Update - the new Gz'One Commando phone has been released and is now available from Verizon. I will be going to the Verizon store to try one out right after Mother's Day and will probably upgrade from the Boulder to the Commando. Note that there are 2 other Gz'One Phones available to meet your need for a waterproof phone - the Ravine (a typical fli phone) and the Brigade (a full qwerty-keyboard phone with browsing capability).
Chuck - An "app" is just short for an "Application" e.g. a small program that the smart phone can run. With an iPhone you go to the IPhone-Store, and with the Commando (and a lot of other phones that run the Android operating system) you go to the Android Market (store) at
www.market.android.com . Many Apps are free, but some can cost - depends on who wrote them and how they market them. The iPhone has about 300,000 apps to choose from, and the Android has about 100,000 apps to choose from, with the number of Android apps currently growing faster than the iPhone. (FYI - I recommend staying away from any smart phone that uses the Microsoft Windows7 smart phone operating system - they only have about 1,000 apps, mostly business).
You get Apps by downloading them directly from the "store" and into the smart phone. You do not need to use a computer, just the smart phone. Earlier phones were called "feature phones" and could only provide limited access to music, weather, etc. via an application provided by the phone vendor. Bottom line, a smart phone is a combination of cell phone, camera/video, and a hand-held computer.
Finally Chuck, don't feel bad, when I first started working on computers, all data input was via punch cards and data output was on paper (no CRTs). We sorted, managed and calculated data by wiring up control boards which served as programs - disk drives had yet to be invented, and memory was actually core (no such thing as solid state or semi-conductor) - Good Lord! I really AM old!!!
---------- Post added at 04:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:09 PM ----------
Last fall I fell in the river while wet wading. My old flip top cell ph. took the dunk with me. It's just now starting to give-up so I must get a new one. For a guy not too tech savy I need to ask you fellow NAFF members a question. Is there a cell phone and/or apps that us fly fishers might want more than others?
Thank you in advance for your advice.
For Android you might want to try the Knot list (free) - provides all the common and unusual fishing knots:
Knots Guide for Android | AppBrain.com
For iPhone you can get Groggs knot app - it costs $5