One of the more interesting devices here at Mobile World Congress is Blackphone: a pro-privacy handset being developed by Spanish startup Geeksphone, in partnership with U.S. security company Silent Circle using a “security-oriented” Android build called PrivatOS. Read More
The mobile market may still essentially be a two horse race, with Android and iOS enjoying a significant lead, but there are lots of upstarts trying to make inroads, too. One of those is Firefox OS, Mozilla’s attempt to bring a web-first focus to smartphones. Geeksphone has been an early Firefox OS hardware supporter, and now it has put the Revolution up for sale, a higher-end device than its earlier efforts, complete with the ability to dual-boot to both Android and Firefox OS out of the box.
If you’re used to working in a corporate environment but also being cool during evenings and weekends, then you might be familiar with dual-booting: I’ve been known to have my Macs run Windows on a Boot Camp partition for when I need to pierce the veil and travel to the Microsoft realm. It’s actually a pretty common scenario in desktop computing, and there are a number of products including virtualization software designed to facilitate it. But is there the same kind of utility in the mobile world?
Firefox OS is definitely still an outlier when it comes to the mobile platform landscape, and as such, there’s very little in terms of pressing reasons to have it as an option. That said, the eternally curious and those who sympathize with Mozilla’s approach to software, open source and the web will probably find plenty to love about Firefox OS on a device with decent mid-range specs (it appears mostly on lower-end hardware, in keeping with Mozilla’s target market for the OS).
Specs for the phone include a dual-core Intel Atom processor at 1.6GHz, as well as HSDPA cellular support, and an 8 megapixel rear camera with a 1.3 megapixel front shooter. The Revolution retails for €222, and is sold direct from the Geeksphone website. Shipments start going out March 4, so eager shoppers won’t have to wait long before they start acting like mobile chameleons.
As the reality of the extent and invasiveness of the security services’ dragnet surveillance programs hits home, the pro-privacy movement has been cranking up its own ideas to counter spy-tech with pro-privacy tech. The Lavabit founder’s recent Kickstarter for a secure end-to-end open source encrypted email project called Dark Mail is one example.
Today, here’s another: meet Blackphone, a smartphone that’s been designed to enable secure, encrypted communications, private browsing and secure file-sharing.
The project is a joint venture between Silent Circle — which shuttered its own encrypted email service last summer in order to preemptively avoid having to comply with government requests to provide data — and Spanish smartphone startup Geeksphone, which has previously made more standard Android handsets, and more recently has been building phone hardware for Mozilla’s open web standards HTML5-based Firefox OS.
The pair said today they have established a new Switzerland-based joint venture to collaborate on technology projects, with Blackphone set to be the inaugural product. They describe the phone as “the world’s first smartphone placing privacy and control directly in the hands of its users”.
Despite that grand claim, Blackphone is by no means the first encrypted smartphone. For example, back in September TC’s John Biggs and I paid a visit to a German based secure phone maker, GSMK Cryptophone, which has been in the encrypted telephony business for 10 years.
Another recent project to build a phone designed with security, encryption and identity protection in mind is the Quasar IV, which is using a hybrid Android/Linux and Quatrix mobile OS called QuaOS as the foundation for secure telephony.
But while Blackphone is not the only secure phone game in town, there’s no doubt that last year’s revelations about security agencies’ consumer electronics and services powered data-harvesting habits — revealed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden — have accelerated interest in security and privacy. The fallout from Snowden’s big reveal is clearly attracting new players to what could potentially become a much more mainstream space.
Hence, presumably, the Blackphone makers’ reasoning about now being the right time to build a pro-privacy phone that doesn’t carry the stench of security geek. The tone and nomenclature of their announcement very much feels targeted at a mainstream smartphone user, not a security specialist.
Their press release includes a statement from Phil Zimmermann, the creator of PGP, who is also involved in the project, which sets this tone.
“I have spent my whole career working towards the launch of secure telephony products,” he says. “Blackphone provides users with everything they need to ensure privacy and control of their communications, along with all the other high-end smartphone features they have come to expect.”
