Traveling Tablet

[finwizard]

My wife and I are now retired and going to do some traveling. We are thinking about getting a tablet(s) to use for reading newspapers and books, reading and writing email, paying online bills, and surfing the internet to book motel rooms, checking road routes and conditions. We like tablets because they are relatively inexpensive compared to laptops, easier to hold than laptops for reading, and lighter than laptops.

The question is will a tablet do all that we want? Speed is not a factor, we're not going to be playing games or running spreadsheets or writing long letters (for which we use the home computers.)

Also, which brand should we choose - Apple (expensive), Samsung (how long will they continue to make their current product given their recent trial loss to Apple and do they have the aps that we'll need?), some other brand?

Finally are there any other applications I should be thinking about for what we want to do?

Thanks for your help.

 

[Onus]

My parents are also retired, and they do quite a bit of gallivanting now. They got a Samsung Galaxy Tab on the recommendations of my brother, who also has one (but does not travel much). They love it. It seems to offer everything they need, from email, to checking their reservations, and sites like GasBuddy (which finds lowest-cost gas stations wherever they are).