• The Solana Saga mobile will be available for sale starting May 8, 2023
• The Solana mobile stack has two main components: the Seed Vault and the Solana dApp Store
• Crypto phones also offer enhanced security features such as two-factor and biometric authentication.

Solana introduced Saga, the world’s first crypto smartphone, in October 2022. The Saga phone is designed to perform all crypto and web 3.0 activities on a handheld device, reducing the need for a computer. The mobile has 512 GB of storage, two back camera lenses, a 6.67-inch OLED display, and a fingerprint scanner, and runs on Android 13. Solana Mobile partnered with OSOM to integrate the Solana Mobile Stack. The Solana Saga mobile will be available for sale starting May 8, 2023.

During the Saga Launch Event, Anatoly Yakovenko emphasized the challenges users face in Web 3.0, including user experience, which is a key area of focus for the Solana mobile stack. The Solana mobile stack has two main components: the Seed Vault and the Solana dApp Store.

Solana Mobile Stack

The Seed Vault is the hardware component of the mobile stack, designed to protect users’ private keys from malicious actors. It accomplishes this through secure hardware and AES encryption. By keeping the private keys in a secure environment away from Android, users can have confidence in the security of their digital assets.

The Solana dApp Store is a platform for users to access Solana Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, NFT marketplaces, and Web 3.0 apps. It also provides a way for dApp publishers to explore new business models without having to depend on intermediaries. Additionally, the dApp store rewards users with the Saga Genesis token.

Solana has partnered with OSOM to integrate the Solana Mobile Stack into the Saga phone, providing a comprehensive toolkit and an Android environment for building mobile-first dApps. With the Solana Saga phone, Solana aims to improve the user experience of Web 3.0 by providing a secure, convenient, and accessible way for users to interact with the blockchain and its various applications. The Solana Saga has been under development by Osom as the OV1 for the best part of 2 years.

Solana

Solana is a blockchain project that was launched in 2017 by Anatoly Yakovenko and Greg Fitzgerald. The blockchain company aims to address some of the scalability and performance issues that are currently limiting the growth of blockchain technology.

In October 2022, Solana announced the launch of Saga, the world’s first crypto smartphone. The Solana Saga phone is designed to enable users to perform all crypto and web 3.0 activities on a handheld device, without the need for a computer.

One of the key features of the Solana Saga phone is the Seed Vault, which is a secure hardware storage system that protects users’ private keys from malicious actors. The Seed Vault is designed to keep private keys separate from the Android operating system, creating a secure environment for users to store their keys.

The Solana Saga phone also comes with the Solana dApp Store, which allows users to access Solana decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, NFT marketplaces, and other web 3.0 apps. The dApp Store is designed to allow dApp publishers to explore new business models without having to depend on intermediaries and also rewards users with the Saga genesis token.

Solana saga Features

The phone comes with a range of features including a 512 GB storage capacity. The Solana Saga phone also boasts a large 6.67-inch OLED display, a fingerprint scanner, and two versatile back camera lenses. It runs on Android 13.

The phone features the 2022 top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 processor. The battery is slightly disappointing at 4011 mAh whereas even budget Android phones are sporting 5000 mAh batteries. It does offer Qi-standard wireless charging. The Solana saga offers an impressive 12GB of RAM which comes with an extra outlay on most Android flagships. It also competes by offering dual sim capability.

Do we need a crypto phone

While there are more popular questions this is likely the most important. Do we need a crypto phone? What advantages does a crypto phone have over our regular phones? Is this the best solution for the problem it solves? We need to look at each question separately.

A crypto phone offers users hardware storage within the phone. We call cold wallets “offline storage methods” and consider them more secure than warm wallets (online methods). However, we have seen the horror stories of people who lost or misplaced cold storage keys (flash drives) with potentially millions worth of crypto stored in them. While the loss of items like flash drives is high, mobile phones are also lost at a pretty high rate. The average adult loses a phone almost once a year. That’s not encouraging. Though flash drives are more prone to corruption than loss.

That said, cold wallet storage has proven more secure. Is the mobile phone a better storage wallet option than a flash drive? The answer isn’t quite clear-cut. Flash drives are heading towards obsolescence with the improvements in the internet. Cloud storage also adds to this. So perhaps the mobile phone that offers cold storage is a better option given where we are headed.

The verdict

As for the crypto phone is the best solution, the answer is likely yes. The mobile phone is ubiquitous. Even as we head towards the dominance of wearable tech like smartwatches, the mobile phone is at the centre of it. The mobile phone is currently the centre of life. This dominance will only grow.  Throw in the fact that you are likely to use the crypto with your mobile phone this shortens the steps to usage.

We expect the Solana Saga to sell for around US$1000, which is par for the course of many flagship phones in 2023. It will be interesting to see how the phone performs. Solana’s ambitious crypto phone project has been years in the making.

Who should get a crypto phone

If you frequently engage in cryptocurrency transactions or store large amounts of cryptocurrency, a crypto phone might be a useful tool for you. The Solana Saga comes equipped with hardware wallets, which can securely store your cryptocurrency private keys, making it more difficult for hackers to steal your funds. Crypto phones also offer enhanced security features such as two-factor authentication and biometric authentication.