Barack Obama is the most tech-savvy US President till date

New Delhi: Barack Obama is known to be one of the most tech tech-savvy US presidents to date. From smartphones to tablets, we explore the varied technological tastes (and in some cases, "obligatory tech") from the most tech-savvy head of state to ever sit in the Oval Office. When he was President Elect, the Secret Service wanted to take his Blackberry away, citing security concerns. But Obama fought hard, and he got to hold on to it, albeit with a special encryption package created by the National Security Agency (NSA). Soon it was replaced by a customized BlackBerry with special security software called SecureVoice, developed in conjunction with the NSA.According to BlackBerry, "for over a decade, BlackBerry has been securing the US government's mobile communications and only BlackBerry is designed to meet the high-security needs of US and allied government agencies". Smartphones by BlackBerry are heavily favored by corporate culture for its robust features and physical QWERTY keyboards that are considered superior for mobile e-mail.The BlackBerry used by the US president has Internet and e-mail access, with heavy encryption to deter information from winding up in the hands of hackers or others.Obama's BlackBerry is also locked down in multiple ways, including a personal email address to which only 10 contacts have access. These include vice-president Joe Biden, Obama's chief of staff, his top advisers, his press secretary, first lady Michelle Obama and a few other family members. That's one of the concessions he had to make in order to be allowed to keep a smartphone at all when he took office.One feature the device likely will not use is a GPS chip, which could help locate its important user's whereabouts.Reports say that Obama's BlackBerry can only connect to a secure base station, which can be used to hide the IMEI-number of the device and thus prevent tracking it.While Obama is a fan of the late Steve Jobs and has an Apple iPad, he acknowledged that he can't participate in the iPhone revolution. “Now, I am not allowed, for security reasons, to have an iPhone,” he told a group of young people.The president, who has a Blackberry, told Vanity Fair magazine in 2012 that he scans news headlines and surfs the Internet from his iPad. On the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, the President keeps his Apple iPad (third-generation) in close range.Obama also uses a 2011 MacBook Pro (15-inch) along with his iPad 3 tablet. He uses his Apple laptop for various things, such as tweeting and answering questions on Reddit.