AfterDawn: News

Boeing planning a secure Android phone

According to a new report in National Defense Magazine, airplane maker Boeing is looking into building its own Android smartphone.

The phone will be secured for government and military use and will likely be dubbed "The Boeing Phone."



Current devices, with similar military-grade encryption, can cost over $10,000 per unit and Boeing's new mobile phone will likely cost nowhere near there. Reports suggest it will run on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, as "the project is already near the end of its development cycle."

Android will remain mostly "vanilla," letting users keep the interface they are used to, but with an incredible jump in security. Users will not even be able to access the Google Play Store.

Mockup via AC:



Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 12 Apr 2012 17:22

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• 6 comments

• Morreale

  Secure phone, pfft. It has a camera? What about the hackers and spies that want to see what highly confidential secrets are inside a government official's pocket?
  
  BS I say.
  

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  12.4.2012 17:54 #1

• Hyasuma

  isn't that...galaxy nexus?
  
  

  Being nice always has its own consequences

  12.4.2012 18:25 #2

• A5J4DX

  Originally posted by Hyasuma: isn't that...galaxy nexus?
  was thinking the same xD
  

  12.4.2012 21:21 #3

• AIM2Shame

  Originally posted by Morreale: Secure phone, pfft. It has a camera? What about the hackers and spies that want to see what highly confidential secrets are inside a government official's pocket?
  
  BS I say. Wow.. did you even read the article? "MOCK UP PICTURE BY A.C" I would have a guess the finished phone will not have any type of camera, nor will it have any 3G or net capability besides the old GSM in a secure connection making it pretty much impossible to 'hack'

  12.4.2012 22:39 #4

• ChikaraNZ

  This will be another nail in the coffin for RIM / Blackberry. The government use of their devices is huge.
  
  The only reason many companies still hang on to their BB's, is the perceived security of them compared to other phone OS's.
  If Boeing can make this at least as secure as BB, at a comparable price, and make it available to corporations and not just govt/military (it may not be *as strong as military grade, but still at least as good as with RIM offers), then this will be the beginning of the end for RIM.
  
  Well actually many people say the beginning of the end has already started for RIM - this will just speed it up.

  13.4.2012 10:06 #5

• TrinUK

  Originally posted by Morreale: Secure phone, pfft. It has a camera? What about the hackers and spies that want to see what highly confidential secrets are inside a government official's pocket?
  
  BS I say. I think that is the point. Boeing want to make it secure against the general public and foreign hackers such as China and Russia but the intelligence agencies (USA, UK and Israel) can still snoop on us.
  

  Trin - Making Digital Waves

  16.4.2012 05:18 #6