Blackphone’s website is also light on deep-dive security terminology which could alienate an average phone buyer. Instead there’s a slick marketing video and explainer text that takes a broad-brushstrokes approach to fleshing out the device.
Using the Blackphone is described as “the trustworthy precaution any connected worker should take, whether you’re talking to your family or exchanging notes on your latest merger & acquisition”.
The site goes on to add:
Blackphone is unlocked and works with any GSM carrier. Performance benchmarks put it among the top performers from any manufacturer.
It has the features necessary to do all the things you need, as well as all the things you want, while maintaining your privacy and security and giving you the freedom to choose your carrier, your apps, and your location.
The tools installed on Blackphone give you everything you need to take ownership of your mobile presence and digital footprints, and ensure nobody else can watch you without your knowledge.
You can make and receive secure phone calls; exchange secure texts; exchange and store secure files; have secure video chat; browse privately; and anonymize your activity through a VPN.
Details of Blackphone’s pro-privacy feature-set are relatively scant at this point, perhaps because they want to avoid it feeling too complex, but they do say it is being built atop a “security-oriented” Android build called PrivatOS.
Blackphone is due to be previewed at the Mobile World Congress tradeshow in Barcelona next month where the JV will also be taking pre-orders. There’s no word on exactly when the phone will ship to buyers, as yet.
It’s worth noting that making an encrypted phone call — or sending an encrypted email — requires the use of two encrypted devices/clients: both your own phone/email client and the phone/email client of the person you’re talking to. So the Blackphone’s security credentials will inevitably depend on how you use the device — who you place calls to and which device they use; who you email and which email client they use; and so on.
However, as with the Dark Mail initiative, the more encrypted products that are out in the market, the greater the number of secure channels that can be used for communications.
So the more mainstream security technology can become, and the more average Joes who can be encouraged to use locked-down products, the greater the chance for everyone’s privacy to survive the onslaught from overreaching governments.
[Introduction to Blackphone from BLACKPHONE on Vimeo.]
Firefox has certainly taken some pretty huge steps since Mozilla initially announced its “Phone for Apps” program back in May. Still, the browser maker knows there’s a lot to be done before the mobile OS becomes more of a household entity. To help it achieve that, Mozilla’s launching phase two of the “Phone for Apps” initiative, offering developers a Firefox OS device — in this case the Geeksphone Keon — in exchange for porting their HTML5 apps to the young platform. More specifically, this qualifies devs who have “already built and shipped an HTML5 web app and have the time now to port that app to the new Firefox OS.” Is this you? Then here’s what’s left to do: click the source below to peruse the rest of the guidelines, fill out the application and, if you’re amongst the chosen group, expect a confirmation to reach your inbox sometime thereafter.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Mozilla
Sometime in the middle of this month, we did talk about the upcoming Geeksphone Peak+ handset that will run on the Firefox mobile operating system. Well, this particular smartphone did raise its fair share of eyebrows, especially when one considers […]
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Spanish open hardware phone platform manufacturer Geeksphone, which created the first developer preview devices for Mozilla’s Firefox OS (aka Peak and Keon), has announced it’s now taking pre-orders for a new beefed up consumer version of its Peak smartphone that it’s called Peak+.
Geeksphone’s original two developer-focused devices sold out a few hours after going on sale – doubtless helped by their low prices of $194 and $119 respectively. The Peak+ looks likely to garner similar levels of demand, thanks to a similarly low pre-order price, although there is now more competition for Firefox devices — with Telefonica selling the ZTE Open in Spain (and elsewhere) for as little as €69/$90. (Albeit, the more expensive Peak+ does offer beefier, mid-range specs vs the very budget ZTE Open.)
Geeksphone has created a pre-sale reservation list for consumers wanting to buy the device for a “one-time, limited promotional price” of €149/$196 (excluding taxes) — after which it will be sold at a “standard price” via the startup’s online store, from September. Geeksphone would not confirm exactly how much the phone will ultimately retail for, saying only it would be “slightly higher”.
