Mother’s Day is approaching, and if you’re still struggling to give your mum a gift or looking for some ideas, we have given you our five choices what you should give your mum on that special day. No, we won’t be giving tips like getting her a gift certificate to a spa resort. We went down the more practical and techie route.
So here are our five suggestions on what you should give mum on Mother’s Day. If you also have any other suggestions (or questions, we love questions), do leave a comment below.
Also, heads up. Tuesday (today – the day of this post) is the final day of our giveaway to win something for mum thanks to Seagate. You’ve got until 12:01am tomorrow to enter – and it’s really, really simple to do. Go check it out.
Amazon Kindle
One of the best things out there is the Amazon Kindle – it’s an eBook reader. However, it is really lightweight and easy to use, and is a much better alternative than lugging around heavy hardback or flimsy paperback books. It is also easy to read on thanks to the eInk technology, making it look like actual printed text as opposed to pixels.
What I also love about the Kindle is the book store it offers – it has a vast collection of books from mainstream hits, classics and even the more obscure books that you might not even heard of. It does require an Amazon account, but that is also easy to set up.
I have reviewed the Amazon Kindle Touch, but the Amazon Kindle is just the same (without the touchscreen). You can get it at Amazon, or from Woolworths. We also suggest that you also give her a gift certificate from Amazon so she can start buying books.
Apple iPad
I know this is obvious, but this is a no-brainer. It is the best tablet out there in terms of style, ease to use and the large app store – and I know every Android fanboy is going to be annoyed. We’re also assuming that you haven’t given your mum an iPad for Christmas or her birthday. She can store her music, see family photos (and potentially embarrass you), and surf the web from one device.
The iPad has also some great apps for both mums and for their young children alike. There are recipe and casual gaming apps (like Angry Birds) for mum, while there are story and educational apps (like iStoryTime that James Wilson reviewed) for the kids. Basically, if there’s something you want, they’ll probably be an app on the App Store. Heck, you can even download Kindle for the iPad and read your Kindle books on it.
The iPad is the obvious choice, but it is just a good device. I’ll leave it up to you on whether you want to give your mum the new iPad or the iPad 2 since the only main difference is the retina display.
Jawbone Jambox
A pretty unusual choice, but it is one of the best Bluetooth speakers out there. If your mum has an iPod, iPhone or any mobile device that supports Bluetooth audio, then you should at least give her this to let her play her music without the need of headphones or let her listen to it without the need to resort to the crappy little speakers on the mobile phone itself.
It is beautifully designed and has a continuous battery life of 10 hours, but it is very pricey (though, arguably, you should spend a bit more money for your mum). As Stewart Wilson said in his review: “We tested with a range of music on the Jambox and it was nothing short of fantastic. If you have sound quality in mind and need something small, compact and cheap – the Jawbone Jambox is the one.”
If she’s of a certain age, then you should help her try and set it up – though, you should probably spend a bit more time with mum on this day as well.
Choiix Power Fort OR morphie Juice Pack Air
We all hate it when a gadget runs out at a very critical time for us. Why not give your mum something that will extend her gadget’s battery life – especially a iPhone or smartphone. And I couldn’t decide on one or the other, so why not group them together in one.
You can give her the Choiix Power Fort (above), and she can charge your phone or any device via USB – Android smartphone, tablet, or even some cameras – during the day or put it in her carry bag when she doesn’t need it. And if she does, she can pull it out of the device and use it.
The other alternative is to give her a morphie Juice Pack Air – which is only available for the iPhone. However, it allows you to charge and use the device since it uses the pin connector on the bottom of your iPhone – as opposed to the Power Fort, where you have to use a USB cable. It does make the iPhone 4S or iPhone 4 a bit thicker, but it’s a good device to keep your phone from dying when you need it.
Sony Cybershot WX30 (or any good digital camera)
Buying a digital camera for your mum lets her capture any special memories that she might want to keep, or just simply use during her holidays. However, there are so many digital cameras and while there are a lot of bad ones, there are so many good ones out there. I think the Sony Cybershot WX30 would be a good compact camera for mum, mainly because the image quality is pretty good for a camera in the sub-$300 camera range.
The Cybershot WX30 also has a 3.0-inch touchscreen display, meaning that you simply have to touch to edit settings as opposed to try and maneuver around buttons which have a dual purpose. It also has 5x optical zoom and a 16.2-megapxiel lens.
However, like I said, you can have your own opinions on a good camera that you think your mum should get. One hint: don’t give your mum a pink camera – unless she really does like the colour. Just stick with the usual silver, white or black.
Also, heads up. Tuesday (today – the day of this post) is the final day of our giveaway to win something for mum thanks to Seagate. You’ve got until 12:01am tomorrow to enter – and it’s really, really simple to do. Go check it out.
Image above: Rachael Kramer (rkramer62)/Flickr (Creative Commons)