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Christmas 2019 Gift Guide

A forum about lifestyle: toys, gadgets, fine food, drinks and smokes.
 

ShyFlyer (Founding Member) 07 Dec 19, 15:45Post
Thought we might find a thread on gift ideas, recommendations, etc for the 2019 Christmas Holiday.

I'll kick it off...

So, in the great clarity that is the moment you first wake up, I thought one of those video calling devices might be the gift this year for my Mom. She likes it when I call her, and I'm sure she'd like to actually *see* me more than current geography allows.

However, I have zero experience with such devices.

The device has to be super user friendly, especially for someone who will instantly dislike it because it's technology. I'll be home for Christmas this year, so I can set it up for her and (attempt to) teach her to use it.

So its the "Portal" by Facebook verses the "Echo" by Amazon. Any recommendations or personal experiences?
Make Orwell fiction again.
Boris (Founding Member) 07 Dec 19, 17:20Post
We've been keeping up with the grandkids via Skype for years. The older one is now seven and a half, and I know we were Skyping when he was just born.

It's real simple and the only "trick" is to get a high quality webcam. It sounds like there's no way you'd ignore that, but our kids' laptop had a built in webcam that sucked, and when I bought them a HD one the quality of the calls went up about a thousand percent.

Sorry, I'm clueless as to Portal or Echo, but you can get a real good webcam for less than thirty bucks, and actually you could test Skype at Christmas just by taking your laptop into the other room.
The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers...
ShyFlyer (Founding Member) 07 Dec 19, 19:37Post
I've considered Skype. I already use it myself. Might be fine if she was more computer friendly. Further, this method introduces a lot of points of failure that would render the whole thing useless until I visit her again.
Make Orwell fiction again.
GQfluffy (Database Editor & Founding Member) 08 Dec 19, 06:07Post
If you made her a Facebook account and she has a smartphone....the video call ability is built in.
Teller of no, fixer of everything, friend of the unimportant and all around good guy; the CAD Monkey
ANCFlyer (netAirspace ATC & Founding Member) 08 Dec 19, 12:01Post
Christmas gift for MRSANCFlyer . . . First Class to Hawaii on an AA 787, and return as well as 4 islands and all the shit I can fit into ten days . . . . she has never been . . . game over.
LET'S GO BRANDON!!!!
ShyFlyer (Founding Member) 08 Dec 19, 15:56Post
GQfluffy wrote:If you made her a Facebook account and she has a smartphone

She won't touch a smart phone...at all. Same for Facebook. She won't use her computer for anything other than opening a Word document to do the Church bulletins.
Make Orwell fiction again.
vikkyvik 09 Dec 19, 03:52Post
ShyFlyer wrote:So its the "Portal" by Facebook verses the "Echo" by Amazon. Any recommendations or personal experiences?


Haven't used Echo for any sort of videocalling.

We have a Portal, as do my parents. Only used it once so far (haven't had it long). Seems fine. Nothing spectacular.

I guess the neat feature is that it will track you as you move around. So it would be good for them to see the baby, in theory. Haven't really put that to the test.
ShyFlyer (Founding Member) 12 Dec 19, 19:33Post
Pulled the trigger on an Echo Show 5. Wanted the 8 but lack of availability killed it as a viable choice. While the feature sounds creepy, I really liked the ability to "drop in" on her. Not that I fear for her safety (she can still kick my butt), but I'll be able to start a video call without her needing to do anything other than sit in front of it. Got one for myself too, so that I can drop in on my habitat container while I'm away.
Make Orwell fiction again.
 

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