Cell phones for Mom

Does Mom want you to call home more often? Give her a cell phone, and it will be easier for both of you to keep in touch. Cell phones come in all shapes and sizes, so you can easily find one that will suit her best. Just remember that if she owns a phone already, you should ask her which carrier she uses (asking her to eat an early-termination fee just wouldn't be nice).

If Mom is tech savvy and will use high-end features, Cingular offers a respectable set of goodies with the Sony Ericsson W810i, while the Motorola Krzr K1m for Sprint packages a music player and 3G services into a slim design. It's also worth noting that Motorola designed the Krzr with feedback from female users in mind. And if Mom is really tech savvy, the RIM BlackBerry Pearl smart phone for T-Mobile puts a mobile office in her hands without the hefty size. The Pearl is available from Cingular as well, in a couple different colors.

On the other hand, if Mom just wants a phone to make calls, the LG VX3450 for Verizon Wireless and the Nokia 6030 for Cingular/AT&T are solid handsets. Lastly, the Samsung Jitterbug Dial is perfect for the mother who needs a phone for emergencies but isn't of the cell phone generation.