Next week's US presidential inauguration of Barack Obama will have one sour note for the Illinois senator. Sure, he's gonna be the leader of the free world, but the notorious BlackBerry addict will have to give up his smartphone -- and frankly, if given the choice, we'd probably choose cellphone over country. There is hope, however, as
CNET outlines two Windows Mobile devices that met the NSA's seal of approval for governmental use back in 2007: General Dynamics'
Sectera Edge and L-3 Communications'
Guardian. Unfortunately, both options look about as dated as the
Treo 650, with exceptionally large antennas to boot. Hey NSA, any chance we can get something a bit sexier on the approval list?
posted Jan 13th 2009 6:33PM
The price of being the president...
I just want to know if it can stop a bullet when its in your pocket
It can stop a train.
Only Chuck Norris can crack the code used in these machines, in fact, it is Chuck Norris in the processor.
Thing is. This piece of junk is approved in 2007, level of security could have been compromised in 2009. Plus, i find it shameful for a president to carry around such an ugly looking thing.
Maybe when Nobama fixes the economy the NSA will have more resources to design a less ugly phone....
THE PRESIDENT CAN COPY/PASTE and he has a REMOVABLE BATTERY ????
@Mobius_1: actually thats not true. The phone has Bruce Schneier's brain as the neural net. Chuck would be stuck having to brute force it, and his brute force attack would cause the universe to collapse on itself.
You made Jack Bauer cry.
Sorry for the reply... anyhoo,
FUGLY!!!!
Its trying to choose the lesser of to evils...
Most people won't get your comment.
i did, i just didn't get the grammar
Hmm, i can't think of a better paraphrase that doesn't sound awkward.
to too two all sound the same and include two of the same letters to be honest I think its the languages fault not his I too get the three confused
No need to paraphrase, just make sure to differentiate between to and to. They are to different words and sometimes it's to hard to tell what someone's saying if they use the wrong one. See?
"It's like trying to chose the lesser of two evils." is that better?
I understood it fine the first time ... just people get to be all spelling/grammar nazi about stuff. I agree with the intent of your post though. Looking at outdated looking electronics sometimes really gives me a sad feeling inside, I think they're both evil.
@AutumnBringer
You do realize that you put "to and to"....
So for further clarification, two and two = four
or
I think I need TO get a beer or TWO....or twelve...
@AutumnBringer: You mean the type of grammar Nazis that would point out the error in the headline?
@kal I could use a beer TOO.
"...if given the choice, we'd probably choose cellphone over country..."
You would most probably fail the security clearance.
Ironically enough, I don't think that elected officials as high up as the President need something like a security clearance.
@wicketphoenix:
Because we know that presidents are SO free from corruption. It's not like they're both human AND politicians. [/sarcasm]
Judging by the company he keeps, Obama believes it too.
At least he can get some cool cases on it, right?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
I'd choose neither over one of those. He doesn't need back problems from toting those things around on top of it. They need to get something a little less... 90s.
...and they're surprised he's resisting?!
Oooh, sexy!
He will replace the blackberry by a personal secretary. No need of a phone when you just have to dictate whenever you want!
I wish I had a personal secretary to dic...tate... to.
pretty sure your aim is sarcasm there but in case: I'm pretty sure Senators have more than one secretary. Maybe they can get Japan to come up with a robot secretary that will receive emails for you as well as take your dictations - then we might have a solution.
The robot secretary should have a cigar holder too.
Think about it.
The L-3 is apparently still in development.
Yeah, they probably hired a bunch of devs from Latvia on H1B visas to finish up the code and test the security...
"Hey NSA, any chance we can get something a bit sexier on the approval list?"
No.
lol @ america being the 'leader of the free world'
The richest country in the world cannot even provide its citizens with free health care !! Maybe Mr Obama should tackle that first.
There is no such thing a a free lunch.
Free health care in a myth. It is really taxpayer funded health care.
I doubt we're the richest in the world. We're in debt to like every country esp China.
