The cheap tablet I bought my wife was indeed as bad as the reports said it was.
If it had a decent screen it would have been worthwhile, but I felt like I was going to crush it every time I pressed my finger onto the screen, and anything less wouldn't even register.
So, the very next day I bought my wife a new phone (Motorola XT860) and she loves it.

She had a Palm IIIx a few years ago and didn't like it. Ever since then she's been resistive to the idea of ebooks, organizers and so on, so when she started to consider a smartphone I wanted to jump on it.
As for the tablet, well it wasn't returnable but it will function well enough as a digital photo frame!
Def