Kickstarter project promises the first smartphone with built-in privacy switch

Kickstarter project promises the first smartphone with built-in privacy switch،

Murena isn’t exactly a household name in the mobile industry, so unless you own a modular Fairphone 4 purchased in the US, chances are you’ve never heard of this company.

Last July, the Fairphone 4 was launched in the United States in partnership with Murena, a company specializing in the “de-Googlelization” of Android smartphones. This particular version of Murena’s Fairphone 4 ignores all Google apps in favor of the company’s cloud apps like email, calendar, and cloud storage.

Most likely unrelated to the possible success of the Fairphone 4 in the US, Murena has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for “the first smartphone accessible to everyone with a privacy button to prevent surveillance.”

The amount the company is asking is ridiculously low compared to the budgets allocated by major phone makers, even for their cheapest products: around $27,000.

Murena Privacy Switch 2 – Kickstarter project promises first smartphone with built-in privacy switch

The Murena 2 Privacy Switch

With approximately 9 days left, the Murena 2 project managed to raise over $160,000, making the campaign a considerable success. Nearly 350 people decided to finance the project by purchasing at least one phone in advance. According to Murena, their upcoming phone is “the world’s first privacy-focused smartphone,” designed specifically for the masses. The device has two physical switches:

a privacy switch to disconnect cameras and microphones
a disconnect switch to disable connectivity

The disconnect switch turns on airplane mode and mutes your phone. It’s also important to mention that the Murena 2 smartphone comes with a “very private operating system” called /e/OS, which is the same one that comes pre-installed on the Fairphone 4 (sold by Murena).

This open source operating system is billed as “the most privacy-friendly operating system.” It stands out from other mobile operating systems with its advanced privacy and anti-tracking features, such as the ability to fake your location with a VPN, hide your real IP address, and monitor app trackers .

Most importantly, /e/OS is compatible with the Android app ecosystem, which means you can install any Android apps you want on your Murena 2 phone. You can even check the apps’ privacy scores before to install them.

Check an app’s privacy score before installing it

In addition to the phone, customers who purchase it will also have access to Murena Cloud, a private online vault where they can sync their photos, videos, music, notes and documents with their personal cloud from anywhere. However, Murena Cloud only offers 1GB of free online storage, so if you need more, you’ll have to pay for it. Murena offers several options with storage capacities up to 2TB and plans starting at $2 per month.

Moving on to the hardware specs of the Murena 2, it’s far from a flagship, but that’s why the price isn’t that high. For starters, the device is equipped with a 2.1GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio P70 chipset, coupled with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage (up to 512GB via microSD).

Furthermore, Murena 2 sports a 6.43-inch FHD+ Super AMOLED display, triple camera setup (64MP + 13MP + 5MP) and a 25-megapixel front selfie sensor. The phone is powered by a 4,000mAh battery with 18W fast charging support.

Murena 2 Hardware – Kickstarter Project Promises First Smartphone With Built-In Privacy Switch

Murena 2 Material

According to Murena, their phone is only compatible with T-Mobile, Metro by TMobile, Simple Mobile, Speedtalk Mobile, Ultra Mobile, Red Pocket Mobile and Ting in the United States. The company only recommends using the phone on TMobile and its MVNOs, so no Verizon.

As for price, the “Super Early Bird” and “Duo Early Bird” tiers that allowed fans to purchase the Murena 2 for just $320 are no longer available, so you can either pay $960 for three phones, or $430 for one. Check Kickstarter page for more pricing options if you want to support the campaign and benefit from additional benefits.