QSAlpha Quasar IV self-authenticating cipherphone heads into production

It might be far, far away from reaching its crowdfunding goal, but fans and supporters of the highly secure Quasar IV smartphone need not worry. It seems that the group behind the project was able to partner with an OEM that will ensure production of the device, regardless of the outcome of the Indiegogo campaign.

The need for secure devices and networks has probably never been higher, with the rampant digital theft and, more recently, revelations of snooping happening today. According to QSAlpha, the company running the show behind the Quasar IV smartphone, more than 27 million Americans have become victims of identity theft over the last five years, with 73 percent of that number arising from cybercrime. It says that the task of securing one’s privacy and security cannot be entrusted to huge companies who themselves compromise such security or have been compromised themselves. That is why the company launched its campaign to develop the Quasar IV cipherphone to put the responsibility back into the hands of individuals, literally.

As a device, the Quasar IV sounds quite promising. It runs on a 2.3 GHz quad-core processor, probably a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, with 3 GB of RAM. It has two types of storage, one 64 or 128 GB internal storage and a 128 GB cloud storage, both of which are encrypted. Quite uniquely, it sports dual rear cameras which the makers say are designed for advanced augmented reality purposes. It has support for Dual LTE, 3G, and GSM networks. But the real star of the Quasar IV is the Quatrix trusted-authentication technology developed by QSAlpha. This proprietary technology, which is being integrated into the Android OS running on the device, not only ensures that your own data is safe, it also secures the information that the user is sending to other authenticated Quasar IV users. Furthermore, the phone also features a specialized chip that stores the user’s private identity key, strengthening the layers of security on the device.

QSAlpha has announced that it has just partnered with one of the world’s largest consumer electronics manufacturer to start production of the Quasar IV, which should give backers of the device some amount of relief as the campaign has only raised around $59,000 out of the $3.2 million that it needs, with just 8 more days to go. Those who have pledged to back the project will automatically be added to a mailing list and will be informed once the device is up for reservation.

SOURCE: QSAlpha