Let’s get this out of the way right up top: Sikur’s GranitePhone is not for you. Security as a feature is nothing new — BlackBerry’s entire existence rests upon it at this point — but the GranitePhone takes security to another level. While the phone is based on Android, it runs a forked version known called GraniteOS that is startling in its simplicity. You can make secure, encrypted voice calls and use Sikur’s encrypted chat and messaging service. There’s also support for standard GSM calls and SMS messages, and you can take photos or add standard Exchange, POP or IMAP email accounts. But that’s it.
There’s no app store or even more built-in apps for things we take as standard smartphone features, and that’s all with intention. This isn’t a phone for the standard smartphone user, says Sikur CEO Fred D’Avila — instead, his company built a phone in partnership with hardware manufacturer Archos specifically for governments, big enterprise clients and financial institutions. The challenge will be convincing those potential clients to go with Sikur and the GranitePhone over its better-known competitors.