Blackphone will have privacy, security, encryption as top features

With all the mess about cyber security of late, a smartphone that’s built from the ground up with privacy and security in mind sounds like a good idea.

That’s what Silent Circle, a secure-messaging company based in Washington, D.C., and Geeksphone, an emerging Spanish company, have in mind with the Blackphone.

The Silent Circle team has been working since 2011 to create the world’s first private encrypted communications network. The Geeksphone crew takes an open standards, open source approach with their handsets and have been doing work with a FireFox OS during the heavy lifting.

The Blackphone will be an Android device powered by a security-focused operating system called PrivatOS. It’ll be more than what’s inside your typical Android device, although the features should be the similar.

The firmware in the OS for the Blackphone will encrypt communication services and browse the Web securely through a private VPN service. According to Silent Circle, you’ll be able to send peer-to-peer encrypted texts, phone calls, video calls and file transfers from the Blackphone.

Developers are planning a top-notch processor for the Blackphone and it’ll be unlocked, which means it’ll be compatible with any GSM network, such as AT&T, T-Mobile and a slew of smaller carriers.

We’re not likely to get a peek at a real Blackphone until the Mobile World Congress conference, scheduled for Feb. 24-27 in Barcelona, Spain.

Until then, we can only speculate more Blackphone details and pricing.

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