Bye Bye BlackBerry: Which Smartphone Should President Obama Use Next? The White House is reportedly testing out Samsung and LG devices for use by President Obama and his staff.
By Geoff Weiss
Opinions expressed by BIZ Experiences contributors are their own.
President Obama's latest executive order? A cell phone that isn't a BlackBerry.
Rumor has it that Obama, like other longstanding BlackBerry customers, is in the market for a new device. The White House is reportedly piloting Samsung and LG devices for internal use by the president and his staff.
While the White House confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that it is currently trying out new phones, it could still be months before Obama jettisons his specially-modified BlackBerry -- which has been the government's preferred device for more than a decade.
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And even if Obama were eyeing an iPhone -- which is favored by both of his daughters, he said -- the Secret Service prohibits it for "security reasons," he noted at a press conference last December.
Third-party software-makers, meanwhile, are reportedly working to bolster security features on the rival Android operating system.
Samsung notably ramped up security with its Knox platform -- which enables business and personal content to discretely coexist one the same device -- and also recently scored an order for 7,000 Galaxy Note 2s from the U.S. army.
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"We have seen strong interest from the government sector and are working closely with various agencies to deploy pilot programs," stated Samsung, which has also reportedly cherry-picked former BlackBerry execs to help enhance its security features.
With a horde of hot new phones on the market, Obama certainly has some enticing options to choose from. Should he opt for the just-released Samsung Galaxy S5 -- or hold out for the brand new HTC One, hitting shelves next week? As a noted fan of the iPad for reading, perhaps he should sync his gadget arsenal with an iPhone 6, rumored for later this year.
Let us know which smartphone you think Obama should use next in our poll below.
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