IF there’s a symbol for the idea that privacy is on people’s minds, it’s the Blackphone.

The Blackphone, which went on sale this week for $629, is billed as the first smartphone built solely with privacy and security in mind. It is definitely more secure than your average phone, but comes with trade-offs that most consumers might not need or enjoy. It’s probably best for reporters, dissidents and companies concerned with corporate security.

The phone is a collaboration between the Spanish phone maker GeeksPhone and Silent Circle, a communications security company. It offers a pleasingly subtle industrial design, is extremely lightweight and has impressive if not outstanding specs. And it sits between an iPhone 5S and a Samsung Galaxy S5 in size.

But compared to those smartphones, the Blackphone offers a very different experience.

The phone runs on a modified version of Android, Google’s mobile operating system. And it definitely trades some conveniences for security.

If you have ever logged into a Google or Apple iCloud account on a new phone, for example, you are accustomed to having information like contacts and apps downloaded automatically from the cloud. The Blackphone, by contrast, will feel like a blank and slightly confusing slate.