What is a smart phone?

That’s an English term that literally means ‘smart phone’. With these phones, people can make calls and text messages, as well as do other things like email, play games, and browse the internet. An internet connection is even necessary for many features of the smartphone.

With a smartphone you can e-mail, chat, film, surf the Internet, send photos, enter texts, keep your Facebook profile, plan routes (smartphones also have GPS) or listen to music. In addition, you can also call the devices and functions such as a calculator and a contact list are available.

So you can basically do everything you can do on a desktop computer with your smartphone. Although one must remain realistic: typing large pieces of text is not nearly as easy as using a ‘real’ keyboard. In addition, the devices have much less memory than a regular computer. For example, you cannot play a PC game on a smartphone, although many well-known games have already been made special versions for smartphones.

Every smartphone has internet access to an online store where applications for the phone are offered. They are called ‘apps’. Think of an app from Buienradar, for example, to see where it is raining. Or an app to pay for online purchases with your mobile. In short: smartphones are mobile Internet computers that you can use to make calls.

In principle, any telephone that you can use to surf the Internet or, for example, take and send photos, falls under the heading of ‘smartphone’. The best known are the iPhone from Apple and phones with Android on it, from different brands. The best known of these is Samsung.

The iPhone is a mobile phone from Apple. It is a very popular phone. The latest edition is the iPhone X with the iOS 11 operating system. In terms of its functions, it is a combination of a telephone, the music player iPod and a PDA (handheld computer). You can use it to e-mail, call, surf the Internet, listen to music and take and view photos and videos.

The content of the iPhone is managed via iCloud. With this you can, for example, move music and photos to and from your phone. To do this, you use your personal account that is connected to the phone.

If you have an iPhone, you can purchase new apps in the App Store. This program decides what is and what is not in the App Store so that the apps that end up on the phone are safe and virus-free.

Smartphones are sold separately as well as in combination with special subscriptions. This often includes the internet. In the Netherlands you can go to various providers for an iPhone in combination with a subscription. Separately they are very expensive; with a subscription you pay less for the device. The more expensive your subscription, the cheaper the device. Think carefully about what is the best option for you, because an expensive subscription that you don’t use much is of course more expensive at the end of the ride.

Most subscriptions work with data limits. This means that you are only allowed to use the internet for free up to a certain maximum via your provider’s network. This only applies to the signal ‘from the air’. If you log in to your wireless WiFi signal at home, that usage will not count within your subscription. The providers have developed a kind of counter with which you can keep track of how much internet traffic (data traffic) you have through your subscription. This way you can keep an eye on whether you are not exceeding the limit.

The Android operating system is on smartphones from different manufacturers. Samsung is the most popular manufacturer of phones with the Android operating system. Phones with Android can do the same as, for example, an iPhone. The user experience is just different and they are usually cheaper to purchase.

Samsung’s smartphones are a lot cheaper than the iPhone and are considered its biggest competitor. The Samsung Galaxy is one of the most popular models. The ‘store’ where you buy apps for Android devices is called Google Play Store. Thousands of apps can be downloaded there, here too, both for free and for a fee. The number of available apps is smaller than for the iPhone. In general, companies develop apps for the iPhone (and the iPad) first and then for Android.

There are also smartphones that don’t work with Android and aren’t iPhones either. Blackberry, for example, has its own system for the telephones. Traditionally, Blackberries have been mainly used by business people, so they don’t play a major role in the consumer market yet. The Windows Phone is no longer made, but the old smartphones will continue to work.

Whether smartphones are suitable for seniors is a tricky question. As with other age groups, this depends on the interest in new gadgets and applications. Anyone who hardly calls mobile anyway and has little interest in computer applications will not be able to do much with smartphones. For mere calling, a simple device is just as good, if not better.

However, if you have a good view (for the small letters on the screen), a reasonable fine motor skills (for the operation) and a great interest in new interactive applications, then it is certainly worthwhile to delve into them. The ease of use has been greatly improved and the costs are clear, depending on the type and subscription.