Stop being so ignorant. Dnorris is right, the money would come from somewhere, and thats the taxes. No one wants your ignorant comments here, so grow up.
Your statement is ironic. We are the richest country in the world because we don't provide everyone with free health care. And while we are at it why not give everyone free houses, cars and vacations? I could certainly use those over health care at the moment.
lol @above... yeah you don't need it for the moment but let's talk when your pushing 80 or when you need chemotherapy for cancer which is, I'm afraid to say, more likely to happen in the United States then anywhere else in the world!
Oh, and knock-on-wood... hope you live a wonderful, long and healthy life!
well, here in america, we AMERICANS work and pay for our health care, unlike those chinese who pirate it, and those socialist europeans who believes that health care belongs to all
Give him a pre
Amen.
"and frankly, if given the choice, we'd probably choose cellphone over country."
You are quite the patriot.
Wow, a General Dynamics smartphone. Any phone made by a defense contractor seems pretty bad-ass to me.
I think thats what body armor is made of these days, stuffed with NSA approved smartphones..
If you say so, I'd have to try it first I suppose. The phone that is, not a body armor test.
My mother works for AT&T and she sets up the General Dynamics phone at least once a week for government "contractors". They are very cool though HUGE. I would trade in my BB for it... it is the uber nerd phone. I think she said they run about $3200 bucks for one, are unlocked and work on TMOBILE or ATT networks.
I've always had a soft spot for distinct external antennas.
Maybe he could hack Android onto one of these devices.
Can we say thumbs up to Windows Mobile 3.1?
The General Dynamics phone starts at over $3000. You think they could have put in just slightly more styling. It only takes a little.
What exactly makes these NSA approved????
Lobbyist kickbacks
oh cuz, the companies who make them make some monetary contribution to senators or congressmen or the fcc
double encryption on signals transferrd in and out
they're hideous
Double encryption on messages send and received? I dunno... 3DES (3x encrypted with DES, not sure if that counts as 3 times though) or AES128 on all packets sent to and from a BES and lets not forget about the BlackBerry's excellent S/MIME and PGP capabilities which also includes their card reader that the military has a hard on for. Depending on how you look at it, you have your double encryption.
I believe the BlackBerry has more security certifications than any other device too - including NATOs Restricted Classified certification.
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/ataglance/security/certifications.jsp#page-top
ANY phone can be triangulated by the cell network, and the GPS function on the BlackBerry can be turned off and even disabled entirely using a policy.
And regardless, both of those devices fail because there's no PINK.
Hey @psych, companies can't give money to Senators or House members...or the FCC for that matter.
I don't know what else BB has to do to get approval by the NSA for Obama to continue using his Blackberry, but if RIM was smart, they'd be working on a special Obama BB model that's more secure than anything else on the market. Advertise it as so. Tell people it's used by the POTUS.
Obama has been a great marketing tool. He has talked about his Blackberry numerous times. It can only be good for RIM.
@Chaosmaster: ooh, double encryption! WTF does that matter when your phone can contract a virus that will give all its information to anyone in radio distance? I'm sure it's hardened for Van Eck, but that doesn't matter much when the main communications path is exposed. It's not like the NSA has its own network of cell towers. WinMo is about as secure as my Mom's Windows 95 box. They better get a hardened LiMo install on that list quickly, or we're all doomed.
Encryption.
Noone in their right mind would steal it.
Dammit! If I'm the President, I don't need a cell phone!
I'LL SHOUT!
looks like a frikkin graphing calculator..
what muslim?
Er, you do mean "What Christian", right?
no no no
there was a guy who made a comment just before mine saying something like "what do we care what the muslim uses" (something like that) looks like he got banned (thankfully) and his post deleted so mine looks like it took its place sorry
There should be a magazine called "What Muslim?". though.
He's just upset because his guy lost.
I wonder how faint your stupid comment will get?
You sir, are an idiot.
I cant be the only one who read the title and thought why would Obama need a NASA approved phone needless to say I was very confused the artical didn't help either.
