NSA-approved smartphones give Obama some ugly choices

by Ross Miller posted Jan 13th 2009 at 6:33PM

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?

Filed under: Handsets, Others, GSM, CDMA

Tags: barack obama, BarackObama, general dynamics, GeneralDynamics, government, guardian, l-3 communications, L-3Communications, nsa, obama, sectera edge, SecteraEdge, smart phone, SmartPhone

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Neutral

magicvash @ Jan 13th 2009 6:48PM

Why the hell are we still using security policies from 2 years ago?

Waiting for fanbois to say ZOMG iPhone isn't on the list NSA sux0rz

Neutral

Surur @ Jan 14th 2009 5:28AM

2 years is a pretty short time. I bet your company uses security policies from a lot earlier than that.

Highest Ranked

bernardino @ Jan 13th 2009 7:17PM

Blackberry needs to create a special phone just for Obama, one that meets NSA standards.

Then they can market a chiseled down version and call it the BlackBarry Obama.

Neutral

Level 5 @ Jan 14th 2009 8:38AM

I'm down with that. I'm actually surprised this isn't done or has been at least discussed by NSA. I do have to say that the ONE thing I know W. Bush did right is give up e-mail completely. Good call. One of his only ones, lol. I'm sure President Obama will see the light.

Neutral

brians0424 @ Jan 14th 2009 9:16AM

i give it a year and he'll have a blackberry made just for him. RIM will jump at that in a minute. Hell i give it 3 weeks before someone photoshops a 8830 with some inaugural stickers and some bright red panic button on it and post it on here.

Neutral

zioncat @ Jan 14th 2009 9:52AM

More like Obamaberry brought to you by Black Berry :-)

Highly Ranked

sfguy @ Jan 13th 2009 8:09PM

If I recall correctly, it takes the US Govt about 5 years to certify any hardware/software, so although these were approved in 2007 they're probably devices from around 2002.

Neutral

phatkrome @ Jan 13th 2009 9:35PM

They're not using security policies from 2 years ago. These phones can encrypt/decrypt on the fly. Have you seen a STU III before? They aren't small. Packing that into this form factor is friggin incredible. They're really mini PCs that happen to have phone capabilities. And 5 years to certify hardware/software? Seriously? I suppose people really do believe everything they read on the these here interwebs! They aren't sexy, but they aren't just a "secure" replacement for the Blackberry either.

Neutral

ZSX @ Jan 14th 2009 11:56AM

Neither look like they are running Windows Mobile. It seems more likely that they are running a specific variant of Windows CE.

Neutral

Anthony @ Jan 14th 2009 12:59PM

Um, its not that Obama can't use a smartphone because its not an NSA approved device, he can't use it because if the government ever needs to suppeona his records they don't get access to personal and/or private email. It's the same reason in 2000 W. gave up his personal AOL Email. But for reference he can't use any of these devices.

Neutral