What are the best smartphones for security?

Question

InfoSecElectronicsSmartphones

What are the best smartphones for security?

6

Options
Considered

55

User
Recs.

Jan 7, 2024

Last
Updated

6 Options Considered

Best smartphones for security	Price	OS	Display Size
72 Blackphone 2	-	-	-
61 Blackberry Keyone	-	Android	4.0''+
-- iPhone 8	$699	iOS	-
-- iPhone X	$999	iOS	-
-- Librem 5	$650	Linux	-

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score 18 · Answer 1

Blackphone 2

Top Con

Price

562.80 EU or 722.82 USD is the running cost for the device. See More

Top Pro

Anonymized and encrypted communication

Blackphone is bundled with privacy services for anonymizing and encrypting communications. See More

Top Con

OS is not open source

Blackphone has announced plans to make their PrivatOS fork of Android open source in the future, but until then, 3rd parties cannot audit the OS to confirm their security claims. See More

Top Pro

Runs a custom privacy focused build of Android

Blackphone has developed a fork of Android called PrivatOS with a focus on security and privacy. It closes all build in backdoors, and adds additional privacy features like anonymous search, privacy-enabled bundled apps, and better app permission control. See More

See All

score 21 · Answer 2

Blackberry Keyone

Top Pro

Extremely secure

The phone's built-in DTEK monitoring app constantly monitors how vulnerable your phone is. It scans all the installed apps for potential malware or unwanted permissions. It also checks and installs the latest security patches and prevents unwanted access to the camera or microphone by third-party apps. Phone data is fully encrypted and the internet data goes through a VPN when browsing the internet. The device can be set up so that it can be tracked remotely or swiped clean. You can set up two factor authentication that requires you to use a password and a fingerprint scan to unlock the phone. See More

Top Con

Awkward screen ratio

The Blackberry’s screen uses a 3:2 aspect ratio instead of the conventional 16:9 in order to accommodate the keyboard. Though it’s fine for web browsing and messaging, it isn’t great for watching videos. Apps like Instagram and Snapchat also fail to correctly display content in this aspect ratio. See More

Specs

OS:Android

Display Size:4.0''+

Top Pro

One of the few modern phones with a keyboard

While most phones ditched them, the Blackberry retains the physical keyboard. The QWERTY chiclet style keyboard also acts as a trackpad. The small buttons does take some time to get used to, but can lead to better typing accuracy compared to touchscreen keyboards. The space bar doubles as a fingerprint sensor too. See More

Top Con

The screen can be removed when slightly bending the device

Some users have reported that the screen can be removed when slightly bending the device. Although phones made after June 2017 shouldn’t encounter this problem, according to the manufacturer. See More

Top Pro

Can last up to two days on a single charge

The large 3505mAh battery can last up to two days on a single charge. Even under heavy use it should still have quite a bit of juice at the end of the day at least. See More

Top Pro

Can take really good high-quality pictures

The 12MP primary camera uses the same Sony IMX378 sensor found in the first Pixel which takes some of the best pictures out of all smartphones. The Keyone's camera performs especially well on outdoor pictures while in low-light pictures it's still good but there's still some room for improvements. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 3

iPhone 8

Top Pro

Can be charged wirelessly

The iPhone 8 (with the X) is the first iPhone to implement wireless charging. What's more, Apple decided to implement the Qi standard for wireless charging which is shared by multiple manufacturers, making it easy to find a third-party non-expensive wireless charger . See More

Top Con

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

Since Apple decided to ditch their design with an aluminium back and return to the glass back, having a cover for the 8 is almost a necessity since dropping it means you risk breaking both sides of the phone (back and screen) at once. See More

Specs

OS:iOS

Size:4.0''+

Top Pro

The camera is able to shoot very high quality pictures and videos

The iPhone 8 is equipped with a camera that is significantly improved from predecessors. Both the rear and front cameras take amazing pictures, especially at low light. The shutter speed and focus have also been improved from the previous iPhone. The iPhone 8 can shoot 60fps, 4K video and 240fps, 1080p slow-mo which amounts to some serious video capturing capabilities. See More

Top Con

No significant improvements in the display

The screen is the same LCD screen used in previous iPhones and it's almost identical to the one found in the iPhone 7. See More

Top Pro

Can be comfortably used a full day on a single charge

The iPhone 8 lasts 14 hours on a single charge in airplane mode while continuously streaming offline video. Even though it does not tell the whole story on how it would fare during real-world use, tests show that you can use it comfortably for a full day on a single charge without worrying about battery life. See More

