This is a good idea for a modern smartphone, but unfortunately leading with such promises isn’t that sexy for consumers to read about – even though privacy is taken very seriously by millions of people all over the world. Sometimes, if it hasn’t got an Apple stamped on it, people just don’t want to know. We’re not the first publication to point out the similarities in design to the Alcatel Idol 4, which goes to show someone’s supply chains are crossing over somewhere.
BlackBerry DTEK50 release date: When is the BlackBerry DTEK50 coming out?
You can pre-order the BlackBerry DTEK50 now from the company’s official web store. Click here to view. The site, for UK users, currently says the DTEK50 will ship the week of 8 August 2016, so it won’t be too long at all until you get yours in the post.
BlackBerry DTEK50 price: How much will the BlackBerry DTEK50 cost?
The BlackBerry DTEK50 will cost £275 in the UK. This puts the DTEK50 firmly in the basket marked ‘mid range’, but when we get our hands on one we’ll confirm whether or not it performs well. This price, until 8 August, gets you a free BlackBerry Mobile Power Pack worth £54.99, which is pretty good. The pricing reflects the premium leanings of the BlackBerry PRIV, the expensive, high-end Android BlackBerry released last year. So, it makes sense that the DTEK50 assumes the role of second in command in BlackBerry’s Android range so as to cater for a different set of potential customers.
BlackBerry DTEK50 specs
BlackBerry has gone all out with its marketing for the DTEK50, touting it as a very secure smartphone. The details released with it are a tad confusing (read: boring), and it will no doubt appeal to some, but certainly not all. The headline hardware specs for the DTEK50 are its 5.2in full HD display, support for microSD cards up to 2TB, an 8Mp front facing camera and a rear-facing 13Mp camera. So far, so normal. These are the features that BlackBerry has listed that make up the security side of the DTEK50:
Rapid Security Patching: BlackBerry has a record of being the quickest to deliver security patches, setting the bar in incident response and patch management to protect your device from malicious threats.DTEK™ by BlackBerry App: Enables users to automatically monitor their OS and apps to know when their privacy could be at risk and to take action to improve it. The DTEK app also tracks applications and notifies you when someone is: taking pictures or videos without your knowledge, turning your microphone on, sending a text message, or accessing your contacts or location.Hardware Root of Trust: BlackBerry’s manufacturing process uses a proprietary technique that adds security from the start, allowing for the tracking, verification and provisioning of DTEK50.Secure Boot Process: Starting with the root of trust, each stage of DTEK50’s secure boot chain must first verify that the next component is fully intact before proceeding, ensuring your device has not been tampered with since the last restart.Android OS hardening: BlackBerry provides additional security patches, improved random number, address space generation and certificate pinning to make it more difficult for attackers to target a device by scrambling application/system memory.FIPS 140-2 Compliant Full Disk Encryption: Protects your private information, like pictures or bank information, from being stolen if you were to lose your phone.
As you can see, this will not mean an awful lot to the average consumer (nor to us in some instances) but if you’re here then you’re interested in the phone, so you should rest assured that BlackBerry will be doing everything it can to avoid privacy concerns and security breaches from malicious sources. We’ll have more information on the DTEK50 soon, as well as a full review in the coming weeks. Henry is Tech Advisor’s Phones Editor, ensuring he and the team covers and reviews every smartphone worth knowing about for readers and viewers all over the world. He spends a lot of time moving between different handsets and shouting at WhatsApp to support multiple devices at once.
