Boeing has been a stalwart of the aviation industry, manufacturing some of the most iconic aircrafts the world has known. It is definitely news if such a veteran of the manufacturing industry, takes it upon them, to manufacture a mobile device which provides extra-security to those who need or want it. Boeing has unveiled the Boeing Black mobile phone which, the company claims, is built to handle security needs of “government-level missions”.
The Boeing Black is undeniably an Android based smartphone device, with security features that would make Q smile, and probably be something that James Bond would prefer to use. The device boasts of a 4.3 inch qHD (540 x 960 pixels) display with a dual core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex-A9 CPU with support for quad-band 2G and tri-band 3G and LTE capabilities. The device has an unspecified internal storage, which can be expanded by a MicroSD card slot. The device has the standard Bluetooth connectivity, however it is the older v2.1 variant (most current flagships give us Bluetooth 4.0). The Boeing Black is powered by a Lithium ion 1590 mAh battery and weighs in at 170 grams and has dual sim capabilities. Though the specifications of the device are decidedly lower-mid to mid-range, the selling point of the device is its outstanding and somewhat paranoid focus on data security.
The software of the Boeing Black has been tweaked with security features built into the ROM itself. The device is powered by what Boeing calls the Boeing PureSecure architecture, which “was designed from the outset for the mobile environment, […] with embedded hardware [and] operating system policy controls”. The software security policy configurations allow user to configure the device for maximum security. As noted by the product card, the Boeing Black has “Hardware media encryption and configurable inhibit controls are embedded to protect the device, its data, and the transmission of information, significantly reducing the risk of mission compromise due to data loss;” so much so that any attempt to compromise the device by opening the hardware will result in the entire data being securely deleted while simultaneously making the device inoperable.
Boeing has filed with the US Federal Communications Comission stating that the Boeing Black “will be sold primarily to government agencies and companies engaged in contractual activities with those agencies that are related to defense and homeland security,” which basically implies that the common folks of this world won’t get their hands on one of these secure beauties anytime soon. Would you like one of these? Shout it out in the comments below.