Is there a natural successor to the TF300 in the UK?

[janner43]

Plenty of touchscreen Chromebooks, but your Mum won't have access to Skype on a Chromebook - only Hangouts... but given that Hangouts has just been made available to anypne with or without a Google account, that should be too much of a problem.

Touchscreen Chromebooks are everywhere, but how well do they work? | PCWorld

[janner43]

To be honest with you, she might even like an iPad mini 2 with a bluetooth keyboard...

But maybe that is too far for you to go if you are a committed Google fan...

[gobstopper]

To be honest with you, she might even like an iPad mini 2 with a bluetooth keyboard...

But maybe that is too far for you to go if you are a committed Google fan...

I have my reasons for not being a fan of the Apple ecosystem, but there's no denying their devices can be very well suited to elderly users. Essentially it was a case that I was already subscribed to the Google ecosystem and when my brother emigrated getting her a Transformer to match the one I had (and he had for that matter) meant that it would be easier to provide her with support during that 'getting used to it' phase with all of us using the same type of device. Three years down the line there are still things she forgets, even after I've shown her more times than I can count. That's what it's like, I guess, for someone who's life didn't involve any kind of technology for the first 70 years of her life.

But the lack of natural Transformer alternatives does make the mini 2 a potential candidate, when the time comes. It can be picked up for a relatively modest price and there appear to be keyboard units which then give the user a netbook-style experience - rather than one where the tablet simply perches on top of the keyboard.

Again the fact the keyboard isn't integral and needs to be charged separately could be a problem if something goes awry and I'm left to try and diagnose it over the phone (or she forgets to charge it!). But I know that Gmail & Skype both exist on iOS devices, which covers her two primary app requirements.

The lack of Skype on the Chromebook could be a deal breaker. My brother & I have both tried Hangouts and find the video quality on Skype to be better, especially in lower bandwidth situations - and when she visits her partner's place which is in the countryside she uses a broadband connection so slow it can almost be beaten by dial-up. Yet, despite this, the Skype video quality is still more than acceptable.