Top Con

Can't use wired headphones without a dongle

Since it doesn't have a headphone jack, you are forced to use bluetooth headphones or use a lightning-to-3.5mm jack adapter. See More

Top Pro

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

The new 6-core, 64bit, A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone 8 does not disappoint. Performance is smooth, as is expected from an iPhone, and, according to GeekBench, the iPhone 8 has 25% better performance on single core and 80% better performance on multi core compared to the iPhone 7. See More

See All

score 3 · Answer 4

iPhone X

Top Pro

Excellent design

As always, Apple does not disappoint in the design department. The iPhone X is a beautiful phone with round edges that make it easy to hold in your hand. The slippery metallic back portion from the iPhone 7 has been replaced by a glass section which makes it harder for the phone to slip from your hand. But it should be mentioned that the glass part in the back is like a fingerprint magnet. See More

Top Con

With the removal of the home button, opening the home screen became rather awkward

In the past, to open the home screen that listed your apps, you just needed to press the physical home button. Since the iPhone X does not have a physical home button, you have to swipe the screen from the bottom up to go there. This can be a bit awkward since you can accidentally switch screens when scrolling through a web page for example. See More

Tuan Tran Minh's Experience

I'm happy with iphone X See More

Specs

Top Pro

The display is very large, but still comfortable to use with one hand

At 5.8 inch the iPhone X has got the biggest display out of all iPhones, but due to the small bezel it managed to stay smaller than the iPhone 7 Plus and is quite easy to use with one hand. See More

Top Con

All the added gestures to iOS 11 are hard to remember

With iOS 11 and the removal of the home button the iPhone relies on screen gestures much more than in the past. It may take some time to get used to the new gestures and while not extremely complicated, it adds some complexity which has not been present in old iOS versions and goes against the whole "just works" philosophy that has made the iPhone what it is today. For example: To go to the home screen you swipe up from the bottom of the display. To access the control center you swipe down from the top of the screen. To open notifications you swipe right. To open the camera you need to swipe left. See More

Top Pro

No lag or stuttering

Since both the hardware and software are designed in-house, Apple can make their software much more efficient than other phone manufacturers that have no say in OS design. As such, the iPhone X (and older versions) works flawlessly and has virtually no lag or stuttering to speak of. See More

Top Con

No fingerprint scanner

The removal of the home button unfortunately also brought the removal of TouchID. Apple has planned to replace the fingerprint reader with the new FaceID but it's not really an equivalent replacement since both of these security measures are completely different even if they both serve the same purpose. It would be similar to removing password locking when TouchID was first introduced. See More

Top Pro

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

The new 6-core, 64bit, A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone X (and iPhone 8) does not disappoint. Performance is smooth, as is expected from an iPhone, and, according to GeekBench, the iPhone X has 25% better performance on single core and 80% better performance on multi core compared to the iPhone 7. See More

Top Con

The fast charger needs to be bought separately

While the iPhone X supports fast charging (50% within 30 minutes), in order to use this feature, you will need to buy a USB-C cable separately. See More

Top Pro

Can be charged wirelessly

The iPhone X is the first iPhone to implement wireless charging. What's more, Apple decided to implement the Qi standard for wireless charging which, among other things, lets you monitor multiple devices charging wirelessly at the same time. See More

Top Con

The most expensive smartphone to date

At a release starting price of $999, its price tag is on the higher end, even for flagship phones. See More

Top Pro

The most colorful screen on the market

The iPhone X is the first iPhone with an OLED screen. OLED is the best smartphone screen technology on the market at the moment and the jump to OLED screens was long overdue for the iPhone. The 5.8 inch screen has rich, vibrant colours and inky blacks due to the 2436 x 1125 resolution. It's quite bright as well so you won't have any issues using the phone under direct sunlight. See More

Top Con

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

Since Apple decided to ditch their design with an aluminium back and return to the glass back, having a cover for the X is almost a necessity since dropping it means you risk breaking both sides of the phone (back and screen) at once. See More

Top Pro

The face recognition system works virtually everytime

The iPhone X's FaceID security system recognizes the user's face and uses the front-facing camera to unlock the phone. While it's true that other smartphones have had this technology for years, it's never been this secure. FaceID uses infrared technology to create a 3D map of the face, making it impossible to unlock the phone using a photography of the owner (like you can do with most other phones with a face recognition system). See More

See All

score 5 · Answer 5

Librem 5

HelpfulCreidhne's Experience

Amazing attention to privacy concerns with physical hardware kill switches See More

Specs

OS:Linux

score 2 · Answer 6

iPhone 8 Plus

Top Pro

Can easily be used under direct sunlight

The display for the iPhone 8 Plus is incredibly bright which makes it easy to use under direct, bright sunlight. See More

