Best Phone For Seniors

The Galaxy S7 is the best phone for seniors because it’s the best phone for most people, and has plenty of options for those who need a bit of extra help.

Best overall

Samsung Galaxy S7

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The Samsung Galaxy S7 has a number of features that make it the best phone most people can buy, but it also has something special for people who are new to smartphones entirely, and may need a bit of extra help.

In addition to being strong but light, with drop-resistant Gorilla Glass 4 on both the front and back, the Galaxy S7 has an Easy Mode that lowers the bar for people who are transitioning from an older feature phone, or who needs a bit of extra guidance. Samsung also has a number of intuitive accessibility features that go above and beyond the average Android device.

Bottom line: The Galaxy S7 has all the goods, from a great, sturdy design to an accessible price to tons of features for people who need a little help.

One more thing: Samsung’s Easy Mode can be activated from anywhere, but once you get the hang of it, it’s also simple to turn off!

Why the Samsung Galaxy S7 is best

The promise of getting things done.

‘Easy mode’ doesn’t have to be a negative thing, and Samsung has done a great job making its Android software simple and intuitive. Even without it, the Galaxy S7 is one of the most accessible Android phones, with plenty of ways to make the software more user-friendly and accessible.

And features like Always-on display show you notifications even when the phone is off, while wireless charging support means you don’t have to fumble for a Micro-USB cable in the dark.

Finally, even though it’s a relatively compact device, the Galaxy S7 manages excellent battery life, and should last up to two days with moderate use.

Best for less

LG G5

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Like the Galaxy S7, the LG G5 is very easy to pick up and begin using. It has a beautiful 5.3-inch display, excellent performance, and great cameras. It also has a removable battery, which helps when you’re scrambling to charge your phone — or forgot to charge it for a couple of days because you don’t use it that often.

Also like Samsung’s latest, the G5 has an intuitive Easy Mode, enlarging home screen icons and text while simplifying navigation. Made of strong, scratch-resistant metal (though it may not appear so at first), the G5 can stand up to a lot of wear and tear, and its 16MP camera is one of the best in the business, rivalling the Galaxy S7 in many areas.

Bottom-line: The LG G5 is a great phone that offers fast performance and intuitive software for less than the Galaxy S7.

One more thing: If you are a fan of photography, the LG CAM Plus is a camera grip add-on with an additional 1,140mAh of battery power, along with a two-stage shutter button and more.

Best for cheap

Moto G4

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You can’t do much better than a $200 phone that performs like a $400 phone. The Moto G4 is one of the best smartphone deals on the market today, with great performance, a big, bright screen, and plenty of software features — like Moto Display — to keep you addicted.

No one makes cheap phones like Motorola, and the company improved every aspect of its Moto G line this year, from the camera to the battery life.

Bottom line: At $199, the Moto G4 is one of the best phone deals around, and it comes unlocked out of the box so you can use it on most carriers around the world.

One more thing: The version linked above is the version without ads, but Amazon sells a special Prime version that, for a $50 discount, puts ads on your lockscreen. If you’re willing to deal with those, you can save some money in the process.

Conclusion

The Galaxy S7 is the best choice for seniors because it is the best choice for most people. Compact, affordable, and extremely easy to use, the phone’s Easy Mode is a great example of Samsung broadening the appeal of its phones as they grow more popular.

Best overall

Samsung Galaxy S7

See at Samsung
See at AT&T
See at Sprint
See at T-Mobile
See at Verizon

The Samsung Galaxy S7 has a number of features that make it the best phone most people can buy, but it also has something special for people who are new to smartphones entirely, and may need a bit of extra help.

In addition to being strong but light, with drop-resistant Gorilla Glass 4 on both the front and back, the Galaxy S7 has an Easy Mode that lowers the bar for people who are transitioning from an older feature phone, or who needs a bit of extra guidance. Samsung also has a number of intuitive accessibility features that go above and beyond the average Android device.

Bottom line: The Galaxy S7 has all the goods, from a great, sturdy design to an accessible price to tons of features for people who need a little help.

One more thing: Samsung’s Easy Mode can be activated from anywhere, but once you get the hang of it, it’s also simple to turn off!

