The privacy-focused device, created in response to leaker Edward Snowden's revelations about the NSA, sells for $629.<\/p>\n
Blackphone Sarah Tew\/CNET <\/p>\n
Blackphone, a privacy-obsessed smartphone developed in response to Edward Snowden's revelations about the National Security Agency's mass surveillance of Americans' phone records, started shipping Monday. <\/p>\n
The $629 phone, created as a joint venture between Silent Circle and Geeksphone, was unveiled at Mobile World Congress in February. The device's sales pitch claims that security and privacy are put \"ahead of everything else.\" <\/p>\n
In order to achieve that goal, the Blackphone is based on a forked Android operating system, called PrivatOS. The operating system comes with built-in support for encryption of voice calls, video calls, and text messaging. It automatically prevents Wi-Fi hotspots from identifying personal information. A Security Center feature gives users control over a wide range of application permissions. And the device comes with both anonymizing Web browsing and VPN support. <\/p>\n
On the hardware side, Blackphone features a 4.7-inch HD IPS screen, a 2GHz Nvidia Tegra 4i CPU, and 16GB of internal storage. It supports LTE and HSPA+ for wireless networking. <\/p>\n
The phone's joint venture, dubbed SGP Technologies, plans to re-open orders on July 14. <\/p>\n
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