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About 10 months in the past, Solana’s co-founder and CEO, Anatoly Yakovenko, introduced the launch of Saga, a web3-focused Android smartphone. The cellphone is now being rolled out, and we bought to check one forward of its launch.
Solana says Saga was launched to make crypto services and products extra accessible for customers by providing them via a cellphone as an alternative of the standard manner of accessing crypto platforms and functions, which is through computer systems.
I had an attention-grabbing few days utilizing the Saga as my every day driver. Right here’s what I considered it.
Saga cellphone at a look
Let’s get the fundamentals out of the best way: The $1,000 system comes packaged in a black field that features the cellphone itself, a USB-C charging cable and a bodily seed phrase paper card so you possibly can write down your restoration phrase, which is a sequence of random phrases that you’ll want to entry your crypto pockets.
The cellphone’s working system relies on Android 13, and it comes with 512 GB of storage with a 6.67-inch OLED show.
The setup course of is your customary Android expertise, involving the standard prompts for establishing your account and web connection. You possibly can skip most of that and set it up later, however I’d advocate establishing the fingerprint unlock, because it additionally serves as a verification technique for signing crypto transactions.
I used Saga as my work cellphone for just a few days. The cellphone’s 4011 mAh battery lasted me about 1.5 days beginning at 82% on Monday night time once I unboxed it to about 4% Wednesday morning. So I’d say it really works effectively so far as battery life is anxious.
The cellphone additionally has a built-in cellular pockets adapter, which is a part of the Solana Cellular Stack (SMS) that’s invisible to customers however is infrastructure that connects dApps to wallets, Steven Laver, the engineering lead at Solana Cellular, advised starcrypto. Much like how MetaMask has a join button on its desktop shopper, this adapter is a “complete know-how” that may bridge internet dApps to cellular gadgets, he added.
The system additionally features a web3-focused characteristic, the Seed Vault, which is embedded into the cellphone. Customers can import a seed phrase from one other crypto pockets or create a brand new one (Solana recommends creating a brand new one).
And that brings us to the core function of this cellphone’s existence: dApps.
A singular expertise marred by bugs
In contrast to typical Android gadgets, the Saga has web3 options and a “Solana dApp Retailer,” the place you could find apps for web3 platforms.
The shop has a slim handful of functions:
- 4 wallets: Phantom, Solflare, Ledger and Squads
- Three DeFi apps: Marinade.finance, Jupiter and Mango
- Three NFT apps: Nokiamon, Minty Contemporary and TIEXO
- Three social apps: Dialect, Audius Music and urFeed
- And the dApp “workspace”
Apparently, Magic Eden isn’t on the checklist of dApp shops, despite the fact that {the marketplace} shared plans to accomplice with the Solana Cellular Stack (SMS) final yr when Saga was introduced.
When the cellphone is launched to the general public “within the subsequent two weeks” the Solana group is hoping extra functions might be added to the dApp retailer, however Laver didn’t confide in starcrypto what number of the shop would finally home.
“We’ve been reaching out and interesting with massive gamers within the Solana ecosystem and people who acknowledge that cellular has received for every part else,” Laver mentioned. “A whole lot of builders are realizing cellular will win finally they usually wish to be there when it occurs.”
Saga homeowners get $20 price of USDC and 0.01 SOL, or 0.0026 of a greenback, as a part of the dApp retailer welcome pack. The 0.01 SOL was not sufficient to mess around with a number of the functions, so I had a buddy ship my new crypto pockets just a few {dollars} price of SOL to check out the dApps.
The dApp Retailer at the moment provides Saga homeowners rewards, which incorporates an airdropped Saga genesis token, which is an NFT that gives entry to rewards provided by dApps. The token is non-transferable and non-burnable, so customers ought to be sure that it’s not related to a short lived pockets.
We examined out the Minty Contemporary dApp and minted an image of ourselves for 0.01197 SOL inside seconds. It now lives ceaselessly on the Solana blockchain and could be discovered right here.
The method itself was straightforward — and admittedly, enjoyable — however utilizing the cellphone was not the smoothest expertise. The cellphone was typically gradual, and I needed to shut and reopen dApps a number of occasions as a result of the crypto pockets and NFT minting platform stored freezing.
It’s price noting that I confronted these points the entire time I used the system, not simply with dApps. I discovered myself having to shut functions, faucet the display various occasions to unlock it or use dApps, and even order myself an Uber.
That’s not an issue you wish to have with a model new cellphone.
Rollout and future plans
Laver mentioned that whereas the cellphone continues to be in its early levels, there might be software program upgrades over time to maintain issues contemporary.
Final June, Yakovenko mentioned the cellphone can be delivered in Q1 2023, however deliveries have since been pushed to Q2. The cellphone is obtainable for preorder with a $100 deposit.
Plenty of main web3 corporations like crypto pockets Phantom, NFT market Magic Eden and the now-collapsed crypto alternate FTX shared in June that they have been partnering with Solana to assist launch the cellphone, alongside a $10 million developer fund for individuals who construct apps on it.
This cellphone is an try for web3 to compete with Huge Tech suppliers like Apple, Microsoft and, after all, Android — however many are skeptical of its potential to take action given its area of interest market.
Final yr, Yakovenko mentioned the cellphone is “concentrating on the hardcore individuals who know what self-custody means. You gotta begin with a bunch that loves this product and develop from there.”
Then again, Laver sees this as a tool for an even bigger crypto viewers. He mentioned Saga’s group is planning a advertising push with crypto-native customers in addition to people who find themselves “crypto curious.”
“We wish this to be somebody’s cellphone,” Laver mentioned. “That is the one cellphone I carry, I don’t have a second cellphone; it does every part a cellphone ought to do plus web3 issues.”
Laver didn’t disclose the precise variety of telephones that have been preordered, however mentioned the quantity was within the “excessive single digits of 1000’s.” The cellphone is licensed on the market in 33 international locations and the corporate plans to increase to different international locations in the long run, he added.
“We’re on this attention-grabbing place the place we’re constructing attention-grabbing applied sciences, but in addition to see the place folks take it subsequent,” Laver mentioned. “We don’t have a roadmap of A, B or C. We’ve performed ‘A’ of constructing this cellphone, however we’re excited to see the place folks take it subsequent for ‘B’ and ‘C.’”