14 DAY TRIAL // Data security is an increasingly important matter in today’s world, even more so since people store all of their most valuable information on mobile devices. However, it seems that data security certainly has a steep price, or at least in Sirin Labs’ vision. The company has launched a smartphone with powerful protection against exploits and malicious attacks, for the price of $14,000.
Sirin Labs claims that the smartphone ensures high protection against malicious attacks and exploits, but one has to take into consideration that there are other, cheaper options available out there. For example, Samsung has implemented its Knox secure platform on its flagship phones while BlackBerry’s Priv also offers advanced security levels to make sure personal data doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.
Still, one appealing advantage of the Solarin smartphone is the switch on the back, which flips into a cybersecure mode and automatically encrypts outgoing voice calls and messages.
The mode also disables various hardware features, and the phone comes with all Android security patches already installed, a major advantage, considering that only Google’s Nexus phones and BlackBerry’s Priv have security patches up to date.
However, users would have to compromise on privacy a bit, especially if they wish to use various services like Gmail, YouTube, and Netflix, as Solarin doesn’t offer extra protection within these applications.
At such a high price, one would expect the handset to carry top-of-the-line specs, but that’s not necessarily the case. Sure, it does come with last year’s flagship chipset Snapdragon 810, but camera performance and the phone’s design could be better.
Solarin carries a 4,000mAh battery and weighs 250g
The 24MP rear camera has laser autofocus and f/2.0 lens but delivers quite blurry and overexposed pictures. Still, the 8MP front camera seems to do a good job, considering that it has its own flash.
The smartphone comes with a 4,000mAh battery and a 5.5-inch 1440p IPS LCD display. The device is quite bulky and thick and weighs as much as 250g probably because of the massive battery.
It has 4GB of RAM but only 128GB non-expandable storage. It also doesn’t have a secondary SIM slot, but it packs a fingerprint sensor on the back, although such sensors represent security vulnerabilities.
Sirin Labs wasn’t that generous on details about security features incorporated inside the phone, but even so, we’re not quite sure the price is justifiable, considering that the handset runs Android 5.1 and third-party applications still require access to private information stored on the smartphone.