Another sore loser.
Hmm, you'd think phones approved by a security agency wouldn't be running Windows Mobile...
Just tell Scarlet that you are Prez now and you can't text her anymore. Now I know that azz is nice but she'll understand ;^)...
Haha, if the other guy had won the Secret Service would no doubt be debating the security of the Ensure supply chain. Neither candidate was perfect.
I'm pretty sure that as president, he can have a team of people taking care of everything a phone would do. I'm not going to lose much sleep on his behalf, honestly.
John McCain is also a Blackberry user, though perhaps not up to "addiction" levels.
Hahaha that's so lame, at least he'll be available anywhere in the world with that brick.
Your pathetic attempt at self-promotion with your link is more lame, don't worry.
No SAT-Link?
The only two NSA-approved phones... both run Windows.
We may be doomed.
There are a couple of things that pop into my head regarding this...
1: If these devices are running Windows Mobile- how are they any more secure than any other Windows Mobile device running the same software on the same network? Couldn't they just take a modern Windows Mobile device, put in a compatible radio, install the right software, and let him use that?
2: Are you telling me it's okay for US Senators to use unsecure devices? Why is it fine for him to have an unsecure device while he is a prominent Senator? I would think that whatever he was using as a Senator should have to be secure too. If Senators are using devices that aren't secure, they need to fix that ASAP.
3: I should obviously be the guy in charge of mobile devices for our important government types. Obama, if you're reading this (yeah, right) email me. I'll get you set up with an awesome device that blows your Blackberry out of the water, and is just as secure (or even more) than the crappy bricks they are trying to set you up with. And they can even inspect them when I'm done to make sure they are secure.
Most Senators don't deal directly with issues of national security unless they are on the Intelligence Committee. Not to say that they don't deal with sensitive information, I just don't think the threat is as significant.
And as much as this is a security issue, it also has to do with the president's legal obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, which, conveniently, Congress exempted itself from.
I think it's crazy that they're so worried about him using a blackberry.
I understood from the one or two statements I've heard him talk about his blackberry that he uses it for personal communication with friends and family.
So let him use it for personal communication, there should be nothing more secret than what you or I would transmit on a phone coming through is phone.
If he needs to discuss national security over a cell phone for some reason, one of those secret service guys that's going to be around him all the time can carry one of those bricks for him.
As a plus, the secret service agent will have extra protection if he has to protect Obama with his improved projectile resistant phone.
believe it or not those phones have a whole lot of encryption. of course they do look like crap. but it would resolve the issue with McCain and Palin BB yard sale thing that happened after they lost
WinMo eh? Somebody get this man an X1, PRONTO!
Do you really want Google datamining the next president?
I don't get what you mean about google datamining...
The X1 is the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1...
Running windows mobile...
I do not see a google, or even an android relation to the X1...
"Hey NSA, any chance we can get something a bit sexier on the approval list?"
Engadget, Uh, NO.
--NSA
**This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds**
I work for GDC4S - buy our phone 'cause I'm afraid you're going to be closing negotiations on our other contracts left and right!
not sure I understand the phone needing to be so ruggedized. I think the security of the OS is the most important aspect, and it running windows 3.1 is wanting on that front, SRSLY!
That's not windows 3.1, that's windows CE. Every version of Windows Mobbile has it at its core. I guess the NSA doesn't care about eye-candy.
Blackberry, Air Force One...
I can't decide!
jk
Is the first one a P-Touch as well?
I read some articles recently on the intertubes saying that the fact Obama endorses the BB the way he has already is worth over 51 million dollars in advertising expenses. I think for that kind of visibility, BB will HAPPILY make Obama 4 years worth of bullet train stopping double encrypting machine gun shooting invisibility cloak deploying phone.
Hey, don't be dis'n my Treo 650. That antenna is great for pulling it out of the case.
As for President-elect Obama? Dude, you are going to be the leader of the free world! Is a blackberry more important than that?
He doesnt want to give up his blackberry just like we dont want to give up our guns.