Facebook portal for the tech-terrified?

[DeathByMascara]

DH is thinking of getting his mum a portal as a Christmas gift, she lives at the other end of the country and misses seeing our kids (particularly this year). In theory, this is a great idea, but we've given her any number of iPhones which are set aside and never used as she gets confused by them.

If she is allowed to come up for Xmas, DH will be driving her home and is happy to set it all up, so that isn't an issue.

My question is, has anyone bought this? And if so, is it easily operated by someone who has literally never used a computer? I don't want to spend over £100 on something that won't be used!

I bought one for my MIL and spent multiple sessions showing her how to use it, set it all up for her. She can't get the hang of the video calling at all and only uses it for the built in Alexa to listen to the radio or news. Total waste of money. Seems so easy yet after 6 sessions she still can't work it

Thanks for that input. I'm aiming for absolute worst case scenario, and you've just confirmed what I suspected.

What makes its worse is that MIL can use a laptop. Mind you she managed to download all sorts of virus and dodgy pop up things.
If they don't have Facebook messenger or a mobile that has WhatsApp I don't think they can use the video functions anyway but prepared to corrected on that. I. Hindsight I wish we had bought my MIL an Alexa as they are cheaper- we have an echo show and I THINK you can use Skype on it.