SGP Technologies & Silent Circle to launch Blackphone tablet

Blackphone maker Silent Circle will launch another two devices in its line-up - including a security-conscious tablet.

The encrypted communications service company has apparently been doing well since the launch of its debut user privacy-focused smartphone in 2014 and now wants to boost its appeal to a wider range of companies with a larger-form device.

It's expected the new smartphone and tablet will include the customised platform included in the company's first device, the Blackphone.

Silent Circle CTO John Callas said: "Blackphone won't be our last smartphone, and I can say that we're planning to release a tablet in the future," although he wouldn't disclose when we can expect to see the larger device, nor the second generation of its smartphone.

The first iteration of the Blackphone ran on a version of Android called PrivatOS, but bundled in Silent Circle's secure phone, text, and contacts suite of apps including the Kismet Smarter Wi-Fi Manager to prevent the storage of users' browsing history, as well as the Wi-Fi hotspot details of users being leaked to hackers.

The original Blackphone also featured secure wireless virtual private networking and encrypted cloud storage with SpiderOak, along with a remote wiping facility and Security Center, allowing an organisation's IT department to control the apps each user can access.

A number of other third-party apps also came pre-installed, although Google Play wasn't included in the suite so business users were prevented from downloading and installing apps not approved by the company.

The original Blackphone also shipped with a 4.7-inch IPS screen with 16GB storage and external microSD support. It was 4G LTE and HSDPA+ enabled, with an 8-megapixel camera on the back and a 5-megapixel camera on the front. Packed inside the device was a 2Ghz NVIDIA Tegra 4i quad-core system-on-a-chip coupled with 1GB LPDDR3 RAM.

Blackphone launched a prize scheme for any users who found security flaws in the software shortly after launching the Silent Circle phone in September.

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.