Mother's Day Shopping 101

Yesterday I celebrated mothers day with friends and family, along with much of the rest of the US. A day earlier I sat on a bench between the Apple Store and Barnes and Nobles after an epic Cobb salad from CPK (it should be for $13.49.) One tablet would be the winner of my hard fought dollars, but beyond the weighing of cost and features the forcing function of time drove a decision.

The last minute shopping choice was a color Nook ereader for my mom. The Nook has a great range of features at a reasonable price. Tablets are my preferred living room lounge browser, and that is precisely how my mom uses her laptop to interact with her doll collector and knitting net communities.

After sitting down with her at my Grandmother's adult home, and at dinner afterwards I believe the iPad would be a better fit to her needs. The larger screen and faster and friendlier user interface were critical features to my mom's intended usage. In addition the Nook comes with a limited Barnes and Nobles only Android store unless it's rooted, making the iOS AppStore a clear winner. The iPad has a snappier UI, and responsiveness matters as it saves wasted gestures and frustrated misclicks.

The only limitation is that typing into a Tablet sucks. I think she'll always be more comfortable using a keyboard for social web activity much as I prefer keyboards and HUGE BEAUTIFUL displays and windowing environments for development (I've grown accustomed to blogging and commenting via the iPhone). Fortunately I've seen a great variety of blue tooth keyboard/tablet combos, often all in one case, which provides the choice of easy input or hand held browsing.