Silent Circle’s Blackphone 2 is ‘arguably the most secure smartphone ever created’, handy if you’re a wee bit paranoid about snoopers tapping into your calls and private bits. Here’s all you need to know about the Blackphone 2.
What is the Blackphone 2?
The original Blackphone from manufacturer Silent Circle, which was co-founded by an ex-Navy Seal, packed in lots of technically impressive privacy features to help keep users safe and secure. Now Silent Circle has launched its successor, the Blackphone 2, which does much the same but with improved and updated specs.
The Blackphone 2 once again runs PrivatOS (a security-conscious version of Android) and comes pre-loaded with Silent Phone, Silent Circle’s private communications app, which encrypts your calls, messages and file transfers to keep prying ears and eyes at bay. You can now hold secure conference calls too, good news if your colleagues also rock a Blackphone. Meanwhile the Security Center provides a quick and easy way for users to manage all of their privacy and security settings.
Read next: How free public WiFi networks could be stealing your private data
Blackphone 2 specs
Silent Circle CEO Bill Conner has described the Blackphone 2 as a ‘safe and sexy device’, although the all-black design definitely looks like a corporate handset. This second version is a bit of a handful as the original phone’s nicely compact 4.7-inch screen has been boosted to a whopping 5.5-inches. Still, that extra screen space is good news if you want to stay productive on the move with office suites (or simply kick back with a cheeky movie on your lunch break).
Instead of a Tegra processor, the Blackphone 2 uses an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 backed up by 3GB of RAM, which should hopefully boost performance. Silent Circle has also improved the Blackphone’s camera, replacing the original 8-megapixel snapper with a new 13-megapixel lens. The selfie camera remains a 5-megapixel effort.
Finally, the Blackphone 2’s 32GB of internal storage can be expanded thanks to the microSD memory card slot.
Blackphone 2 UK price and release date
The Blackphone 2 is available to buy from today, Monday September 28th. If you’re tempted, you can bag yourself a Blackphone 2 for $799 US on Silent Circle’s website, which offers international delivery.
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