Manufactured by Silent Circle and Geeksphone, The Blackphone is launching in Kenya, as it’s first stop on Africa to help users in control of their data by using a customized operating system, PrivatOS, with apps all designed to optimize privacy and is built from the ground up to be secure by design.
The Blackphone has 4 point multi-touch 4.7 inch screen size, 8MP and 5MP back and front camera, has single micro-SIM slot, Bluetooth Class 4.0 LE and Wi-Fi and a 2000mAh battery.
The Android powered phone has a Quad-core 2GHz System on Chip processor, 16 GB internal memory and 1 GB RAM and is just 119 grams. The Blackphone manufactures say it uses encryption technologies already proven in government and enterprise accounts around the world and has world-leading commercial security tools with the transparency necessary to know which risks you can take and which you should avoid.
The firm has announced it will be working with Kenya’s Mobile Edge systems as its local distributor and will be sold be sold in Kenya at over Ksh 80,000 with an insurance policy.
The Blackphone promises security at its best and seems it will provide it. Its a brainchild of former Navy SEAL commando Mike Janke , a spy-turned-privacy advocate whose company encrypts communications for federal officers and activists. His business partner Phil Zimmermann, the inventor of popular email encryption service Pretty Good Privacy (PGP).
The phone has apps such Silent Phone, which is a kind of Skype allowing encrypted VoIP calls, another app called Silent Text, a chat app but encrypted, Silent Contacts, which safeguards user contacts among others. Security though is only limited to Silent Circle users and they have to encourage their friends to buy subscriptions to Silent Circle’s services for their friends too.
