Trump hands in his Android smartphone for a more secure device as he prepares to take...

[midian182]

Donald Trump will no doubt be looking forward to becoming the 45th President of the United States, but the position means giving up a few things. The New York Times reports that he was forced to give up his beloved “Trump” 757 for an Air Force one jet earlier this week, and he’s just traded in his Android phone for a "secure, encrypted device approved by the Secret Service with a new number that few people possess.”

Trump will find himself receiving fewer phone calls on his new device. He was well-known for being easily reachable on his Galaxy smartphone throughout and after his presidential campaign. The Times previously reported that Trump was worried about the isolation if his handset was taken away when he entered the White House.

Barack Obama faced the same situation when he first took office back in 2009. He wanted to hang on to his Blackberry handset, rather than accept a government-issued one, but in the end he was able to keep his own after it was modified.

Last June, however, Obama told Jimmy Fallon during a an appearance on the tonight show that he had switched to an unnamed smartphone, which, for security reasons, was like a “3-year-old’s play phone,” in that it couldn’t take photos, play music, send texts, or even make calls.

According to the Associated Press, Obama also had a phone that he used to send Tweets from, something Trump will be pleased to hear, considering his love of the platform - he was still tweeting from his Android device yesterday. What will happen to the Galaxy handset he carried throughout his campaign is unclear.

the American people. I have no doubt that we will, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2017

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/67847-trumps-hands-android-smartphone-more-secure-device-prepares.html

 

[Kunming]

Maybe if he spearheads the right lobbying effort with hillary, an IT expert, he will be allowed to send and receive the nuclear codes by SMS.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Maybe if he spearheads the right lobbying effort with hillary, an IT expert, he will be allowed to send and receive the nuclear codes by SMS.

Nah, they'd rather tweet them to him... or maybe even posted on his FB wall.

 

[VitalyT]

Is that an iPhone in a rugged case?

Sorry, I'm just trying to follow the intelligence pattern this guy shows.

He also reminds me of this guy, just with lower IQ:

 

[andrewdoyle88]

Maybe they will issue him a miniature phone to make his hands look bigger.

 

[Uncle Al]

Unless they have changed again, the phone that POTAS and his VP is a special production, unbranded phone that bears only the Presidential Seal. Another benefit of the most luxurious prison in America. It will be interesting to see how he adapts to the many restrictions placed upon his own freedom. During his speech it was interesting to see the change over of the "football" via two different Air Force teams. That is the first time I recall actually seeing the change over DURING the inauguration speech. Times, they certainly are a changin!

 

[Kunming]

Nah, they'd rather tweet them to him... or maybe even posted on his FB wall.

No that's just unrealistic, he would never act out on twitter

 

[OneSpeed]

Is that a rugged iPhone?

Oxymoron, my friend.

 

[wiyosaya]

Maybe if he spearheads the right lobbying effort with hillary, an IT expert, he will be allowed to send and receive the nuclear codes by SMS.

Are you sure they even gave him the nuclear codes?

 

[psycros]

Seems like they could let him have a PRIV with a bit of hardening. I mean, its not even that hard to spoof data for apps that demand a bunch of permissions they don't need. US intel guys could probably turn those apps around and spy on on the spies!

 

[Kunming]

Are you sure they even gave him the nuclear codes?

Of course they did! Maybe he'll change the password to 123456789, for maximum security and convenience.

 

[tonylukac]

If he spent money like obama, they should have gotten him a pay phone.

 

[Phr3d]

Said many times, many administrations:
"3-year-old’s play phone"
if a bit more tactfully.. mebbe Trump can finally advance the guv'm't's hardware a bit..

 

[DukeD]

I seriously doubt he "handed over" that phone. How long would it take before some libtard grabbed stuff from that phone and leaked it to attack him ? LMAO No, he didn't hand it over, probably just put it in a drawer. Just another example of liberal headlines misguiding and misstating.

 

[petert]

Maybe if he spearheads the right lobbying effort with hillary, an IT expert, he will be allowed to send and receive the nuclear codes by SMS.

good one!

 

[MrCus976]

Why not give him a Note 7 and see what happens...

 

[mbrowne5061]

Said many times, many administrations:
"3-year-old’s play phone"
if a bit more tactfully.. mebbe Trump can finally advance the guv'm't's hardware a bit..

It is like that on purpose. All that phone can do is *make* calls and send/receiver email through the encrypted government system. Anything more than that would be superfluous and potentially open the president to risks.

We've seen attacks on phones carrier out through SMS strings and MMS messages, so receiving SMS/MMS is probably by a whitelist arrangement.
Handling audio files carries a similar risk as SMS/MMS, but also adds in the risk of headphones: if the secret service yells "duck", you want the president to hear them the first time.
Being able to take photos should be obvious; can't have that feature around classified information.

Limiting the tech was a deliberate decision, not one born of ignorance or stubbornness.

 

[Capaill]

They should put a time-delay on his twitter posts so that the CIA has a chance to do a spell check