Solana Cellular’s first crypto smartphone struggled to develop adoption in the initiating build, nonetheless the subsidiary of Solana Labs is pressing forward with some other Android gadget after a canines-themed meme coin’s surprising upward push changed into the Saga into an in a single day hit closing yr.
Solana Cellular showed off the Seeker closing week at Token2049, a crypto conference in Singapore. It represented the public’s most comprehensive watch at Saga’s successor since facts surrounding a “more cost-effective,” crypto-forward smartphone were teased in January beneath the “Chapter 2” banner.
Via Solana Cellular’s endeavors, the Solana Labs subsidiary is seeking to disrupt an substitute dominated by tech names cherish Apple, Google, and Samsung. Unruffled, the cell telephone caters to crypto customers, packing proprietary custody alternate solutions for digital resources and decentralized apps (dapps). Here’s what you desire to grab.
When and the device powerful?
Seeker’s unencumber is slated for mid-2025, nonetheless with 140,000 of the handsets already pre-ordered, in accordance to Solana Cellular, selecting up the cell telephone might maybe perhaps maybe moreover no longer be as easy as literally doing so.
The group said that Seeker orders are minute to 5 telephones per household, likely an strive to restrict the impact of would-be scalpers. On high of that, Solana Cellular has said in an FAQ web page for the Seeker that the cell telephone’s availability in loads of countries might maybe perhaps maybe substitute attributable to question.
Regardless, certainly one of the important supreme variations between Saga and Seeker will most likely be its initiating effect. The Saga debuted to cramped fanfare with a effect ticket of $1,000, and that effect became once later slashed to $599 perfect four months later. This time, Solana Cellular is striving for the reverse dynamic.
Other folks were be in a field to pre-present the gadget for $450 all the device via a “founder” window that ended on September 21, nonetheless that effect has now elevated to $500 all the device via the “early adopter window.” A effect for Seeker’s “supporter window” hasn’t been launched but, nonetheless it’s cheap to position a query to that effect shall be elevated.
In total, perfect 20,000 devices of the Saga were produced. But the pre-present settle suggests that the smartphone might maybe perhaps maybe bear the next group of customers incentivizing dapp pattern.
What are the specs?
Solana Cellular has published one of the important specs for the Seeker, which is billed as being smaller and extra pocketable than the distinctive Saga.
In a put up on Twitter (aka X), Solana Cellular said that its new Android gadget will feature 128GB of storage along with 8GB of memory. That represents a shapely important tumble when put next with the Saga’s 512GB of storage and 12GB of RAM that gave it flagship muscle at the time, reflecting Seeker’s decrease effect ticket.
Additionally, Solana Labs has no longer launched facts but about what processor Seeker might maybe perhaps maybe bear. The Saga, which became once fully designed and had its specs locked in 2022, featured a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 processor that became once mighty, but a little bit of dated by the point of unencumber the following yr.
2/ So, what is Seeker?
It’s the definitive web3 cell gadget, designed to harmonize hardware & gadget.
Lighter, brighter, with the next camera & longer battery at a extra accessible effect.
At its coronary heart is the Seed Vault, designed for high-tier safety — and it’s evolving. pic.twitter.com/xv4bGBfgCu
— Seeker | Solana Cellular (@solanamobile) September 19, 2024
But despite the decrease effect, Solana Cellular Traditional Manager Emmett Hollyer instructed Decrypt that the processor will signify “a meaningful step up” from the Saga, due in portion to the length of time elapsed for the reason that Saga became once created.
The Seeker is moreover getting upgraded cameras. The Saga featured 50-megapixel and 12-megapixels sensors, nonetheless that’s been bumped as a lot as 108-megapixel and 32-megapixel cameras. So, scanning QR codes while making transactions or connecting to dapps shall be that powerful crisper. This can moreover bear a new third camera sensor, nonetheless we haven’t gotten facts about that but.
In keeping with renders launched to this point, the Seeker looks to feature a USB-C port, which has change into normal across smartphone producers. Additionally, Solana states the Seeker might maybe perhaps maybe bear prolonged battery life, signaling an enchancment over the Saga’s 4,110mAh cell that became once accompanied by wi-fi charging.
The Seeker’s conceal is a little bit of smaller than the Saga’s, frightened from a 6.67” 1080p AMOLED display conceal to a 6.36” AMOLED display conceal. Hollyer said this shall be “brighter” than the Saga’s conceal and that this shall be a “flagship display conceal.” It looks cherish the Seeker might maybe perhaps maybe bear thinner bezels than the Saga, too, giving it a extra standard watch when put next with its predecessor.
The Seed Vault custody resolution returns within the Seeker with a custom-designed gadget wallet created in collaboration with Solflare. And it has visible prominence on the Seeker, with Seed Vault branding that wraps around the support from what looks to be the facet-mounted fingerprint sensor.
Airdrop ‘magnet’
The Saga didn’t discover many followers until the worth of airdrops the cell telephone might maybe perhaps maybe claim surged, exceeding its discounted sticker effect. And Solana Cellular made obvious that the airdrop pattern is more likely to follow, describing the gadget as a “magnet for dapps, DeFi, games, and extra” on Twitter.
The cell telephone’s maker described a soulbound token, which is in a field to’t be traded, as a “VIP pass” for claiming associated rewards. The token is being dubbed a Genesis NFT, powerful cherish that for the Saga, and Hollyer instructed Decrypt that rewards shall be group-driven. But he moreover anticipates that builders will prioritize Seeker home owners as a bunch for unprecedented glean entry to and experiences.
“Clearly, this shall be a rewards magnet,” Hollyer instructed Decrypt, “nonetheless it moreover is going to open some one-of-a-kind skills doors that I mediate shall be new to Seeker versus Saga.”
Solana Cellular has already confirmed off some other Seeker-easiest advantages. That entails a four-month subscription to the Helium Cellular wi-fi cell telephone service, and “minute edition resources” for Parallel Studios’ sport Colony launching in Solana Cellular’s dedicated dapp store.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
