MWC 2014: Geeksphone’s Blackphone Features a Modified Android Version for High Privacy

Silent Circle and Geeksphone have promised us a new privacy smartphone and here it is. The two teased have previously teased the privacy-focused device in January, but they’ve waited for the official Mobile World Congress conference in Barcelona in order to reveal its Blackphone. This handset was presented as ‘world’s first smartphone which places privacy and control directly in the hands of its users’, but what is that supposed to means? We can tell you from the start that it has to do with its modified Android version called PrivatOS and that it comes pre-loaded with special apps that offer high privacy features. There is no mystery that absolute privacy seems like a dream in our world, but that’s what Geeksphone Blackphone promises.

It’s all about PrivatOS

This device dubbed the Blackphone might seem an ordinary high end model at first: it only comes with a quad-core processor running at 2GHz and paired with 16GB of storage, also having a 4.7 HD IPS screen and an 8MP camera, but we have already told you that there is something more about it.

This is actually a handset focused on providing privacy and more control to the end user as long as GeeksPhone had made a partnership with Silent Circle for creating a new platform called PrivatOS. We are practically talking about a mixture of secure applications and Android modifications which offer more (if not even complete) control over third party application’s access over your data. The usual stock Android app is replaced with Silent Contacts in order to block apps from scrubbing your phonebook, not to mention that the privacy tools include Silent Circle’s apps such as Silent Phone, Silent Text and Silent Contact and even secure cloud file storage from SpiderOak. As for its special Wi-Fi connection manager, it offers greater security on public networks along with a special software that makes it possible to securely remote-wipe your Geeksphone Blackphone device.

And don’t forget that PrivatOS will get its updates directly from provider SGP Technologies, without needing any carriers to approve them, keeping the standard of its previously announced levels of security as high as possible.

Pre-orders Already Available

In such conditions, you shouldn’t be surprised that Geeksphone’s Blackphone is priced like any other high-end device from the current market. So, you can already pre-order it, but for no less than $629, before shipping and taxes.