AfterDawn: Tech news

Meet the Blackphone: A privacy heavy high-end Android device

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 15 Jan 2014 5:14 User comments (7)

Meet the Blackphone: A privacy heavy high-end Android device Silent Circle, the encrypted email service provider, and Geeksphone, the small Spanish smartphone startup best known for its early Firefox OS devices have launched a new device, the Blackphone, a smartphone that was created to enable completely encrypted and secure communications, private browsing, and of course, secure file-sharing.
Says the company: "Blackphone is the world's first smartphone which prioritizes the user's privacy and control, without any hooks to carriers or vendors. It comes preinstalled with all the tools you need to move throughout the world, conduct business, and stay in touch, while shielding you from prying eyes."

Amongst the privacy controls placed in user's hands are the ability to make and receive "secure phone calls; exchange secure texts; exchange and store secure files; have secure video chat; browse privately; and anonymize your activity through a VPN."

Running on an Android variant called PrivatOS, there is little else known about the device except that it is GSM unlocked and that its "performance benchmarks put it among the top performers from any manufacturer."



The device goes up for pre-order along with more information at this year's Mobile World Congress in Spain on February 24th.

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7 user comments

115.1.2014 19:16

is this phone going to tell you if your phone is hacked , cloned or if someone is eavesdropping

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 15 Jan 2014 @ 7:17

216.1.2014 08:17

Interesting concept....but more concerned about who this phone would appeal to.

317.1.2014 14:06

Originally posted by DarthMopar:
Interesting concept....but more concerned about who this phone would appeal to.
Spies with small budgets.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 17 Jan 2014 @ 2:06

418.1.2014 21:09

LMAO!

519.1.2014 03:10

Originally posted by DarthMopar:
Interesting concept....but more concerned about who this phone would appeal to.
Everyone with half a brain should want one...
Seems a lot of people fall to the hype of the media that if you're encrypting, then your doing something illegal.. Just like if you owned a pager you MUST be a drug dealer.. You just got suckered into believing hype designed to MAKE you afraid of something you should want.

It's amazing how many times you are told to learn from history or you'll just repeat the mistakes, and 98% of the people don't learn..

I don't know where you're from, but here in the US we have had -2- MAJOR events that I can think of that should teach us all that things can be taken out of context and blown way out to the point of RUINING your life...

Salem witch trials... (ok we were backwards and scared people back then)

McCarthyism - where people were stripped of jobs and life if they were THOUGHT to be a communist... NOT proven, but thought. Most based on an enemy who would "turn them in". Or something they said would be taken out of context... These people were railroaded through "due process" and their personal and professional lives would be ruined. Simply because of something imagined by others.

The government is ALWAYS right, even when they are wrong... It's pretty scary to think what its like to be the one fighting the government... Look into the uni bomber investigations.. They ruined the lives of several people who had nothing to do with it.. 1 if not more committed suicide because of the stigmata that followed...

If you don't think you have anything to hide.. Then please, PM me you social security number, bank account numbers and passwords, and a copy of your birth cert and drivers lic.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 19 Jan 2014 @ 3:14

624.1.2014 21:03

My BB Z10 is already secure.

727.1.2014 21:24

Originally posted by kutulu1:
My BB Z10 is already secure.
secured directly to the USA government lol

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