brand and so far they have been awesome. They are Android systems and they go to the market just like any other Android product and we have about a hundred free apps on them already.

They have a Kid's Place on them that is parent controlled. They have to put in a code to get out of it so they can connect to the internet to play Mine Craft or Club Penguin and other internet usage places but they can't browse or go to the market or to youtube or any other place that is not child friendly. If one of the grand kids or great grand kids wanted to use it she could put it on Kid's Place and not have to worry about them messing up her saved stuff or memory or anything. She could also put you or Son on Kids Place too and you couldn't see what she has on her tablet.....

I like that option for the kids. With your MIL she could do anything she wants. I have come to mamapedia, FB, googled Cleopatra dance costumes and saved a ton of pictures, and I have watched some stuff too. I think they are pretty darn awesome.

I know a couple of my grand kids got Kindle Fires last year for Christmas and they were pretty good too.

Six weeks or so ago I bought a refurbished Nook Color from Barnes and Noble for $99 and love it. It's a tablet with WiFi Internet access. My grandkids use it to play games. I've been playing around with it some and find it relatively easy to use but I wonder about someone 90 yrs. old. (I'm 70) Does she use a computer? One does have to remember how to do each step. For example: I still have difficulty getting out of games when my grandchildren forget to exit. I'm much more proficient on the computer. Using this tablet, anyway, is more complicated than using computer programs. Tablets don't have as many on screen prompts. No x to click on to get out of a program for example. One has to remember where to touch on the screen to get a task bar. And know when a task bar will be useful.

Look up the brand you bought at the drug store on line. You'll probably find something about it. When I was doing research I was surprised at the number of brands available and that they were all rated nearly the same level of good. It seemed the choice was more related to features than brand name although nearly all brands had similar features.

One reason I bought the Nook is that our Barnes and Noble store has a sales person in the store who can help me when I have questions about it's use.

I think it mostly depends on what your MIL's family mostly has. If you're an Apple crowd, I'd go with an apple product. If you're an Android crowd, I'd select an Android tablet. It's the family that will need to help her get up to speed and give her support when needed. And you'll want to be able to communicate with the family using things such as Facetime - the Android equivalent is Google Talk, I believe.

As to what to look for in specs, I would start looking at the specs for some high end tablets and compare them to low end tablets to see where the differences are and try to see what might be of most value to you/MIL. Our kids are getting tablets, and battery life was really important. Storage might not be a big deal if she's not going to be loading movies on or downloading games that require a lot of storage. The other thing to consider is whether she has wi-fi access and would that be sufficient or does she need a data plan. The latter will drive the cost up both on the tablet itself and on a monthly basis.

There are a lot of sites out there that do side-by-side comparisons of the various tablets, so you might look for those. I would definitely stick with a brand name and read reviews (cnet, amazon, etc). I would second Gamma G's Nexus tablets, and at $149, that's a total steal! Those are the ones I got for my kids from Google but at $199 each. I wouldn't go lower than $150, unless that's the sales price.

I would just add a comment to Frugalady, and really it is a question, b/c I don't know (we only have apple products and basic kindle with keyboard at our house, so I don't know about the other tablets):

Can you facetime on the other tablets like you can with ipad? For an older lady such as your MIL, that might be a very nice feature. I realize the others can probably skype, but I am thinking that Facetime is more user friendly. (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). Once you set it up, it is essentially like making a phone call, only in video. So if your family (or other people your MIL might be interested in talking to) have Facetime capable devices, it might be something she would really enjoy.

Otherwise, ipads do cost a lot more and much of it would not really be utilized maximally. If Facetime would be a benefit, maybe an iPad mini would be a decent compromise?

For an older person, I think you really have to go with an Ipad. The learning curve is super small.

With that said, buy the Fire.

Because of her age I say iPad. Those regular tablets can be glitchy and not very intuitive. I would not do the Fire because of it's size. At 90 I can't imagine her vision is perfect.

some times the off brands dont have a fast enough connection rate. also does where she living have wifi? i would go with the kindle and get a nice case with it (in case she drops it and for general purposes). then you can upload some books for her so she can read her favorite authors right away. has your mil ever used a touch screen device before? if you have one let her use it and see how she handles it and if she even enjoys using it.

You are definitely not comparing apples to apples. As others have said, you need to figure out which platform your want to use - Android, MacOS, etc. I have an Ipad, but my mom has a Kindle Fire and she LOVES it. It is much smaller, however, so if vision is a consideration you may want to go with something with a larger display. Another consideration to think about is the WiFi. Does she live in a place with WiFi access? Will you be getting her a data plan with the device you purchase? If not, text messages are not an option. From your description it does not sound like you need to worry too much about storage. HTH!