Verizon clarifies stance on Pixel updates, claims simultaneous OTA rollouts

A change of course, and a reason to still be hesitant.

Understanding how Verizon planned to handle the launch of Google’s new Pixel and Pixel XL, we laid down a stance that you should strongly consider buying your Pixel elsewhere — even if you planned to use it on Verizon. Since then, Verizon has clarified the situation, offering a statement to Android Central that makes things a bit less dire: it now claims that software updates will launch for Verizon’s Pixels at the same time as Google’s own unlocked models. This isn’t all roses, though — there’s some nuance to the situation.

Here’s the statement on the update situation, from Verizon:

Verizon will be releasing operating system and security updates for the Google Pixel at the same time as Google. The software still goes through the same Verizon testing process, [and Verizon] releases the updates in tandem.

First off, this is good news for those who are interested in still buying their Pixel from Verizon instead of Google. Knowing that Verizon has put out its official stance as wanting to release updates at the same time as Google is a good thing for everyone. Verizon is still going to do its testing on the update before release, as it does with every phone, but in this case it seems Google’s working closely with the carrier to get that done with in time to push the update along with the unlocked models.

This kind of partnership is a big deal for Google.

Now, the downside here is that the base situation is the same now as we originally feared: Verizon still has something to do with your Pixel’s updates, and that always introduces potential for issues or delays. The simple idea that Verizon has mucked with your phone in any way is what will keep many from buying a Pixel on Verizon, and nothing about that situation has changed. Just because Verizon plans to release the updates on time with Google doesn’t mean they aren’t involved in the process. (Thankfully, security updates are supposedly still going to arrive monthly untouched.)

Going a step beyond just the Pixels, though, this is a big deal for Google. Having a setup in place with Verizon to work hand-in-hand on updates, certifying them well before release and hoping to launch them at the exact same time as the unlocked models is something we’ve been wanting for years. We’re not sure which side had to bend more here, but it’s great to see Google taking the initiative to push for this, and also to see Verizon agree to this sort of update situation.

As for our original recommendation, it’s going to stand as-is: if you want the cleanest, smoothest possible Pixel experience, the one place to get it without any caveats is directly from Google.

Google Pixel + Pixel XL

• Google Pixel and Pixel XL hands-on preview
• In pictures: Google Pixel and Pixel XL
• Pixel + Pixel XL specs
• Understanding Android 7.1 Nougat
• Verizon is the exclusive U.S. carrier for the Google Pixels
• Join the discussion in the forums!

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Will there be a Galaxy Note 8? How Samsung can regain consumer trust

Will there be a Galaxy Note 8? Should there be?

The Galaxy Note 7 is dead. It’s been hard to miss the unceasing flow of news since replacement units began catching fire despite Samsung’s assurances that they were using battery cells from different suppliers than the original 2.5 million that were recalled in early September.

So now Samsung has several priorities, both short-term and long-term. It must once again work with various regulators to retrieve all Note 7s, old batch and new. And then it must figure out what the heck went wrong.

The former task will be a lot easier than the latter. It’s clear the problem is greater (and bigger) than just the battery cells stuffed inside the shiny new phones, so now Samsung has to investigate whether the problem was endemic in the design of the phone itself. Some pundits, like WSJ’s Joanna Stern assert, perhaps correctly, that Samsung’s relentless drive to achieve more in less time was the phone’s ultimate downfall — bigger battery cells squeezed into increasingly thin cases, with charging standards meant to push the erratic molecules back and forth at ever-faster rates. That it found an opportunity to finally trounce Apple in all areas and, in pushing suppliers, may not have performed the requisite quality control at every level necessary for a piece of technology that is essentially a battery with a screen.

Samsung tried to stuff too much into the phone, and failed.

If every Note 7 became incendiary the same way — turned on, while charging, using the supplied AC adapter, for instance — it would be a lot easier to diagnose the problem. A Bloomberg report highlighted initial submissions to regulators in Asia, noting, “The initial conclusions indicated an error in production that put pressure on plates within the battery cells. That in turn brought negative and positive poles into contact, triggering excessive heat that caused the battery to explode.” A Consumer Product Safety Commission investigation said it more bluntly: the batteries were too big for the phone.

