Second device of privacy oriented Silent Circle, the Blackphone 2, is designed to meet the needs of management and business security, while not alienating the workers who will eventually use it for their personal belongings as well.
The phone, launched Monday, integrates with Google's Android for the work program, which allows companies to manage and secure Android devices their employees. The phone also works with leading device management platforms, including MobileIron, Citrix, Good, and SOTI.
One of the most important new features is called Blackphone 2 spaces and allows users to create virtual phone environments with different security settings.
Users can have separate spaces for work and personal use, with a different selection of applications and file storage that is separated by using a material assistance mechanism. Companies can also create and manage their own business space on Blackphones of their workers.
Blackphone PrivatOS works, an operating system based on Android that was created by Silent Circle to provide more granular control over security and privacy settings.
The Security Center PrivatOS can be used to manage the spaces, but also provides fine control over the permissions for each installed application. Users can remove permissions they feel certain applications should not have - and many Android applications will ask excessive permissions.
Silent Circle is so confident in the OS's ability to limit what applications can do on the device they have included support for Google Play in Blackphone 2. This opens the entire Android ecosystem for app Blackphone users, something that was not available on the first device.
The new phone is also the default encryption, which is activated during initial setup; Encrypted voice, text, video conferencing and transfer of Silent Circle service files, and over-the-air firmware updates.
The Blackphone 2 has an OCTA-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, a full HD 5.5-inch, 3 GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There is a microSD card slot for storage expansion and decent cameras in both the back and front, 13 megapixels and 5 megapixels respectively.
$799 retail price puts it in the range of high-end Android devices, even if the hardware-wise, it is not on par with some of them. The value of Blackphone, however, comes from software and services focused on safety which are supplied with the unit.
The phone, launched Monday, integrates with Google's Android for the work program, which allows companies to manage and secure Android devices their employees. The phone also works with leading device management platforms, including MobileIron, Citrix, Good, and SOTI.
One of the most important new features is called Blackphone 2 spaces and allows users to create virtual phone environments with different security settings.
Users can have separate spaces for work and personal use, with a different selection of applications and file storage that is separated by using a material assistance mechanism. Companies can also create and manage their own business space on Blackphones of their workers.
Blackphone PrivatOS works, an operating system based on Android that was created by Silent Circle to provide more granular control over security and privacy settings.
The Security Center PrivatOS can be used to manage the spaces, but also provides fine control over the permissions for each installed application. Users can remove permissions they feel certain applications should not have - and many Android applications will ask excessive permissions.
Silent Circle is so confident in the OS's ability to limit what applications can do on the device they have included support for Google Play in Blackphone 2. This opens the entire Android ecosystem for app Blackphone users, something that was not available on the first device.
The new phone is also the default encryption, which is activated during initial setup; Encrypted voice, text, video conferencing and transfer of Silent Circle service files, and over-the-air firmware updates.
The Blackphone 2 has an OCTA-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, a full HD 5.5-inch, 3 GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. There is a microSD card slot for storage expansion and decent cameras in both the back and front, 13 megapixels and 5 megapixels respectively.
$799 retail price puts it in the range of high-end Android devices, even if the hardware-wise, it is not on par with some of them. The value of Blackphone, however, comes from software and services focused on safety which are supplied with the unit.
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