Blackphone Secure Android Smartphone Now Shipping to Pre-Order Customers

Blackphone, an Android smartphone focused on the user's privacy, started shipping on Monday to pre-order customers. The first batch of pre-orders were taken in February, with the smartphone priced at $629 (Rs. 39,000 roughly). The company has now announced that the next round of orders will be taken from July 14 via its official store.

"We are excited to achieve this key milestone on schedule and ship a remarkable device to customers that is the result of an unprecedented combination of privacy and mobile innovations and visionaries," said Toby Weir-Jones, CEO of SGP Technologies.

The Blackphone by Silent Circle and Geeksphone was first unveiled in January. The smartphone is powered by a custom version of Android 4.4 KitKat, called PrivatOS. The OS will allow the user to make and receive secure calls, send encrypted text messages, store files securely and browse the Web through an anonymous VPN.

Some of the hardware specifications for Blackphone include single-SIM support, a 4.7-inch HD (720x1280 pixels) IPS display, and a 2GHz quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4i SoC coupled with 2GB of RAM.

The smartphone packs an 8-megapixel autofocus rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera for video calling. On the storage front, the Blackphone has 16GB of inbuilt storage which can be expanded via microSD card (up to 128GB).

Connectivity options on the Blackphone include Bluetooth 4.0; 4G LTE; Wi-Fi 802.11n, GPS and HSPA+. It packs a 2000mAh battery and comes in single Black colour. It measures 141x69x9mm and weighs approximately 119 grams.