It seems Russia's defence ministry doesn't trust Google's tablet
computers a new Android device boasts encryption and works with
software and a global positioning system made in Russia.
The National
Nuclear Research University in Moscow has presented a top Russian
government official with what resembled an Android operating system
device but was actually a very similar domestic equivalent.
Thursday's
unveiling at a Berlin consumer electronics conference marked what
Russia hopes will be the start of mass production of its first domestic
tablet to rival devices developed by the US Internet search giant.
A
major concern for Russian defence chiefs is that data collected and
stored by Google could slip into the hands of the US government and
expose some of their most secret and sensitive communications.
The
university's production unit director Andrei Starikovsky has told
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin that two versions of the tablet
will be made one for consumers and one for defence needs.
"The
operating system has all the functional capabilities of an Android
operating system but none of its hidden features that send users'
private data to Google headquarters," Russia media quote him as telling
Rogozin.
Starikovsky said both tablets' production should be launched by the end of the year at a retail price of 15,000 rubles ($460).
"The military version will be shock and water proof," he said.
The
military make also features encryption and relies on navigation through
GLONASS Russia's new rival to the US-made Global Position Service (GPS)
that was added to Apple's iPhones this year.
The Russian tablet
will run on software called the Russian Mobile Operating System (RoMOS)
and be assembled at a defence ministry research facility while being
made up mostly of parts manufactured abroad.