Bumped to add that it arrived this evening, just in advance of a snowstorm!
While it is charging, my father is reading the instructions as he's fascinated with the new gadget.
My mom's friend had recommended the book
Albion's Seed, a
972 page paperback that costs $23! The Kindle book is $9.99 -- I told my mom to download the sample as her first experiment in 3G.
Thanks again to everyone for their input -- I don't think my dad will be daunted by the 5-way button at all!