We all probably use our phones for hours and hours of the day. And with the recent news of the NSA spying on everyone, everyone has been all up in arms about the NSA. In comes the Blackphone. The Blackphone is a smartphone designed to put privacy and security front and center. It was first introduced last month, and the Blackphone is now available for pre-order for about $629. It should be shipping in June.
The Blackphone is running an Android-based operating system called PrivatOS. They’ve loaded in some extras as well, including a firewall, remote wipe capabilities, and custom apps developed by the folks at Silent Circle, including Silent Phone, Silent Text and Silent Contacts. Those apps will encrypt your communications and route voice calls, one example is over a peer-to-peer Voice over IP network to make your calls harder to track. Silent Circle also offers these apps for both Android and iOS, and the apps are free. But you will be forced to buy a new subscription to use them. Prices are running about $10/month or $100/year. The Blackphone comes with a 2-year subscription.
As for the specs, we’re looking at a 4.7-inch IPS HD Display, 2GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, LTE and HSPA+ connectivity, WiFi 802.11 n, and Bluetooth 4.0. It’ll also have GPS, which is probably not something you’d want if you’re running away from the law, as the NSA can track everything.
The Blackphone is a joint venture between Geeksphone and Silent Circle. Geeksphone is responsible for the hardware, while Silent Circle is responsbile for the PrivatOS Software. It’s definitely going to be an interesting smartphone, and I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how well it’s going to do. How many of you are planning on picking one up? Be sure to let us know in the comments down below.