BlackBerry claims its second Android smartphone is the 'world's most secure'

[Shawn Knight]

BlackBerry on Tuesday has announced what it describes as the world’s most secure smartphone, the DTEK50 (who names these things?).

The second Android smartphone from BlackBerry may look a little familiar as it’s simply a rebadged Alcatel Idol 4. For those not up to speed, it features a 5.2-inch, 1080p IPS display that’s driven by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 SoC alongside 3GB of RAM and 16GB of local flash storage (expandable via microSD card).

There’s also a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus and dual-tone LED flash, an 8-megapixel shooter up front for video calls and selfies and dual 3.6-watt speakers. It’ll ship running Android 6.0 Marshmallow which will hopefully be upgradable to Nougat in the not-too-distant future. You’ll also get some proprietary BlackBerry apps including BBM, Hub and Password Keeper, just to name a few.

The mid-range handset measures just 7.1mm thick and tips the scales at 4.76 ounces with its integrated 2,610mAh battery. Speaking of, the battery utilizes quick charge 2.0 technology meaning it can be fully recharged in just 120 minutes.

Notably, the handset ditches BlackBerry’s familiar physical keyboard in favor of a full-touch model. Aside from the badge on the reverse, however, there’s not much that differentiates it from your run-of-the-mill Android smartphone.

The unlocked DTEK50 (compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile in the US) is available to pre-order today directly from BlackBerry. Expect to pay $299.99 when it arrives on August 8.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/65729-blackberry-claims-second-android-smartphone-world-most-secure.html

 

[psycros]

Ah, Blackberry...you were pretty good once. A shame you don't have the brains to give your customers what they have been *screaming* for - a "Classic" or "Torch" design running Android, with none of the retarded bulls**t you added with BBOS 10. Oh, we'd happily take the best parts of BBOS 7 like apps with an actual *EXIT* function, or an easy-to-use, logical task manager. Yeah, you probably DO make the most secure Android device (despite your CEO telling us that we really don't have any right to privacy, LOL). But most people don't care about that until their hacked, and 99% of them would never pay a premium for security. Speaking of premium, your prices are absurd. No wonder you're just re-branding cheap phones now..I suppose you have to at least try to stay in the game until you produce your *next* expensive blunder. Even Samsung knows that you've alienated most of your users..they have a Blackberry keyboard add-on for two of their phones. I could have one of those *and* the k/b for the same price as a Priv, but without the bizzarro Priv UI. I keep wanting to believe there's hope for the company that invented the most finger-friendly keyboards to ever grace a phone, that made security actually matter and that made the smartphone a mainstream product. Yet I see nothing to really give me that hope. What I do see is a company that has learned all the wrong lessons from its mistakes, led by a CEO who understands neither his own company's products or its customers.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

'world's most secure' yet uses a chinese phone with known weaknesses in it's security, rebranded by a company that is run by a man that slammed apple for their encryption.

What an amazing choice......

 

[R3DP3NGUIN]

If it doesn't implement a decent virtualization solution, ie Secure Spaces like the BlackPhone 2 (Or Nexus devices flashed with Secure Spaces ROM) does then this will hardly be more secure than there current offerings (PRIV .etc)

 

[winjay]

The iPhone already does those 'hardware root of trust' and secure bootloader stuff.

 

[petert]

Just fighting to find their place on the market - the lack of vision is obvious. I predict that the days of this company are numbered.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Just fighting to find their place on the market - the lack of vision is obvious. I predict that the days of this company are numbered.

That prediction is like 10 years old now yet they carry on defying.