On paper, the Peak+ is a slightly beefier version of the original Peak, with double (1GB) the RAM and the latest version of the Firefox OS (v1.1). Other specs are the same as the original Peak, including its dual-core 1.2 GHz Qualcomm 8225 chipset, 4.3” qHD IPS multitouch screen, 8-megapixel rear camera (with flash), 2 megapixel front camera, and tri-band UMTS / HSPA, plus a 1800 mAh battery. But Geeksphone says it has improved battery management and graphical performance.
It also says it has “enhanced” the external materials and inner construction for “a more polished finish and pleasant touch, as demanded by our users”. Storage wise, the Peak+ has 4GB of internal storage which can be expanded up to 32 GB via MicroSD. It will also come with 25GB of cloud storage (from Fiabee).
Geeksphone said the vast majority (93%) of buyers of its earlier developer devices came from outside its home country. Demand was apparently especially high in Germany, France and Japan. Several other Asian and Latin American countries were also said to be very keen on the devices.
Mozilla’s Firefox OS is aiming to provide an open alternative to Google’s Android OS, especially at the budget to mid-tier smartphone handset price range, and has signed up considerable carrier support for the initiative. This contrasts to Canonical’s high end approach, with its circa $600 Ubuntu Edge smartphone — currently seeking $32 million in crowdfunding backing to build an open source-based smartphone that can double as a PC.
Update: A Mozilla spokesperson has been in touch requesting a “correction” that the Peak+ is not a Firefox OS phone, but rather is “based on Boot to Gecko technology” — aka Mozilla’s original codename for the Firefox OS Linux-based open source software project.
“We want to clarify that this new phone that was announced is based on Boot to Gecko technology with pre-release software, but is not a certified or supported Firefox OS device,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
This is basically an issue of brand control. It’s worth noting that Mozilla has been criticised by others in the open software movement for the lengths it goes to to defend its branding. And Firefox OS is a key new brand for Mozilla, which it’s clearly keen to protect and control.
As to why Geeksphone’s Peak+ does not have Firefox OS branding, TechCrunch understands the Firefox OS branding scheme is currently only available to carrier-backed devices. We’ve reached out to Mozilla for clarification on what mobile makers have to do to achieve Firefox OS certification/branding and will update this post with any response.
Interested in jumping on the Geeksphone Firefox OS bandwagon? Its first consumer-oriented device, the Peak+, is up for pre-order and we now know a lot more about it. It doubles up the RAM to 1GB over its Peak and Keon developer siblings, while packing the same 4.3-inch qHD display, 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon CPU, 4GB of storage (with a microSD expansion slot), 8-megapixel rear camera and 1,800 mAh battery as the original Peak. It’s also boasting the latest Firefox OS flavor, version 1.1, which brings faster boot times and fewer bugs, along with 25GB of cloud storage. You can reserve one at €149 for a limited time with delivery promised by mid-September — so, if you’ve been looking go above the usual smartphone OS fray, check the source.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Via: Engadget Spanish (translated)
Source: Geeksphone
Betting on Mozilla’s mobile operating system? There’s a good chance, then, that you’re kicking around a Geeksphone, one of the few devices known for running Firefox OS. Owners of the company’s Keon and Peak handsets can now manually upgrade their devices to Firefox 1.1, which — according to enthusiasts on the Geeksphone forums and Twitter — speeds up boot times, patches an assortment of bugs and tacks on minor navigational and display improvements. Naturally, users interested in trying the build will have to download and flash it themselves. Unsure how to proceed? Check out the Geeksphone forums link at the adjacent source link for tips.
Filed under: Cellphones
Source: GeeksPhone, Twitter
Geeksphone had already begun to tease its next Firefox OS-powered device right after the platform has rolled out to the public. In fact, they revealed that their upcoming smartphone that will run on the Firefox OS platform will be called […]
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Geeksphone’s Firefox OS-based Keon and Peak phones have mostly catered to developers; the company is now widening that audience with an upgraded phone for the public, the Peak+. While Geeksphone isn’t saying exactly what’s been tuned, it promises “new hardware upgrades” in response to community feedback. The firm is also offering 25GB in cloud storage to first-timers for all their web syncing needs. Reservations for the Peak+ will start in the days ahead, and would-be customers will likely want to sign up quickly — Geeksphone is teasing a discount for the first wave of buyers.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
Source: Geeksphone
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