Tablets have come a long way in recent years, with new features constantly being added to help brands compete in a crowded market.
Among these additional features, you’ll find many focused on accessibility, some of which make certain tablets better than others for users with a visual impairment. For example, high-resolution screens, voice assistants, and magnifying apps can all improve the user experience for people with low vision.
But with so many tablets available, how do you choose the ideal device? Below, we reveal our top picks for the best tablets for people with a visual impairment.
What To Look For in a Tablet for Users With Low Vision
When shopping for the ideal tablet, there are several key factors to consider. First, it’s important to choose a device with a high-resolution display with an easily adjustable font size and good contrast. This will ensure that text and images are clear and easy to see. The size of the display will be very much dependent on individual taste, but it’s worth bearing in mind that it’s easier to zoom in on large areas on larger screens, but a bigger screen size will often be less portable.
You’ll also want to choose a device that is easy to use and offers additional features that can improve the overall experience such as a voice assistant, superior audio quality, long battery life, and large storage capacity. Of course, the price will be a major deciding factor, too.
Note that our list below focuses on tablets for people with low vision but may not be suitable for all users with visual impairments. For people with a complete loss of sight, the options are more limited (and pricey), although companies such as Humanware, BLITAB, and InsideVision have developed more specialized devices such as Braille tablets.
The Best Tablets for Visually Impaired in 2022
Based on the above criteria, our top picks for the best tablets for people with a visual impairment are:
Samsung Galaxy Tab A8
Apple iPad
Lenovo Tab P11 Tablet
Microsoft Surface Pro X
Dragon Touch Notepad K10 Tablet
Let’s look at each of these in more detail:
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 is a great mid-price option for people with low vision. It has a large 10.4-inch display with high resolution, making it easy to see text and images. This newest iteration comes with an immersive display and quad Dolby Atmos® surround sound speakers, enhancing experiences for all users.
The Tab A8 offers access to Google Assistant, a voice assistant which enables you to press a button and use voice commands to get directions, search the web, create reminders, check the weather, place a call, send a text message, and lots more. This versatile and user-friendly tablet is lightweight and highly portable, although at nine hours, its battery life is on the low end compared to competitors.
Price: $329.99
Battery Life: 9 hours
Storage: 64 GB
2. Apple iPad
The Apple iPad is the most popular tablet on the market, and for good reason. Its 10.2-inch high-resolution display and 64 GB of storage is ample for most use cases, and the price on basic models is average.
All iPads run on Apple’s intuitive iOS, which comes with several built-in accessibility features. One of the most important is the support for VoiceOver, which allows users to hear a description of what’s on the screen. Speak Screen and Speak Selection are additional features that enable you to have the entire contents or a portion of the contents of your screen read aloud. You can even control the pace of the reading using the Speech Controller feature.
The Siri voice assistant will help you complete tasks such as finding files, setting reminders, conducting internet searches, and lots more. The iPad also offers support for Braille displays, which can be used by blind or low vision users to read or input text on the screen. Another handy feature is Reduce Motion which decreases the movement of onscreen actions such as launching apps. It’s also easy to change the font size, apply color filters, and adjust contrast.
Price: $429
Battery Life: 10 hours
Storage: 64 GB
The Lenovo Tab P11 has a high-resolution 11-inch display along with various accessibility features. Narrow bezels mean very little space is wasted and the large screen and 2K resolution make this ideal for reading, streaming, browsing, and more. Dolby Atmos® provides sound with clarity and depth that will make you feel like you’re at the concert hall or movie theater.
This tablet runs on the same Android operating system as the Samsung, so will offer access to Google Assistant and other core Android features. Optional add-ons such as an ultra-thin keyboard or pen are ideal if you want to use this tablet for work or for things like sketching or jotting down notes. The Tab P11 has a battery life of up to 15 hours so can keep going all day on a single charge.
Price: $444.99
Battery Life: 15 hours
Storage: 128 GB
At 13 inches, the Microsoft Surface Pro X has the largest screen size on this list, making it ideal for those who need to zoom in on visuals or text while still wanting to view a large area of content. The high-resolution PixelSense™ touchscreen is an edge-to-edge display that provides a highly immersive experience when using apps and browsing the web.
This tablet is powered by the Windows 10 operating system which comes with a number of accessibility features including Dark and Contrast theme options, easy text and cursor size adjustment, color customization, and a built-in magnifier to enlarge words or images.
The Windows Narrator offers simple navigation and audio descriptions and enables you to interact with the screen using a keyboard or Braille device. Voice typing is also an option. Unlike many other tablets, the Microsoft Surface Pro X comes with a built-in adjustable kickstand, so you can easily prop it up for hands-free use.
While this is the heaviest device on the list, it’s thin and portable compared to many laptops that offer a similar screen size. Plus, its long battery life means that you can use it for extended periods without having to worry about recharging.
Price: $1,149.99
Battery Life: 15 hours
Storage: 128 GB
The Dragon Touch Notepad K10 is the lowest priced option on this list. This does mean you sacrifice on storage, but 32 GB is ample for most casual users. Plus, it does support up to 128 GB via an SD card.
The 10.1-inch screen offers HD-resolution, and Eye-Care mode automatically optimizes the backlight enabling users to read comfortably in different light environments. Dual speakers enhance video and audio streaming, gaming, and voice or video calling.
Price: $243
Battery Life: 10 hours
Storage: 32 GB