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Obama finally upgraded from his BlackBerry

Obama finally upgraded from his BlackBerry

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But he still wants something better

By Jacob Kastrenakes, a deputy editor who oversees tech and news coverage. Since joining The Verge in 2012, he’s published 5,000+ stories and is the founding editor of the creators desk.

Source The Tonight Show (YouTube) | Via BGR

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President Obama has finally been allowed to replace his BlackBerry with something more modern — but he apparently isn't thrilled with this new phone either.

"I get the thing, and they're all like, 'Well, Mr. President, for security reasons ... it doesn't take pictures, you can't text, the phone doesn't work, ... you can't play your music on it,'" Obama said during an appearance on The Tonight Show this week. "Basically, it's like, does your three-year-old have one of those play phones?"

Obama has wanted to ditch his BlackBerry for years

Obama's been joking about his awful phone situation for years now. While his BlackBerry was considered surprisingly high-tech when he came into office, the situation quickly changed. As far back as 2010, Obama called using his BlackBerry "no fun," and then a few years ago he lamented that security concerns prevent him from using an iPhone. While discussing his BlackBerry on Jimmy Kimmel's show last year, Obama started laughing after a single person applauded. "The one old guy there," Obama said, "He's my age. Somebody my generation."

Obama didn't say what phone he's using now, and it seems like pretty much everything is a possibility. In 2014, The Wall Street Journal reported that the White House was testing Android phones for secure usage. Then this April, The New York Times said that some White House staffers were upgrading to iPhones.

At the time, the Times said Obama was still using "a specially modified, highly secure BlackBerry." So he's either moved on from that in the months since, or Obama only got to move from his old BlackBerry to a new one. On Fallon's show, at least, he makes it sound like he's done with BlackBerry.

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