: Solana Cellular
Folks have stopped caring about smartphones, wrote my colleague Anton D. Nagy a number of days in the past. An element motive for this habits, he says (and with which I completely agree), is that smartphones have turn into boring, and there’s nothing thrilling in regards to the upcoming smartphones. There’s little or no innovation in the smartphone house proper now, and despite the fact that there are some corporations taking some steps to alter the notion, the notion is basically the identical.
To compete with huge gamers like Apple and Samsung, new corporations usually must take a distinct method in order to place themselves distinctly and convey the sensation of innovation. Nothing, the corporate based by OnePlus co-founder Carl Pei, will quickly launch an Android smartphone with over 900 LEDs on the again — it acts as a notification gentle, charging indicator, and whatnot. Equally, OSOM, a startup established by former Important staff, introduced earlier this 12 months that it will launch a privacy-focused smartphone referred to as OV1 in This fall 2022.
: OSOM
On the time, OSOM revealed that its OV1 smartphone would supply a non-public expertise. Although we by no means received to know what the corporate meant by non-public expertise, it did reveal that the OV1 smartphone will likely be powered by a Snapdragon Eight chipset and include a Privateness Cable that can include a flip swap that can permit customers to show off ‘ knowledge assortment’. And, in a large flip of occasions, it appears that evidently the corporate has modified its plan.
The corporate is not advertising and marketing the OV1 as a privacy-focused smartphone. The truth is, it appears that evidently the corporate has scraped off the OV1 undertaking altogether. As a substitute, OSOM has partnered with Solana, a public blockchain firm, to launch a brand new smartphone referred to as Solana Saga. Solana says that Saga is a Web3-focused smartphone. However what is going to Solana Saga precisely supply, and the way is it completely different from different Android smartphones? Let’s break it down for you.
What’s the Solana Saga smartphone and what is going to it supply?
: Solana
The corporate is advertising and marketing Saga as a smartphone that can supply distinctive performance and options tightly built-in with the Solana blockchain. It’s a Blockchain smartphone that can make it straightforward and safe to transact in web3 and handle digital belongings. It will likely be powered by Android, however as a substitute of that includes Google Cellular Providers (GMS) — the software Google supplies builders to assist apps throughout a number of completely different variations of Android — the Solana Saga will characteristic Solana Cellular Stack (SMS).
The Solana Cellular Stack will permit customers to retailer their cryptocurrency pockets keys on the gadget securely on a “Safe Ingredient”. It would additionally assist builders with the instruments required to construct safe wallets and Web3 apps for Solana Saga. And oh, for these in search of specs, as you’d count on from a $1000 smartphone, the Solana Saga would supply high-end specs. Solana says that the Saga will characteristic a 6.67-inch show, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor, 12GB of RAM, and 128GB of quick inside storage.
With the Saga smartphone, it appears that evidently Solana needs to take the lead in the upcoming house and let builders construct the entire world of web3 apps and cryptocurrency wallets. It would present builders with the instruments and APIs required to construct the entire ecosystem. However do we actually want Blockchain smartphones proper now?
Why Blockchain smartphones do not make sense (proper now)
: Unsplash
To reply it merely: no, probably not. We will already use so-called decentralized apps on any Android smartphone. You simply want to put in the respective cryptocurrency pockets app in your smartphone and make funds by way of these apps. The remainder of the decentralized apps are additionally out there for everybody on the app shops. Sure, the Solana Saga will present extra privateness and security measures, however the encryption methods on the present cryptocurrency wallets are additionally arduous to crack and no person retains their life’s financial savings on their smartphone anyway.
After which there’s the case of HTC EXODUS. The corporate launched its first blockchain smartphone again in 2018, but it surely did not reside as much as its expectations. There was nothing actually distinctive in regards to the EXODUS, and it did not attraction to the lots. There’s additionally the case that the present state of web3 is (kind of) unclear to the non-tech folks. Many of the initiatives/apps are both at the moment in the stage of improvement or are half-baked and buggy platforms. Sure, Solana is offering a improvement software to the developer, however at the moment, there isn’t any surety that its app ecosystem will likely be nearly as good as, say, Google Play Retailer or the Apple App Retailer.
And at last, the worth tag. Solana has set a price ticket of $1000 on the Saga smartphone. The excessive value of the smartphone might draw away half of the folks. There are loads of wonderful Android smartphones out there at half the worth, and you should use the at the moment out there cryptocurrency wallets on all of those gadgets, which defeats the entire function of proudly owning a Blockchain smartphone. Certain, Blockchain smartphones may make sense in the longer term, however do they at the moment? What are your ideas? Would you have an interest in shopping for one? Tell us in the feedback part under!
