The information in this page will walk through the basics of smartphone technology. Assuming that you have not used a phone in the past, we will cover the common hardware options, the typical software interfaces, and the core concepts related to the functionality of your smartphone.

By the end of these lessons, you will know:

The smartphone is distinguished from a non-smart mobile phone usually by its more robust hardware and software features.

A Smartphone often looks like a simple rectangular prism; it's an electric brick. Here are the hardware features of an average smartphone.

The insides of a smartphone are very similar to a computer or cell phone, albeit more advanced to support the smart capabilities. Here are some expected components

The most influential smartphone concept is how the visual interface is interacted by the user with one or more fingers on a touchscreen. Older phones (even some older smartphones) have been built around using physical buttons (ie keypad), and navigation is very different between using buttons vs using a touchscreen.

There are two primary operating systems common in smartphones. Both have similarities, and each also has its own distinctions.

Apple's iOS environment aims to be secure and cohesive. The Apple company has an overall respect for user privacy, yet account setup is relatively simple with everything connected through a login to apple's cloud services.
iPhones and created accounts include a lot of useful free features which are all created or curated by the company for quality and safety.

Android is also secure by default, but also allows different freedoms for the administrator (phone owner) and well as the developer (app creators). Android phones are different from Apple because the level of standardization is smaller, which means the people who build the phone and applications have more independent opinions and processes, so you might find a wider variance of utility and quality on Android devices.

Custom setups are optional and, particularly among older phones, the behavior of the system will likely be different than the current standard experience.

Smartphones are better than non-smart phones in almost every way- although it might not be as straightforward to do.

Landlines are mounted in the wall, and cell phones are portable.

The concept of portable cell phones like flip phones precedes smart phones by just about a decade. That is plenty of time to make technical advancements:
The primary differences between an older flip phone and a newer smart phone relate to the abilities and the interface.

The smartphone and tablet development history are parallel with similarities in the mindset surrounding the device. There are some key differences.

Desktops and laptops often have similar capabilities, but at a different scale.
Some phones are built with a "desktop mode" when a monitor is connected- like a portable computer.

The below sections describe how you can interact with your phone.
Similar to computer fundamentals, with an understanding of the system, you can build intuition about how to use the device.

Here is how to use the physical parts of your phone.

Most new phones include a charging/data cable, and sometimes also an adapter to plug into the wall.

Depress the physical buttons to activate them.

The smartest part of the phone is how it can interact with your inputs and requests.

The home screen is where your phone first starts when you unlock it, or when you have no other programs or tasks running.

The touchscreen is the primary human input device on smartphones, You can also use your voice to perform certain actions, or set up other accessibility options.

Here are the ways you can touch the screen:

A lock screen can be set up to give your phone an extra layer of protection from intruders, or from accidentally activating in your pocket.

Navigate to the home screen and select an app to open it.

Here are some of the basic settings you should know about.

Use the volume rocker buttons to adjust the current phone volume.

Within your phone's system settings, and often within each app itself, you are able to change settings about notifications.
These relate to the type and volume of noise your phone will make, as well as whether a pop-up 'toast' notification is allowed to show on the screen being drawn overtop other content on the screen.

Special notes about the toast popup when receiving a phone call:

The settings for permissions is what grants apps the ability to do things to your phone, for example to access a hardware/software feature or to connect to a database.

Swipe around on your home screen to search for the app you want to use.

Find your phone app.

Find the camera app.

AI is being included with a lot of new products for no additional cost. You can purchase AI subscriptions for better or more secure service, which you may be able to access on your phone.

If you want to do research on your own, you can open up a web browser like Chrome or Safari.

Your phone is made for connecting calls, but it does much more because it's basically a little computer.
Make a good choice by checking the app price and the customer reviews before installing the app. For example, some games look really tempting, but may be full of advertisements or other malicious features.

There are some physical additions your phone can take to make it better.

If you haven't already chosen a smartphone, it's not too late!
Make the choice based on what you know you need, and don't spend more than you need to.

A zero-trust policy means that everything is assumed malicious and actions are only allowed through a strict whitelist of services or owners.
There is zero amount of trust for anything which is unfamiliar.
Because there is no trust, we will assume actions to be NOT allowed until explicitly added to the whitelist.
A zero-trust mindset will slow the development of malice on your system and will improve your ability to research and make decisions related to the content entering and leaving your system.