BlackBerry Key2 is the 'Most Secure Android Smartphone', Company Claims (betanews.com) 53
The Key2 smartphone, which BlackBerry unveiled earlier this week, is the "most secure Android smartphone," the Canadian company claims. Brian Fagioli, writing for BetaNews: While BlackBerry no longer makes smartphones, it does license its name to a company called TCL which makes Android devices that carry the branding -- and sometimes, a physical keyboard. It isn't just slapping the BlackBerry name on a random low-quality Android phone, however. Actually, these TCL devices have been fairly well received thanks to an adherence to traditional BlackBerry designs. Today, TCL unveils its latest such smartphone, called "KEY2," and it looks quite nice. In fact, the company says it is "the most secure Android smartphone."
Re:The most secure Android smartphone (Score:5, Insightful)
Both are equally insecure. When the owner of the device isn't the one in control of the security landscape then the OS itself is malware.
Re: The most secure Android smartphone (Score:2)
That's not always the case. How many users do you know that turn off firewalls and disable scans on their desktop because it "slows down everything"? In Corporate IT, it happens a lot. If you were right, users, not tech suppliers would be in control.
In the consumer world, we leave it to our suppliers to take those precautionary steps for us.
In Apple's case, security is equivalent to privacy, even from them.
However, if google knows where you are, or can serve up more relevant ads (and in some cases, results)
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But it's still Android, so it's less secure than the iPhone.
That's what I came to say...
Careful of boasts (Score:3)
Hackers: "Challenge accepted"
Red Bull movable feast (Score:2)
Well, yes, adenoidal teenagers think this whole thing is a giant game of capture the flag FTW!
But real security is a complex economic trade-off between the cost of the attack, the value of the attack, and the law of supply and demand (one corner of which concerns the long-term warehousing of former teenagers who outlived their long-arm-of-the-law immortality halo).
Challenge accepted by the Red Bull movable feast of the soc
Re: Red Bull movable feast (Score:2)
Why do people hack anything? In the case of current smart phones one primary motive is money. Does Blackberry have enough of a market share for hackers to consider? No.
Another is the for the sake of it. All Blackberry has done with that kind of statement is paint a big target on them.
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I mean thatâ(TM)s great and all (Score:2)
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Not really, no.
Basic Android is pretty secure these days, with FDE enabled by default. But there is also a market for extra security on top, such as Copperhead OS and Samsung Knox.
Having another competitor in the market is a good thing.
Actually, the claim rings true (Score:5, Informative)
First, TCL+Blackberry=Blackberry mobile.
Blackberry mobile is one of the few android makers (if not the only one) which assigns a crytpo key *in hardware* to each device to protect it from tampering in the field. They do not use a Vanilla linux kernel, instead opting for a Hardened linux.
Running Snoopsnitch reveals a very, very green field, meaning that all the patches are "really" applied. And not like some other android phones, which report a patch level, but in reality do not apply the fixes...
It also has an app called DTEK, which lets you see in depth what your apps are up to.
More info in this old but still relevant article:
https://www.engadget.com/2015/... [engadget.com]
Of course, if you do not want a PKB, then you are equaly (or more) secure, and have a longer SW support with an iPhone.
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They're also yet another Chinese company buying up failing western companies to gain market share and making partnerships with other well known companies to push their products with someone else's name on them.
I find it hard to trust a company that is afraid of branding their products with their own name.
How is an article from 2015 still relevant?
Blackberry don't make Blackberry phones anymore. TCL does since buying the name in 2016
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How is an article from 2015 still relevant?
Blackberry don't make Blackberry phones anymore. TCL does since buying the name in 2016
even the priv from 2015 (featured in the article) was designed by Blackberry in waterloo, canada and built by TCL. Based on that early experience, Blackberry and TCL made an agreement, were Blackberry in Waterloo, canada, Licensed the Brand, patents (PKB among them), manufacturing rights and Worldwide sales (Except for india, malasia and indonesia) to Blackberry Mobile (a division of TCL).
Blackberry in Waterloo, canada still writes/oversees/customizes the SW for said phones to this day, so TCL is not at lib
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BlackBerry (Score:4, Funny)
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Maybe it is the most secure, but no one will ever know.
How do you think they maintain that claim...
It needs a physical switch to disable cams & m (Score:2)
Call me when its app security allows disabling network access when I am not manually running the app
Call me when app permissions has option to provide fake location, contacts, storage, etc so apps will still run but not have access to real data
Sure sure... (Score:4, Informative)
People have very short term memory, it's like this never happebed at all ever:
https://www.theverge.com/2016/... [theverge.com]
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Right.
And then there was the expensive BlackBerry PRIV which they advertised with the same claim – and which was not only denied the upgrade to Android 7 everybody had reason to expect, no, they also stopped delivering security updates not long after you still could buy a new one.
Re: (Score:1)
To be fair, from day #1 they stated when the update cycle would end. And no promise was made to upgrade to a new version of Android -- just that the existing version would be patched.
At the very least, you should not complain about them ending updates, when they said they would -- right from the get go. That's a hell of a lot more than most corps disclose.
Lastly? They did perform an update (outside of their EVERY SINGLE MONTH minimum, support updates) POST expired support cycle.
Let me guess. You bought
Re:Sure sure... (Score:4, Interesting)
You just don't get it. Marketing a smartphone as the most SECURE Android phone in the world is verging on fraud if SECURITY updates stop a few weeks after they sell it to you. What I did read, and what they wrote in their update policy for that matter, is completely irrelevant in that aspect.
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Surely it's fraud if it needs security updates, since they are an admission that it's not actually secure.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: Sure sure... (Score:2)
Me too. Best phone I have ever had. Keyboard to scroll is awesome. Big screen, great resolution, wonderful phone.
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I got a security update for my (Bell Canada) PRIV a week or two ago.
Why won't you die already?!?! (Score:1)
Blackberry needs to just die already. It's set my field back by 10 years.
We just switched from blackberries (real, honest to god made by RIM ones) to iphones last year. We finally have a modern smartphone with usable apps that doesn't waste half the device on a useless physical keyboard with tiny-ass keys made for a marmoset.
When I say usable apps, I don't mean nonsense like Waze or Angry Birds. I mean real business productivity apps. Simple things like copying and pasting or opening documents were
Re: Why won't you die already?!?! (Score:2, Informative)
Some of us like physical keyboards you insensitive clod!
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It wasn't Blackberry that set you back 10 years, it was whomever decided to go with the wrong device for your needs that did.
There are those for whom the physical keyboard or other Blackberry features are still a best fit.
TCL (Score:2)
Isn't this the same Blackberry (Score:3)
Too bad no one cares (Score:2)
About security, or BlackBerry.
This is just sad (Score:1)
The BlackBerry Passport is the best phone i ever used, the user experience of the UI and the interactions over the OS (under QNX) are amazing, the physical keyboard is great to with the gesture recognition or whatever they call it, let alone the Hub that should be a standard on every "smart" phone.
I had high hopes for the blackberry OS after the version 10 i still don't understand why they are letting that platform die, they should've opensourced it so peo