Blackphone

For the phone by Boeing, see Boeing Black.
Blackphone
Manufacturer SGP Technologies, SA
Type Smartphone
Release date 30 June 2014
Introductory price 629 USD[1]
Operating system PrivatOS
System-on-chip used Tegra 4i[2]
CPU 2 GHz Quad Core SoC
Memory 1 GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
Storage 16 GB flash
Display 1280x800 4.7 in (120 mm) diagonal IPS LCD
Camera Rear: 8 MP with flash
Front: 5 MP
Connectivity Wi-Fi :802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4/5 GHz), GPS, Bluetooth 4.0
Power 2,000 mAh
Online services Bundled secure voice/video/text/file sharing and VPN service
Weight 119 g
Website www.blackphone.ch

The Blackphone is a smartphone developed by SGP Technologies, that provides encryption as well as other security privacy features for phone calls, emails, texts, and internet browsing. SGP Technologies is a joint venture between the makers of GeeksPhone and Silent Circle. Blackphone provides internet access through VPN.[3] The phone runs a modified version of Android called PrivatOS, forked from Android 4.4.2, that comes with a bundle of security-minded tools.[4] On 30 June 2014, the Blackphone began to ship pre-orders.[5]

Background

The concept of an encrypted phone has long been an interest of Silent Circle founder and PGP creator, Phil Zimmermann. In a video on Blackphone's website, Zimmermann said,

I had to wait for the rest of the technology infrastructure to catch up to make it possible to do secure telephony. PGP was kind of a detour for me while waiting for the rest of the technology to catch up to make really good secure telephony possible.[4]

Aaron Souppouris of The Verge states:

The Blackphone looks like a fairly standard Android phone. It has a 4.7-inch HD (the exact resolution has yet to be announced) IPS display, a 2GHz quad-core processor, 16GB of storage, an 8-megapixel camera, LTE—pretty much everything you'd want in a smartphone, and very little you wouldn't. Produced by Silent Circle, a company with an existing portfolio of security- and encryption-related software[6]

The Blackphone also allows insecure communications. Mike Janke, CEO and co-founder of Silent Circle, has suggested there are certain calls people want to encrypt, but "if you're ordering a pizza or calling your grandma", it's unlikely you'll feel the weight of the NSA on your shoulders. "This is why Blackphone is unique—it gives the user the chance to choose the level of privacy."

Blackphone runs a custom built Android OS called PrivatOS. The operating system essentially “closes all backdoors” which are usually found open on major mobile operating systems. Some major features of PrivatOS are anonymous search, privacy-enabled bundled apps, smart disabling of Wi-Fi except trusted hotspots, more control in app permissions, private communication (calling, texting, video chat, browsing, file sharing, and conference calls). Geeksphone also claims the phone will receive frequent secure updates from Blackphone directly.[4]

It supports the following 2G, 3G, and 4G bands, respectively:

LTE Cat. 4 (150 Mbit/s) is under development.

Services bundled

Kismet Smart Wi-Fi Manager comes pre-installed. It also includes an international power adapter kit and a headset.

Reception

Ars Technica praised that the Blackphone's Security Center in PrivatOS gives control over app permissions, such as the bundled Silent Phone and Silent Text services that anonymise and encrypt communications so no one can eavesdrop on voice, video and text calls. They also praised the Disconnect VPN and Search that keeps web trackers from the phone, anonymises web searches and Internet traffic. Ars did not like that the phone’s performance is mediocre, using a custom OS means no Google Play or any of the other benefits of the Google ecosystem, spotty support for sideloaded apps, and reliance on Amazon or other third-party app stores.[7]

The phone's original launch quantity is unknown, but was reported to have sold out shortly after launch.[8] Blackphone has since resumed normal sales.

 

References

External links