This Mother’s Day, Get Real and Update Your Mom’s Tech, From Wearables to Doorbells and More

Mother’s Day gifts are hard to figure out unless you stop and consider all the way you could take your mom’s tech to the next level. From what’s in her home to what’s on her person, there are many products that are affordable, functional, and stylish and that will help her in the modern age.

Google and Amazon Smart Home Assistants, $29 to $100: Whether her home leans Amazon or Google, it’s high time you invested in your mom’s ability to utilize the best smart assistants have to offer. And with increasing competition between the two smart device behemoths Amazon and Google, you’ve got competitive and similar pricing, both of them reducing prices on all the devices. While a $100 full-sized Google Home or Amazon Echo is a great deal, you can certainly start her off with a more affordable $30 Google Home Mini or Amazon Echo Dot.

Kasa Smart WiFi Power Strip, $70 on Amazon: This top-rated smart strip syncs with any smart home assistant and gives your mom independent control over its six outlets — meaning she could tell her home what to do with them, from turn on the living room lights to turn on the kettle. And of course it protects against surges and, in that vein, the included app will let monitor her energy consumption. This a great gift to seamlessly take your mom’s normal routines to the next level.

Nest Learning Thermostat, $215 on Amazon: It’s simple, it’s easy, it works with smart home devices like Amazon Alexa, and it’s great for your mom’s comfort, her electric bill, and the environment. The thermostat gives her full control over scheduling and customizing her home’s air conditioning and also to seamlessly operate it, unlike the clunky thermostats of yore. This is one of the top gifts you could get your mom that she’ll use on a regular basis and find real and functional value in.

Apple Watch 4 with GPS, $350 on Amazon:  She deserves the Apple Watch 4 with GPS, which is down to $350 right now, its lowest price yet. As with most smartwatches, she’ll be able to scroll through alerts, toggle her music or podcasts on or off, and read the headlines on her wrist. And this latest edition has got a faster processor, sharper resolution, and edgier screen aesthetic (actually and really the bezel is smaller in this newest edition). On top of that, its accelerometer and gyroscope have been enhanced to handle sudden changes or movements, alerting you or others (like emergency services) if she’s fallen — making it a strong contender for a Mother’s Day gift This is the GPS-only model and you can get the GPS and cellular model, too, and still save: The Space Gray Aluminum Apple Watch 4 is going for $480 right now (down from $530).

Ecovacs N79S Deebot Robot Vacuum Cleaner, $200 on Amazon: She shouldn’t be breaking her back anymore cleaning up. And this robovac includes an app that lets you customize, schedule, and monitor the robot’s cleaning routines from afar. From different cleaning modes to direct control and scheduling, she’ll be able to fully customize her vacuuming experience using the free app for the vacuum or channeling it through her smart devices (if she doesn’t have those, scroll up in this article). The robot will clean for up to two hours on a single charge and returns automatically to its base to charge when it needs to or when she’ll tell it to. Considering the ease-of-use, smart home functionality, and low-profile and sleek design, this is a perfect Mother’s Day gift.

MOTILE Commuter Laptop Backpack, $100 at Walmart: This vegan leather backpack features a 10,000 mAh, Qi-certified wireless power bank. That means your mom can just slip her phone into the dedicated charging pocket on the go and power up. It also has an exterior, expandable water bottle pocket that’s perfect for a reusable bottle, plus a top zip pocket for keys, headphones, and more. The inside has two large mesh pockets, two smaller pockets, and a pocket to slip that power bank into. It even has a dedicated back storage compartment for her laptop or tablet.

Ring Wi-Fi Enabled Video Doorbell, $100 on Amazon: If your mom worries a lot, give her eyes on the outside of her house so can peacefully yell at any door-to-door salesmen who might chance on her place, or at least let her know when guests are showing up. This affordable and smart video doorbell will let her see who’s at the door on virtually any device she’s got at home. And it the doorbell is stolen, you get a new one for free.

Whichever direction you decide to take this Mother’s Day, the smart way about it is to take your mom’s tech to the next level. It will definitely make everyone’s lives easier, except for an occasional tech support call.

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