A year after the original Blackphone was launched at the Mobile World Congress, Silent Circle has returned to the event to announce the secure phone's successor, the Blackphone 2, and what it calls the world's first privacy-focused tablet.
The Blackphone 2 is Silent Circle's iPhone 6 Plus, boasting a 5.5-inch screen -- the original Blackphone has a 4.7-inch screen. With the Blackphone 2, the storage space is doubled to 32 GB and the rear camera bumped from 8 MP to 13 MP.
While both Blackphone's processors are said to be clocked at 2 Ghz, Silent Circle says the Blackphone 2 has enjoyed a bump in processing power and RAM. The Blackphone 2's battery also lasts longer than the original handset's power source does.
"It offers the privacy and security that you can only get from Blackphone with the next-generation hardware performance that smartphone users demand," says Silent Circle.
The Blackphone 2 is scheduled to arrive in the second half of 2015, with the Blackphone+ following and releasing before the year comes to a close.
Silent Circle didn't release any of the Blackphone+'s specs, but says the device will be "the world's first privacy-focused tablet, will provide next-generation technology built to offer privacy for today's mobile workforce."
Silent Circle is all in on the Blackphone ecosystem, after recently buying out Geeksphone, its partner in the venture. The Blackphone ecosystem, by the close of 2015, will include the original Blackphone, the Blackphone 2 and the Blackphone+ tablet, along with the Silent app store; Silent World encrypted calling plan; Silent Manager, a web-based plan to manage devices and users; the PrivatOS, an Android-based OS; the Silent Suite of apps, which includes encrypted texts, VOIP calls and an excrypted address book; and the Silent Meeting system for secure conference calling.
"Traditional security solutions have failed global enterprise in a mobile world and make data and privacy breaches feel inevitable to most enterprises," said Mike Janke, co-founder and chairman of the Silent Circle board at a press conference held at Mobile World Congress 2015 Monday morning.
Traditional solutions have failed the enterprise sector of the mobile market, lacking the security elements needed to avoid the data and privacy breaches that many have come to believe are inevitable, Janke said.
"What's more, these breaches have evolved and have much broader impact," says Janke. "They now put every customer, employee and partner at risk. They are eroding the trust people have in enterprises. They have moved privacy firmly to the top of the boardroom agenda."