In other words, Samsung tried to stuff too much into the phone, and failed. It speaks to Samsung’s desire to over deliver with every release, to one-up not only its competitors but itself, time and time again. It’s an ambitious goal, unmatched by any other company in the technology space. And now that goal has to be set aside while Samsung sublimates itself to a fickle industry willing to move onto the next big thing more quickly than at any time in history.

Surely, even as Samsung was about to release the Galaxy Note 7 it was already well into the design and prototyping stages of its flagship Galaxy S8. How the cancellation of the Note 7 will affect its most important product remains to be seen, but this situation has reportedly disoriented the company’s insulated management, causing some reshuffling and likely exits. Samsung’s top brass, based in South Korea, is not as recognizable to North American audiences as a Tim Cook or Elon Musk, but many in the top echelons wield just as much power, and the new mobile chief, D.J. Koh, may be forced to step down or resign from this fiasco.

Most importantly, Samsung needs to prove to its worldwide audience that it has taken steps not just to fix the battery fires, but to reinforce its dedication to safety above all else.

Perhaps most importantly, Samsung needs to prove to its heterogenous worldwide audience that it has taken steps not just to fix the cause of the battery fires, but to reinforce its dedication to safety above all else. You can be certain that at the next launch event, Samsung will spend more time on ensuring the tech media of its products’ safety than the speed at which they charge.

It would also behoove Samsung to get better at saying sorry, to really understand the level of frustration and even trauma this has caused for its loyal customer base. To that people affected by the fires, Samsung needs to go above and beyond, not just by replacing their phones but offering to pay for any medical procedures, physical or mental, that should be needed.

Will you buy a Galaxy Note 8 if Samsung makes it?

So the question is, will you be willing to put everything aside, trust Samsung again and purchase a Galaxy Note 8 — or whatever it will be called — if the company chooses to make it?

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Galaxy Note 7 fires, recall and cancellation: Everything you need to know
• Do not buy a Galaxy Note 7
• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

State of Samsung Survey: Share your thoughts on the Note 7 recall and you could win an unlocked Galaxy S7!

Take a few minutes to let us know what you thought of how Samsung handled the Note 7 recall.

The Galaxy Note 7 has been cancelled, and now Samsung has plenty of work acquiring all the outstanding stock and figuring out what went wrong. We’ve talked about that already, but we want to know what you thought of how the company handled the Note 7 recall process.

Please take a couple of minutes to fill out the survey, and you could win a Galaxy S7!

Thank you so much for taking the time to fill in the survey! We’ll be using the data to make some interesting insights that we will share with you in the coming weeks.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7

• Galaxy Note 7 fires, recall and cancellation: Everything you need to know
• Do not buy a Galaxy Note 7
• Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
• The latest Galaxy Note 7 news
• Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!

Garmin Vivosmart HR+ review: A fully-packed fitness tracker

There’s no shortage of fitness trackers on the market. Since the launch of the Nike FuelBand, just about everyone has had a crack at this lifestyle end of the sports device market. 

Offering a lighter and simpler approach than more established sports watches, fitness bands have appeared on wrists across the world, wanting to track, remind, motivate and accompany you through your daily grind.

Many are over-ambitious, many are under-featured, but few are as accomplished as the Garmin Vivosmart HR+. 

Garmin Vivosmart HR+ review: Design

Sticking to band design, the Vivosmart HR+ offers a compact form factor, measuring about 20mm wide across, with a thickness of around 13mm through the main body, before slimming into the strap.

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The hard body of the Vivosmart HR+ meets the rubbered strap, finished with a textured outer surface and a smoother inner. The sections are screwed together, so there’s no swapping bands here as you’ll find on the Fitbit Charge 2, but the strap is soft and comfortable to wear, and flexible enough to get a good fit.

The band comes in two sizes for regular or x-large wrists (Garmin’s words not ours). We found the regular size fit us well enough; for those with really small wrists, the size limiter really is the length of the device. The main body section is hard for about 55mm, so if your wrist is smaller in width, it might be less comfortable to wear. 

