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Get a look at the encryption-heavy Blackphone 2 (pictures)

BARCELONA -- Silent Circle's locked-down smartphone has a 5.5-inch display and sports an octa-core processor. Take a look in our hands-on photos.

Luke Westaway
Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
Luke Westaway
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Scared of the thought of hackers prying into your private life? The Blackphone 2 is a sequel to last year's Blackphone, a mobile that offers encrypted texts, a locked-down version of Android and much more. Click through to check out the new model from every angle.

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The Blackphone 2 is powered by a 64-bit octa-core processor. That processor is backed up by a hearty 3GB of RAM.

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That's a 5.5-inch display, with a 1,920x1,080-pixel resolution.

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There's a microSD card slot for extra storage.

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The Blackphone 2 is all about privacy. Encrypted texts, voice-over-IP calls, video chat and contacts list are all on offer, using manufacturer Silent Circle's secure tech.

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Unfortunately there's no encrypted email on board yet, however.

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You also get Silent Circle's 'Spaces' software, which creates separate partitions on one tablet.

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Using Spaces, you could store private work documents in one 'Space', then put all your personal apps and games in another.

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Different spaces can have different passcodes, letting you further lock down your personal information. You can remotely wipe the tablet, too, should it get stolen.

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The Blackphone 2 is due out in July, and Silent Circle says it's gunning for the same $629 (which equates to roughly £409 or AU$809) price tag that the first Blackphone bore.

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