Top Con

Can't use wired headphones without a dongle

Since it doesn't have a headphone jack, you are forced to use bluetooth headphones or use a lightning-to-3.5mm jack adapter. See More

Specs

OS:iOS

Size:5.3''+

For gaming:Yes

Top Pro

Can be comfortably used a full day on a single charge

The iPhone 8 Plus lasts 14 hours on a single charge in airplane mode while continuously streaming offline video. Even though it does not tell the whole story on how it would fare during real-world use, tests show that you can use it comfortably for a full day on a single charge without worrying about battery life. See More

Top Con

The camera module forms a bump on the back

Unfortunately the camera module for the iPhone still forms a bump a few millimetres wide on the back. It's quite annoying especially since that extra space could have been filled with extra battery. See More

Top Pro

The camera is able to shoot very high quality pictures and videos

The iPhone 8 plus is equipped with a camera that is significantly improved from predecessors. Both the rear and front cameras take amazing pictures, especially at low light. The shutter speed and focus have also been improved from the previous iPhone. The iPhone 8 plus can shoot 60fps, 4K video and 240fps, 1080p slow-mo which amounts to some serious video capturing capabilities. See More

Top Con

The design is a bit outdated

The iPhone 8 plus uses the same design introduced by the iPhone 6, albeit with some small differences like the back being glass instead of metal. The biggest eyesore however are the relatively large bezels around the screen, bezels which the iPhone 8 does not have. Other than being aesthetically pleasing, edge-to-edge screen also serve a practical purpose: they let you have a larger screen without increasing the overall size of the phone and in this case the screen could have been a couple of inches larger. See More

Top Pro

Can play sounds at very high volumes

The speakers have been improved by a lot compared to the iPhone 7 Plus which were quite loud and are about 25% louder on the iPhone 8 Plus now. See More

Top Con

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

Since Apple decided to ditch their design with an aluminium back and return to the glass back, having a cover for the X is almost a necessity since dropping it means you risk breaking both sides of the phone (back and screen) at once. See More

Top Pro

Can be charged wirelessly

The iPhone 8 plus (with the X) is the first iPhone to implement wireless charging. What's more, Apple decided to implement the Qi standard for wireless charging which is shared by multiple manufacturers, making it easy to find a third-party non-expensive wireless charger . See More

Top Pro

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

The new 6-core, 64bit, A11 Bionic chip inside the iPhone 8 Plus does not disappoint. Performance is smooth, as is expected from an iPhone, and, according to GeekBench, the iPhone 8 Plus has 25% better performance on single core and 80% better performance on multi core compared to the iPhone 7. See More

See All

What are the best smartphones for security?

6 Options Considered

Blackphone 2

My Recommendation for Blackphone 2

My Recommendation for Blackphone 2

Price

Anonymized and encrypted communication

OS is not open source

Runs a custom privacy focused build of Android

Blackberry Keyone

My Recommendation for Blackberry Keyone

My Recommendation for Blackberry Keyone

Extremely secure

Awkward screen ratio

One of the few modern phones with a keyboard

The screen can be removed when slightly bending the device

Can last up to two days on a single charge

Can take really good high-quality pictures

iPhone 8

My Recommendation for iPhone 8

My Recommendation for iPhone 8

Can be charged wirelessly

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

The camera is able to shoot very high quality pictures and videos

No significant improvements in the display

Can be comfortably used a full day on a single charge

Can't use wired headphones without a dongle

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

iPhone X

My Recommendation for iPhone X

My Recommendation for iPhone X

Excellent design

With the removal of the home button, opening the home screen became rather awkward

The display is very large, but still comfortable to use with one hand

All the added gestures to iOS 11 are hard to remember

No lag or stuttering

No fingerprint scanner

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

The fast charger needs to be bought separately

Can be charged wirelessly

The most expensive smartphone to date

The most colorful screen on the market

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

The face recognition system works virtually everytime

Librem 5

My Recommendation for Librem 5

My Recommendation for Librem 5

iPhone 8 Plus

My Recommendation for iPhone 8 Plus

My Recommendation for iPhone 8 Plus

Can easily be used under direct sunlight

Can't use wired headphones without a dongle

Can be comfortably used a full day on a single charge

The camera module forms a bump on the back

The camera is able to shoot very high quality pictures and videos

The design is a bit outdated

Can play sounds at very high volumes

Buying a cover for it is highly advisable

Can be charged wirelessly

Performance is considerably better than on previous iPhone versions

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