The Vivosmart HR+ is designed to be worn snugly. Unlike a basic step/motion tracking band, as this aims to detect your heart rate, you’ll have to make sure the optical heart rate sensor on the rear doesn’t move around too much, which we found no problem with.

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There’s a 25.3 x 10.7mm display on the top that’s touch enabled and a single button beneath it, providing all the interaction with this device. Though these you’ll swipe through information and functions and use the button to start and stop your exercise tracking.

There’s a lot crammed into the Vivosmart HR+, but it’s not the prettiest device around if we’re being critical. It looks good, but the Fitbit Charge 2 offers a little more flexibility with its changeable straps and we think looks a little better too. However, this Garmin is a little smarter than its Fitbit rival.

• Best fitness trackers 2016: The best activity bands to buy today

Garmin Vivosmart HR+ review: Features and functions

The Vivosmart HR+ has a wide range of features. Starting with the most obvious, you’ll notice from the name that it includes HR – heart rate – with an optical sensor on the back. This takes your heart rate from your wrist and the Vivosmart will both detect and monitor your average heart rate through the day and more precisely measure it during activities, like running.

The “+” on the end is a little more significant, as this is the part that sets this Vivosmart apart from most other fitness bands. The + is for GPS. This GPS will monitor your location during activities, meaning you can run and get an accurate route and distance trace, where other devices rely on an estimated distance based on average step length.

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Aside from those sports features, the Vivosmart HR+ offers step tracking. This is as you’ll find on any number of fitness bands, from the Fitbit Flex to the Misfit Ray and here it’s used to monitor your activity, reminding you to move when you’ve been sitting still for too long and giving you a picture of how active you are throughout the day. 

Sleep tracking rounds out the lifestyle tracking side of things. If you can sleep wearing a band like this it will keep track of how long you’re sleeping for, as well as taking your heart rate when you’re in the land of nod.

The advantage that the Vivosmart HR+ has over other devices is that it’s all self-contained: it offers all the functions of a basic fitness band and it offers the essential functions from a running watch in the same package.

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That makes it one of the smallest and lightest devices that will do all of these jobs, as this combination of functions is usually offered in a watch, like the Fitbit Surge or the TomTom Spark. The advantage that this Garmin offers is avoiding the need to have more than one device for different jobs.

The disadvantage, by the same measure, is that the size limits some of the functions it offers compared to a fully-fledged running watch. The Vivosmart doesn’t profess to track a huge range of different activity types. The main focus is running, with support for indoor and outdoor, but there’s also support for walking and a generic “cardio” and finally “other”, giving you some way to categorise your activity. There’s no support for swimming, but there is waterproofing to 5 ATM.

Garmin Vivosmart HR+ review: Performance and battery life

With so much packed into the Garmin Vivosmart HR+, it’s no surprise that it’s fairly easy to drain the battery. The battery will give you around 3 or 4 days of use, including plenty of recorded sports activity. Naturally, the less you use features like the heart rate sensor and the GPS the longer it will last so you can stretch it further.

The battery is charged via a clip-on USB charger, which is quick and easy to attach and importantly, it is secure.

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Step tracking is accurate enough, closely reflecting the sort of values we’ve achieved with a Fitbit Flex. You can change the target for the day and set it higher than the default 7500 and closer to the 10,000 steps that’s being touted as a figure to aim for by a number of health authorities. 

Ad hoc movement is recorded, but using Garmin’s Move IQ system the Vivosmart will automatically detect activities it recognises. For example, if you saunter to the shops to buy some milk, that’s just steps. If you head out to walk the dog for an hour, it detects that walking and categorises it as a walk.

This isn’t recorded in the same way as manually starting a run, so if it’s detailed information you’re after, you have to select what you’re doing and hit the start button.

We tested the heart rate sensor and GPS alongside a Garmin Forerunner 610 with a chest strap and found the results to be comparable. The optical based heart rate scanner is a little slower to react to a change in heart rate, probably because it collects data less frequently, but over the course of a 45-minute run, we had the same average heart rate result from both devices.

