There’s no question that cyber security is one of the biggest issues of modern times, but how much are we willing to spend in order to ensure our information remains secure?
Startup Sirin Labs evidently thinks it’s quite a lot – close to £10k in fact.
The company, which raised $72 million (£49m) in venture funding, has just revealed its new £9,500 luxury smartphone – the Solarin.
With an emphasis on ‘military grade’ security, the new ultra high-end handset has been designed for the “international business person who carries a lot of sensitive information but doesn’t want to compromise on usability, quality or design”.
So what does this spectacularly expensive smartphone run on? Well, it seems Solarin runs on good old Android, which would be somewhat disconcerting were it not for the myriad security features running underneath Google’s standard OS.
The phone has been in development for more that two years, and features something the company is calling ‘Zimperium state-of-the-art mobile threat protection’, which is capable of thwarting a range of cyber attacks.
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It also includes what Sirin Labs says is the “most advanced privacy technology, currently unavailable outside the agency world”.
The ‘shielded mode’ supposedly enables fully encrypted calls and messages, and Sirin Labs has partnered with KoolSpan to integrate chip-to-chip 256-bit AES encryption.
Just flip a ‘security switch’ on the back of the handset and the phone will immediately enter shielded mode.
Aside from these impressive-sounding security features, the phone features a 5.5-inch 2K display, Snapdragon 810 chip, and 23.8MP camera.
The Solarin can also reach three times the bandwidth of a standard smartphone with support for 801.11ac 2×2 MU-MIMO.
And when it comes to the phone’s design, the Solarin comes in a metal matrix composite chassis that uses titanium panels, and Corning Gorilla Glass 4 on the curved display and camera lens.
You can read more about the phone’s capabilities by checking out the phone’s official announcement here.
If you take digital security seriously enough to drop the exorbitant amount on the Solarin, you’ll get a choice between four different finishes: Fire Black Carbon Leather with Titanium, Fire Black Carbon Leather with Yellow Gold, FIre Black Carbon Leather with Diamond-like Carbon, and Crystal White Carbon Leather with Diamond-like Carbon.
Drop in to Harrods or Sirin Labs’ store in Mayfair from June 1 if you’ve got an extra £10K lying around.
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Let us know what you think of Sirin Labs’ ultra secure, ultra expensive smartphone in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
