As you might imagine, mobile security has been a big theme here at Mobile World Congress this year. Many of the new products we saw were aimed at the enterprise. But Keezel, an Amsterdam-based company that first emerged on IndieGogo late last summer, was demonstrating the final version of its VPN hub for consumers.
For those who really want to keep their communications and web interactions private, or access the resources without restriction no matter where they are, there are many popular VPN service offerings. Sign up, pay your money, pick your server/geo, and away you go. But for those who don’t want to do that on their own, Keezel’s VPN hub aims to solves that problem and a couple more.
[Note: With the help of many Tom’s Hardware readers, we’ve evaluated and chosen some of the best VPN services here.]
For $99, you get the slick-looking oval gadget, powered by a dual core ARM processor (using the V7 architecture) that has two wireless controllers. There's one to connect your devices over Wi-Fi (it uses WPA2 for security), and the other connects to one of three VPN services: PureVPN, Le VPN and ProXPN. We haven’t evaluated any of these services, but Keezel claimed that collectively, they have access to about 1,250 servers in over 160 countries.
That’s the basic premise. For one thing, then, it simplifies the VPN service part -- choosing one, signing up for one, and having to log into the service each time you want to connect (with The Keez you just connect). For another, it lets you log into the Keezel device rather than, say, a Starbucks hotspot. That’s notable because...well, privacy for one thing, but also, those hotspots tend to get saved on your device, or they could easily be hijacked by rogue hotspots, according to Keezel.
Other devices, like your Sonos system, your AppleTV, or your Chromecast, on which you can’t install VPN software, can connect to the Keezel.
Because it has a 7000 mAH battery, it should last up to 10 hours of solid use, but it also has enough juice to recharge a phone a couple of times over. The unit has a USB host port and a micro USB charging port.
The product ships this June. Although you can buy just the device for $99, it’s $109 for the device and a one year VPN service subscription, and there are two-year and lifetime pricing models, too.
Fritz Nelson is the Editor-In-Chief of Tom's Hardware. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+. Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.
