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8 FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | SEPTEMBER 2016 By Steve Benoff This is the first of a new Breeze column. If you're familiar with smartphone apps, you may want to skip this first piece. It's aimed at those of us not so used to them. Most of us know about smartphones. Many of us have them without even knowing it. Generally speaking, the flip phone has evolved to a non-flipping flat phone with a color screen. On that screen there are small icons. If you press any of these icons, you are using an app – an application with a targeted function. Of course, the icon we usually press first when we're new to the phone is the phone app. Press the phone icon and a virtual keypad pops up, and that's the first evidence that the device we're holding is kind of magical. By pressing an icon, the screen changes to a new function. And that is the magic of an app. By pressing an icon, your smartphone becomes a phone (obviously), but it isn't only a phone. Because, if you press a different icon, it can become something else. You can send and receive text messages (a messaging app), send and receive emails (an email app), create a Rolodex of people and businesses you deal with (a contacts app). You can surf the Internet. There are thousands of other apps you can load on to your phone that will let you do a thousand other things. The fact is, what we call a smartphone is really a small computer that can easily switch to nearly limitless functions. In fact, that small computer in your hand is probably more powerful that the first computer you owned. So let's cover a few basics of smartphones and apps. Despite the efforts of Microsoft and its Windows Phones, most of us have either an Apple iPhone or an Android phone (like a Samsung). And although a smartphone doesn't have to be, most of our smartphones are connected to a cell phone provider – usually AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon Wireless. The provider supplies your phone with two essential elements – cellular phone service and data. In the early days of cell phones, providers made their money providing cell service, but you may have noticed, most providers have eliminated calling restrictions; unlimited calling is now the rule. That's because most people rarely use their smartphones as phones; they use their myriad apps much more, and most of those apps use data. Data has become the major source of provider revenue. But we don't have to use provider data to use our smartphone apps. If we have Wi-Fi in our homes, we can use our home network for data. Another source of data, one you don't have to pay for directly, is a Wi-Fi hotspot – like at Starbucks or the Lodge. Once you have a working smartphone and made a few calls, it's time to explore the apps that came with your phone. Some of these require setting up and some don't. To text someone, all you have to do is press the texting icon that is probably labeled Messages or Messaging, press the symbol to create a new message (explore the screen and you'll find it), enter a phone number, type your message, and press send. When you get a reply, your phone will probably sound a tone. You'll see the message icon on the screen with the number of messages you received. Press the icon and start reading. Another app is email. Your provider likely set up this function for you when you got your phone. If not, you'll need your email address and password. Once email has been set up, you use the email app much like texting. Start a new email, enter the email address of the recipient, type your email, and press send. That's it for this first column. We'll start moving away from the apps that came with your phone next time. There's An App For That

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