New 'spy' cell phone costs $2,500

Russian Federal Security Service (FSB)  has unveiled a cell phone at the International Show of Military Equipment, Technologies, and Arms VTTV-Omsk-2005 held in the city of Omsk.

The special cell phone SPM-Atlas (M-539) was developed by Atlas Research and Development Center under the FSB. It is designed for scrambling voice data transmission. According to a representative of the FSB, the phone is already on sale in Moscow cell phone stores, its retail price is $2,500, Newsru.com reports.

Western data encoding algorithms used to ensure the safety of cell phone conversations have not been officially certified by FAPSI (FSB Communications Security Center) until recently. Therefore, the use of technology was not legal in Russia. The M-539 became the first officially certified product. The phone uses GSM 900/1800 frequency standard and can be utilized as a regular cell phone in a open mode. The safety of the voice data transmission is guaranteed once the phone is switched into an encrypted mode.

Technical specifications of the M-539 are as follows:
Frequency standard: GSM 900/1800; 140x48x25mm; weight: 180 grams; graphic display; the phone is powered by lithium ion battery which can last for 3.5 hours of active use in an open mode, 3 hours of active use in an encrypted mode, and 75 hours in a standby mode. Two callers can use an encrypted mode for communicating within a network or in a domestic or international roaming system.