The Blackphone 2 aims to be a BlackBerry killer
If you could have a secure Android phone, would you bother with a BlackBerry?
Silent Circle is a company that specialises in secure communications, and its Blackphone 2 is an attempt at offering an Android phone that’s secure enough to use for work and play. The phone runs a modded version of Android, called SecureOS, developed for more privacy-conscious users.
Whether it’s celebrities paranoid about having their private photos shared or corporate executives wary of data leaks, secure phones are wanted more than ever. This phone – cheekily named after BlackBerry, once renowned for its watertight security – provides built-in privacy controls and powerful encryption and packages all that without being too hard to use.
The phone can maintain separate virtual workspaces to compartmentalise work and personal use, with employers being able to have control over what information can go out.
It’s not a cheap proposition at US$799 (around £525), but for business users who don’t want to have to juggle more than one phone, it might seem like a decent deal. And Silent Circle is taking square aim at whatever’s left of BlackBerry’s slowly shrinking userbase, giving them even less reason to stay loyal to the troubled Canadian phone maker.
[Source: Silent Circle via Fast Company]