TCL Communications played up to consumer security concerns, including a range of updated security and privacy features in its latest BlackBerry smartphone.

The Key2 comes preloaded with a security app named DTEK, which provides users with a dashboard to monitor and manage their phone’s security status. The app also includes notifications which will alert users to suspicious permission requests, such as a flashlight app requesting microphone access, and take them directly to the control screen to toggle permissions off if necessary.

BlackBerry’s Locker feature also received an upgrade, now allowing users to send their photographs directly into the locker without first having to cross the cloud. Additionally, Locker will give users access to Firefox Focus, a new private browser designed to keep browsing activity from being tracked or synched across machines.

“We want to make it very clear to everybody exactly what their security posture is, because at the end of the day at BlackBerry we believe you own your data, you control your privacy,” Alex Thurber, SVP and GM of Mobility Solutions for Blackberry, said during the Key2 launch.

Though BlackBerry’s security focus is nothing new, the topic carried greater weight given a very public focus on data collection and use in the wake of Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal and the implementation of GDPR in the EU.

Indeed, at its WWDC event this week, Apple similarly unveiled privacy improvements to its Safari browser.

Keyboard update
The Key2 includes a number of other improvements on 2017’s KeyOne, among them the inclusion of new dual 12MP rear cameras, double the storage and a new dedicated shortcut key to help users access their apps faster.

But perhaps the biggest difference is in its appearance and feel of BlackBerry’s trademark keyboard. TCL made the Key2 slimmer and lighter than its predecessor, but also enlarged the keyboard buttons by 20 per cent.

Global Data research director Avi Greengart told Mobile World Live the changes are positive, noting the Key2 “feels a lot better in the hand” than the KeyOne. But he expressed concern the device’s premium pricing of $649 and lack of distribution partnerships could hamper its prospects.