In May 2018, the smartphone maker HTC announced that it was coming up with a blockchain phone. The blockchain phone was eventually unveiled at the Web3 Summit on October 23, 2018. The phone is known as HTC Exodus 1 and it is now available for preorder.
HTC is not the only one taking this bold step of making a blockchain phone. Sirin Labs FINNEY is another blockchain phone due to start shipping before the year runs out. There is also the SIKURPhone, which is a customized variant of the Sony smartphone with the SikurOS. The major difference of the HTC Exodus 1 from the other blockchain phones is that it is not a cold storage wallet. Instead it uses TrustZone to store users’ cryptocurrency keys.
Specifications
The HTC Exodus was designed with the purpose of giving users the best dapp experiences and help underlying protocols expand their base of dedicated nodes. The underlying protocols that Exodus will be supporting include Bitcoin, Lightning Network, Ethereum, Dfinity, and more.
The HTC Exodus 1 has a 6.0” Quad HD+ display with an aspect ratio of 18:9. The battery strength is 3500mAh. It has a dual main camera of 12MP and 16MP, and also a dual front camera of 8MP each with natural Bokeh. It runs on Android Oreo, has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor, IP68 rating, 128GB storage, and 6GB RAM. It makes use of a single nano SIM and it is 4G LTE enabled.
Aside from running blockchain applications, the Exodus 1 also comes with interesting blockchain functions such as “social key recovery”. This function enables users to regain access to funds (if they lose their private keys) through a number of trusted contacts previously selected to hold recovery details.
Price
The HTC blockchain phone is available for preorders today and it will begin to ship by December 2018. The price of the phone is 0.15 BTC or 4.78 ETH (which is currently about $960). The phone will only be available for sale in cryptocurrency.
The phone is expected to be available in 34 countries which includes USA, Singapore, UK, and Hong Kong. The notable absence was China, which bans cryptocurrency trading.
Conclusion
The emergence of a blockchain phone brings blockchain and cryptocurrency adoption closer to the general public. HTC is positioning for a place in the future of blockchain by creating hardware for the blockchain community.
The mission of HTC through the Exodus project is to educate and encourage consumers to own their own data. More developments are expected on the blockchain phone to make it more effective in the near future.
