MWC 2015 | Silent Circle unveils the ultra-secure BlackPhone 2 smartphone

Teaser

Over at MWC 2015 in Barcelona, Silent Circle announced two new devices, the Blackphone 2 handset, and the Blackphone Plus tablet. The main feature of the new devices is an ultra-secure operating system.

Mihai Andrici, Published 03/03/2015

Smartphone

In the second day of open floors at MWC 2015 in Barcelona, Silent Circle introduced the updated Blackphone 2 smartphone, as well as the Blackphone Plus, the company's first tablet. With the two new devices, the manufacturer is aiming at the security-minded crowd, with an added emphasis on business users.

The Blackphone 2 comes with a 5.5-inch display running a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels. For added protection against scratches, the display is protected by a layer of Corning's Gorilla Glass. Although the manufacturer did not mention which chipset is being used, the company announced that the hardware specs include a 64-bit octa-core processor, 3GB of RAM, as well as a 3060 mAh battery. The Blackphone 2 will be released at some point this July. The company did not reveal exact pricing information, but the new smartphone should be priced at about $629.

The second device announced by Silent Circle today is a 7-inch tablet called the Blackphone Plus. The manufacturer did not reveal any specifics aside from the fact that the ultra-secure tablet will be launched by the end of the year.

Both the Blackphone 2 and the Blackphone + will run PrivateOS 1.1, an updated version of the company's proprietary operating system. Some of the new features of the updated hacker-safe OS include secure conference calls, encrypted peer-to-peer VoIP communications, as well as support for multiple user profiles.