Samsung is trying to get all of its bases covered, and it’s now said to try and address the elderly market, too, with devices that are a little more optimized for this market. The first device for this is going to be the Samsung Galaxy Core Advance, which is actually not supposed to be that much different than the original Galaxy Core in terms of specs. That means it should come with a dual core 1.2 Ghz Cortex A5 processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage (4 GB free), a 4.3″ 800×480 screen, and a 5MP rear camera, along with a VGA front-camera.
Even though the specs of the Galaxy Core are lower end than the Moto G, it actually costs quite a bit more than the Moto G, which may have something to do with the fact that Samsung is more interested in making a lot of profit per handset than offering a lot of value in each one of their devices. That being said, the Galaxy Core arrived earlier than the Moto G and it was received relatively well because the competition wasn’t that much better, and Samsung had the branding and marketing power behind this model.
I still think the situation has changed since then, though, and if Samsung intends to release this phone now, but repackaged for the elderly, then it should cost less. The elderly, especially, are very price-sensitive, and they only care about technology as long as it works the way it’s meant to work.
As far as the differences between the old Galaxy Core and the new one go, on the hardware side it’s supposed to have power and volume buttons that can still be seen in low-light (probably backlit), and it will have an extra coating to protect it from scratches, considering elderly people might might be very careful with them and might drop them more often. On the software side, its camera app should be able to read out loud text that is captured by the camera, which actually sounds like a pretty useful function, especially for people with disabilities, which this phone is apparently also targeting.
Samsung should announce it next month, so we’ll see then if there are more improvements for the “elderly”, or if it’s just a Galaxy Core improved ever so slightly and sold under a different name, which I believe Samsung is doing a little too often, lately.