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Heart rate is broken down in to zones to help guide you toward getting the right intensity for your desired aims, but there’s little guidance as to what these values mean. In this sense, Garmin isn’t being quite as beginner-friendly as Finnish rivals Polar, whose Flow app is a little more lifestyle-groomed than Garmin Connect. Garmin presents your data, Polar interprets it for you. 

The GPS is a little slow to attract a signal on cold use (i.e., first time or in a new location), but once it knows where it is, subsequent connections are much faster, under a minute on average. You’ll need a clear view of the sky, so on first use it’s worth putting the Vivosmart HR+ outside to get that connection. There’s no option to take the GPS signal from your phone – something that the TomTom Spark 3 offers – and that sort of option would be a great addition to the Vivosmart. 

We found the GPS route and distance to be pretty accurate, although it does cut some corners (literally), suggesting it doesn’t log the data points as regularly as some larger devices. This is probably to prevent excessive battery drain, but for this type of device the results are accurate enough and better than the guesstimate of other devices.

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Naturally, all the information is presented on that small top display, with the ability to swipe through the stats about your activity. On the run you’ll get time, distance, pace, calories burnt, heart rate and the zone you’re in. The display is illuminated so you can view in light or dark conditions, but one of the drawbacks compared to a larger watch is that you’re limited in how much data you can view in one glance at your wrist. That means you have to swipe repeatedly, as only two pieces of information can be displayed at any time.

Garmin VivosmartHR+ review: Garmin Connect app

Modern devices aren’t designed to be used in isolation and that brings us back to the app we’ve just mentioned, Garmin Connect. Garmin has been making fitness and sports devices for a long time – especially compared to relative newcomers like Fitbit.

The Garmin Connect system and app has been around for some time too, presenting your information in app form and through its website. It has evolved from a fairly data-heavy place to somewhere that’s becoming increasingly lifestyle oriented, as more devices are launched to appeal to those who want to track things 24/7, rather than just running or cycling.

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With the Vivosmart bridging the gap between lifestyle and running with its unique feature set, the app needs to support both these sides. It offers a range of “snapshots” that give you glanceable information: a summary of your step progress, the key stats from your last run, your weight and so on. These can be customised to only show the information you want to see. 

Thereafter you can dive deeper into things like your runs, where you can view the route, your averages, all your stats broken down, your lap times and graphs for heart rate and pace. Once you reach these areas of Garmin Connect, it starts to feel more like the app it used to be, for those more interested in sports performance.

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It even does step cadence, something of an advanced feature for a device of this type, which may be a case of it giving you data because it can, not because it’s particularly useful to the user. 

This is a universal app for all your Garmin devices so if you have a bike computer or have used another Garmin watch for example, you’ll find the data all in one place. 

Garmin will let you link up this data, so if you’d rather see it elsewhere you can, for example hooking up with Strava or MyFitnessPal if you want monitor your calorie intake more closely.

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Best of all, the Garmin Vivosmart doesn’t need connecting to your PC. Although you can connect it to Garmin Express to update firmware and sync data, for most people it will be the connection to the phone that’s important. We found this to be a solid connection and Garmin Connect is a stable app on Android where we tested it.

Garmin Vivosmart HR+ review: Smart functions

Aside from the sports and fitness functions, the Vivosmart HR+ joins the party in offering you notifications from your phone. This is something that Garmin has looked at across its range of devices. That means you’ll get incoming calls, messages and other app notifications on your wrist with a vibration. 

The size of the display means that some of these are a little squished and you don’t get the experience here that you’ll find on a better-sized watch like the Polar M600 with its full Android Wear treatment, but at least you’re getting something to alert you. If you’re walking the dog you can glance and see that you don’t need to read that Facebook message – and that’s what notifications are good for. This is an advantage over some devices that only offer basic calls and messages, rather than third-party notifications too.

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You’ll also get music controls, meaning you can play and pause or skip tracks on your phone. That might save you getting your phone out of your pocket, so it’s a feature worth having, although there’s no support for making this a standalone music device: you can’t transfer songs onto it to listen to while out running.

