Solana Labs’ new crypto-forward smartphone Saga will go on public sale May 8, the company said Thursday. Prior to that, pre-orders were being shipped, causing excitement within the Solana blockchain ecosystem. For just $1,000, users get a Bay Area smartphone with all the bells and whistles, like 512 GB storage, two versatile back camera lenses, and a 6.67-inch OLED display. On top of all that, users can expect the latest Android operating system installed and a customized “Solana Mobile Stack” (SMS) to access the crypto world securely.
The Saga phone is differentiated by its secure element and a “seed vault” containing private keys – making them more secure than if they were part of the rest of the phone’s data. To facilitate users getting the most out of the crypto world, Saga also contains a custom dapp store with over a dozen applications already available for trading, inter-wallet communications, and digital collectibles. What’s more, Solana does not charge the “extractive fees” that Apple and Google take for their respective stores.
Saga is the latest in a string of attempts by phone makers to make a crypto-forward device. However, some of these efforts have faced setbacks, with the biggest being that of Solana’s, when their June 2022 event with Sam Bankman-Fried as the headliner led to allegations of crypto fraud. Even with its technology repeatedly failing, Solana’s community of developers and traders came to its defense, and now a new chance arises with the public sale of Saga.
The promise of mobile being imperative to the future of crypto can now become a reality with the release of Solana’s wallet phone Saga. With 512 GB storage, two versatile back camera lenses, a 6.67-inch OLED display and customized SMS, the phone is packed with the latest hardware and software. Addition of a secure element, a “seed vault” for private keys, and a custom dapp store as well as no “extractive fees” has made the Saga device a revolutionary product for the crypto world. Now, the public sale of Saga aims to put crypto into people’s pockets just like the rest of the digital world has already.