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BlackBerry Key2 is the 'Most Secure Android Smartphone', Company Claims (betanews.com)

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."

30 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. Careful of boasts by UnknowingFool · · Score: 2

    Blackberry: "We have the most secure Android smartphone."
    Hackers: "Challenge accepted"

    --
    Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
    1. Re:Careful of boasts by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      The thing is that Apple did help but they did only what they legally could do like handing over all the data Apple had. What they were not going to do was circumvent their own security features and what they designed their system to do was protect their customers.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  2. I mean thatâ(TM)s great and all by hsmith · · Score: 1

    But literally the lowest bar you have to overcome. Skinniest obese kid, congrats.

    1. Re:I mean thatâ(TM)s great and all by AmiMoJo · · Score: 2

      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.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
  3. Actually, the claim rings true by williamyf · · Score: 4, 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/...

    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.

    --
    *** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
    1. Re:Actually, the claim rings true by viperidaenz · · Score: 1

      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

    2. Re:Actually, the claim rings true by williamyf · · Score: 1

      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 liberty to slap any sw they chose on a blackberry phone. If the phone has a blackberry logo, it has to use Blackberry's version of android, brewed in Waterloo, canada (but of course, the phone is manufactured by TCL in china).

      The Keyone, launched in july 2017 was the last phone designed by Blackberry in Waterloo (canada), and again, manufactured by TCL. So, up until may 2018, the article was still relevant... And since the KeyTwo has a version of android developed in Waterloo, canada, chances are the article is still relevant now in june 2018...

      --
      *** Suerte a todos y Feliz dia!
    3. Re:Actually, the claim rings true by Barsteward · · Score: 1

      Hopefully with the EU wanting Google to decouple their apps and let other manufacturers install their stuff instead, maybe we can get back some of the better Blackberry ecosystem. Blackberry seems to be one of the only providers that regularly applies system updates. Samsung seems a bit of a lottery for updates.

      --
      "The hands that help are better far than lips that pray." - Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899)
  4. BlackBerry by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe it is the most secure, but no one will ever know.

    1. Re:BlackBerry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Maybe it is the most secure, but no one will ever know.

      How do you think they maintain that claim...

  5. It needs a physical switch to disable cams & m by Anonymous Coward · · 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

  6. Sure sure... by XSportSeeker · · Score: 3, Informative

    People have very short term memory, it's like this never happebed at all ever:
    https://www.theverge.com/2016/...

    1. Re:Sure sure... by demon+driver · · Score: 2

      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.

    2. Re:Sure sure... by Anonymous Coward · · 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 a phone, but didn't even read about their update policy? If that's the case, you didn't really care all that much about updates -- certainly not if you assumed anything.

    3. Re: Sure sure... by gatzke · · Score: 1

      Me too. Best phone I have ever had. Keyboard to scroll is awesome. Big screen, great resolution, wonderful phone.

    4. Re:Sure sure... by demon+driver · · Score: 3, 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.

    5. Re:Sure sure... by doconnor · · Score: 2

      I got a security update for my (Bell Canada) PRIV a week or two ago.

    6. Re:Sure sure... by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Surely it's fraud if it needs security updates, since they are an admission that it's not actually secure.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re:Sure sure... by sherr · · Score: 1

      That's not how any software anywhere works, and if someone's telling you otherwise they're lying to you. Flaws are discovered after-the-fact, and they need to be fixed.

  7. Re:The most secure Android smartphone by rtkluttz · · Score: 4, 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.

    --
    Digital is, by definition, imperfect. Analog is the way to go.
  8. Re: Why won't you die already?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    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.

    Some of us like physical keyboards you insensitive clod!

  9. TCL by scourfish · · Score: 1

    I have a TCL television, and when it's connected to the internet, it used screenshots of whatever youtube video I'm watching to serve up ads on the TV. It was so annoying that I stopped using the built in Roku component of the TV. I'm willing to concede that it might be the Roku side of things, and not the TCL side, however it does leave a layer of skepticism.

  10. Red Bull movable feast by epine · · Score: 1

    Blackberry: "We have the most secure Android smartphone."
    Hackers: "Challenge accepted"

    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 socially naive with mad hacking skilz and dark horse omenz to parlay into the Forty Year Old Virgin's tragically unhip middle-aged, free-society business acumen.

    1. Re: Red Bull movable feast by UnknowingFool · · Score: 1

      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.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  11. Re:Why won't you die already?!?! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    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.

  12. Isn't this the same Blackberry by rsilvergun · · Score: 2

    Who's CEO argued phones having backdoors was a good thing? No thanks, you're the last group of people I want anywhere near my data.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  13. Too bad no one cares by bravecanadian · · Score: 1

    About security, or BlackBerry.

  14. Re: The most secure Android smartphone by saloomy · · Score: 1

    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), and they don't see this as a security issue. After all you aren't losing anything. When you go to Google Search and you search for an error message when troubleshooting, your location doesn't matter. When you search for restaurants serving Sushi, it does. Yet every time, google ask you where you are.

    Apple see this as invasion of privacy, and insecure. Google see this as better service delivery (which includes "relevant" ads).

    As far as Blackberry is concerned, security is limited only by which foreign sovereign wants in to your messages and data.

  15. This is just sad by mohsel · · Score: 1

    I have been a happy Blackberry user for years.

    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 people can maintain it and they would still make and sell hardware. it's just sad.

  16. Re:The most secure Android smartphone by TheFakeTimCook · · Score: 1

    But it's still Android, so it's less secure than the iPhone.

    That's what I came to say...