5 Best Smartphones for Seniors

It’s only natural for our preferences to change with age. The older we get, the less impressed we are with over-hyped features that seldom improve the overall user experience as much as they promise. On the other hand, price and screen size become much more important factors when choosing a new smartphone. Keeping these criteria in mind, we have selected top 5 best smartphones for seniors. Our list includes everything from budget phones to high-value flagship models.

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At A Glance: 5 Best Smartphones for Seniors

• Samsung Galaxy Note 5 N920C 32GB Factory Unlocked GSM - White
  Our Top Pick
• Samsung Galaxy J7 J700M 16GB Unlocked GSM 4G LTE Android Cell Phone - White

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Best Smartphones for Seniors

1. Samsung Galaxy Note 5 (or Note 7)

If you want the best Android phablet on the market today, the Galaxy Note 5 is arguably the device you’re looking for. The Note experience is characterized by the S Pen stylus, excellent performance, and plenty of screen real estate.

Back in 2015, when the smartphone was first released, its high-end specifications obliterated just about every other smartphone on the market. Now, in 2017, the Note 5 still holds up even when compared to other flagship devices. The Exynos 7420 Octa chipset with 4 GB of memory and Mali-T760MP8 GPU is a multi-tasking powerhouse, and the 5.7” display with the resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels and the Corning Gorilla Glass 4 technology looks just as gorgeous as ever. Thanks to the S Pen stylus, you can take hand-written notes, use special commands, easily edit pictures or draw something from scratch, and more.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you could also get a second-hand Note 7. Not that there’s anything thrilling about buying things from eBay, but the smartphone has become infamous after it was found that a battery defect had caused some Note 7 smartphones to catch on fire. Samsung had to issue a worldwide recall, resulting in an enormous financial loss for the company.

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2. Samsung Galaxy J7

The Samsung Galaxy J7 offers Samsung’s signature build quality and stunning design for the price of a budget phone. Despite its affordable price, the J7 performs exceptionally well, ships with the latest version of the Android operating system, sports a vivid, bright display that’s easily readable even under direct sunlight, and has a replaceable battery and expandable storage. Combined, these features make it stand out when compared with its rivals.

The large, 5.5” Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen has the HD resolution, resulting in 267 PPI pixel density. There’s either a Snapdragon 615 or Exynos 7580 Octa chipset under the hood as well as 1.5 GB of memory. The rear-facing camera offers a 13-megapixel resolution, LED flash, and fast autofocus. The 3,000mAh replaceable battery will easily get you through an entire day of heavy use or two days of moderate use.

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3. Google Pixel XL

The Google Pixel is the first smartphone with the Google logo on the back, and the Pixel XL is its larger version. Thanks to the stock version of the Android operating system, you won’t have to learn how to use a brand-new user interface. What’s more, the Pixel comes with the Google Assistant, an intelligent personal assistant developed by Google. Finally, you can have a natural two-way conversation with your smartphone, using Google’s natural language processing algorithm.

If you enjoy taking pictures with your smartphone, the Pixel XL will be right up your alley. The 12.3 MP rear-facing camera with phase detection and laser autofocus has been rated as the best smartphone camera currently available, and the 5.5” AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with the resolution of 1440 x 2560 pixels makes for a flawless viewing experience. The presence of the Snapdragon 821 chipset and Adreno 530 GPU makes the smartphone future-proof for many years to come.

4. Motorola Moto G4 (2016)

Motorola’s Moto G budget smartphones are among the company’s most successful devices—and for a good reason. The latest Moto G4 is a basic, pure Android device that doesn’t cost much but does quite a lot. It comes with an impressive 5.5” display with the Full HD resolution and mid-range Snapdragon chipset from Qualcomm. There’s also an above-average 13 MP rear-facing camera, 5 MP front-facing camera and active noise cancellation with dedicated mic for noise-free phone calls.

But what we like the most about the smartphone is the 3,000mAh battery that easily lasts up to 2 days of heavy use. Even though the battery isn’t removable, the included fast battery charging technology ensures that you won’t be without juice for too long.

5. Jitterbug Smart

Let’s face it: as fun as smartphone apps and games can be, most people spend 99% of time using the default phone, text, and camera apps. It then makes sense to buy a smartphone which user experience has been designed around these apps, instead of spending big bucks on a high-end device with useless features.

The Jitterbug Smart is an easy-to-use 5.5” smartphone with 5.0 MP camera and very simple user interface that takes no time getting used to. Best of all, the smartphone costs just around $100 with no contracts or cancellation fees to worry about. GreatCall, the manufacturer of the smartphone, proudly states that their customer service and support is entirely U.S.-based, which is something we can appreciate.