There is also control for Garmin’s Virb cameras, meaning you can remotely start and stop recording from your wrist. All in all, it’s a comprehensive package, but it’s the combination of 24/7 activity tracking and the more advanced support for running and other activities that gives the Vivosmart HR+ its appeal.

Verdict

The Garmin Vivosmart HR+ is something of a surprise package, stuffing a lot of functionality into a device that’s only a little larger than some other fitness tracker bands.

It’s a little more expensive than most at £169.99, but it’s the feature set that appeals, as you might save yourself the need to have two devices to record all that information.

The Garmin Vivosmart HR+ is an ideal device for someone who wants to track daily activity as well as record runs or walks in more detail, but doesn’t want to go the whole hog and start wearing a running watch all the time.

HP refreshes Spectre x360, Envy 13, Envy AIO, and Envy Display with design updates and more

HP has updated its premium Spectre and Envy consumer laptops, as well as the Envy all-in-one and Envy Display.

The company announced that Spectre x360 and Envy 13 have been given larger batteries and refreshed designs, with the x360 receiving a smaller footprint and an edge-to-edge display. HP also gave its Envy all-in-one PC a design update and Intel’s newest processors.

HP

HP Spectre x360 still offers a display that can rotate, but that display now comes with an edge-to-edge panel. The new model is 11.8mm slimmer than before, offers a quad speaker array, can last for up to 15 hours between charges, and has the ability to recharge its battery up to 90 per cent in 90 minutes. You can get it with a seventh-generation Core i5 or Core i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to a 1TB SSD.

HP

The new Envy 13 is made of aluminium and magnesium and can be configured with a full HD or quad HD display (there’s a touchscreen option, too). HP gave it a 28-per cent larger battery for 14 hours of life. It’s not as small as the x360, nor is it as pricey, but it can charge up to 90 per cent in 90 minutes. You can also get it with a seventh-generation Core i5 or i7 processor, up to 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage.

HP

As for HP’s new Envy all-in-one, it has a 27-inch quad-HD IPS touchscreen, with a 4K option is coming soon. You’ll find a 9.5mm bezel, a pedestal design, Intel’s latest Core i5 or i7 processors, and an optional Nvidia GTX950M graphics card. HP is also updating its Envy Display. It’s now a 27-inch 4K monitor with an IPS panel (178-degree viewing angles and 99 percent sRGB color gamut). It comes with plenty of ports, too.

HP

The new HP Spectre x360 will be available sometime in October starting at $1,159, while the new Envy 13 will cost $849 and the Envy all-in-one will start at $1,249 when they launch this month. HP also said the Envy Display will launch in December for $499.

There’s no word yet on UK pricing and availability. 

Colorado researchers turn beer waste into battery electrodes

In the beer-friendly state of Colorado, researchers at the University of Colorado-Boulder have turned brewery runoff into something with a different sort of buzz: low-cost lithium-ion battery electrodes. According to the authors of a new research paper published in the journal Applied Materials and Interfaces a single barrel of beer takes about seven barrels of water to make, and the wastewater must be filtered before it can be disposed of (which can also affect the price of your beer). But it turns out that same byproduct makes an excellent and freely available raw material for battery production.

While it is possible to make carbon-based battery electrodes from biomass, the process is often costly and limited by availability of raw materials. In this case, the Boulder team’s process is a little like beermaking itself, in that it requires the help of some beneficial fungus called Neurospora crassa that grows in the sugar-rich wastewater. Not only does the fungus clean the runoff, but it also creates “one of the most efficient naturally-derived lithium-ion battery electrodes known to date,” according to Science Daily.

“The wastewater is ideal for our fungus to flourish in,” graduate student and lead author Tyler Higgins said, “so we are happy to take it.” While it’s not the first beer-derived fuel cell we’ve seen, Huggins and his co-authors see a future in the beer-to-batteries business — they’ve already filed a patent for the process and created a new company called Emergy to commercialize it. “We see large potential for scaling,” Huggins said, “because there’s nothing required in this process that isn’t already available.”

Via: Utility Dive

Source: Applied Materials and Interfaces, Science Daily