Geeksphone is out with a new privacy promising smartphone that aims to subvert all NSA spy rings in the world.
Dubbed the Blackphone, it's an unassuming little 4.7-inch Android smartphone. Geeksphone hasn't divulged the exact resolution of the screen but its been listed as a HD IPS display.
Android users will also find the same specs they've come to expect on handsets including a 2GHz Quad Core CPU backed up by 2GBs of RAM, 16GBs of storage, LTE, HSPA+, and a 8-megapixel camera.
But underneath this glossy screen Silent Circle, a security and encryption software developer, has done some serious Android OS tweaking to secure it into a new platform called "PrivatOS."
Digital Fort Knox
With a mix of secure applications and Android modifications, PrivatOS gives users more insight and control over how third party applications are doing with their data.
Silent Circle's solutions drill down to replacing some of the basic communication apps to offer encrypted VoIP calls and silent texting. Meanwhile, the stock Android app has been replaced with Silent Contacts to block apps from scrubbing your virtual phonebook.
Additionally the Blackphone comes with SpiderOak, a plan for 5GBs of "zero-knowledge encrypted data backup." Users will also be able search their musings on Google and Bing with the Disconnect search provider, which routes internet queries through an anonymous VPN client.
The bottom line fees
However, in order for Silent Circle's applications to provide all this peer-to-peer encryption goodness, both devices receiving and sending information need to be enrolled in the service. Even the Blackphone itself comes with two years of service for all the encrypted apps.
For everyone else not using a Blackphone, the software company has the encrypted apps available for download for iOS and Android devices that come with paid subscriptions. Blackphone buyers are given three additional one-year licenses to Silent Circle's security suite they can hand out to their friends.
Once the terms are up, Silent Circle users can continue paying to use the suite for US$10 (about AU$11) per month, buy a Blackphone themselves, or go back to regular phone calls and text messages.
Of course the Blackphone can also call out to unsecured connections like their calling up the local Dominos and anyone else unlikely to enroll in Silent Circle's secure network.
You can order the Blackphone today for US$629 (about AU$695), and it's expected to ship in June. Stay tuned for our hands on with this privacy-protecting phone.
- For a little more security, the Samsung Galaxy S5 is the latest phone to have a fingerprint scanner.
