Solana Mobile has started shipping out its second phone Solana Seeker

Solana Seeker, the second era of Solana Cellular’s crypto smartphone, has began delivery worldwide, and up to now, pre-order prospects who’ve acquired their gadgets are utilizing phrases like “good,” “modern design,” and “spectacular” to explain the utilization expertise.

At its core, Seeker is designed to allow entry to crypto and Web3 on the go, whether or not in managing DeFi portfolios or making transactions. However Seeker additionally comes as an improved model of Solana Saga, the primary era of Solana Cellular’s crypto smartphone.

Regardless of the demand for Saga telephones skyrocketing within the secondary markets as a result of BONK tokens airdropped to homeowners, it was not with out some criticisms. Among the greatest complaints had been that it was heavy and the UX wasn’t one thing individuals truly loved utilizing. Then once more, Saga initially began at $1,000 worth, which seemingly contributed to gradual gross sales in the course of the launch.

As a direct results of the teachings realized from the Saga, Solana Seeker comes with higher UX, together with new options comparable to Seeker ID and TEEPIN for improved safety. The worth begins at $450-$500. Cryptopolitan reported on August 4th that 150,000 pre-ordered models of Seeker telephones have been shipped throughout 57 nations. “There are extra Solana Seekers shipped than TPS of all of the Ethereum L2s mixed,” Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko would boast.

Making Crypto Really Cellular

Solana Seeker has been designed to make crypto and Web3 native to cell experiences, particularly for the Solana ecosystem. That’s all the motive this system exists. On an everyday telephone, your crypto pockets is simply one other app. However Seeker pushes the restrict by offering core crypto functionalities on the {hardware} degree, in a method that makes the expertise really feel pure.

Upon preliminary setup, Seeker homeowners are issued a novel Genesis Token completely tied to the system. It’s what offers customers entry to particular advantages, rewards, and options within the Solana ecosystem. Alongside the Genesis Token, every consumer additionally will get a Seeker ID, which is extra like a digital tag that shortens the standard crypto addresses to a easy username, all occurring natively inside the telephone.

The Seed Vault is a chief element in each the Saga and Seeker telephones that makes the crypto expertise extra mobile-friendly. It protects your non-public crypto keys with encryption and biometric entry. Solana Cellular took the expertise a step additional by constructing a local pockets atop the Seed Vault with the Seeker gadgets, known as Seed Vault Pockets.

With that, customers are in a position to acquire an Apple Pay-like expertise with crypto transactions, the place they will approve and confirm their transactions with simply their fingerprints.

Away from Apple and Google Play Shops, the place the income is centralized and crypto-related apps are sometimes restricted or deprioritized, Seeker comes with its Solana dApp Retailer 2.0 that promotes true on-chain engagement, with an financial mannequin that rewards each customers and builders.

Builders earn by constructing dApps for Seeker, whereas the customers earn by actively utilizing the system and supported dApps. Central to this mannequin is the $SKR token, which Solana Cellular says will “energy the financial system, incentives, and possession of the ecosystem.”

All of those options mixed make for a greater and incentivized crypto cell expertise. Seeker primarily fixes up the disjointed expertise with smartphones and helps customers get on-chain quicker.

Absolute Safety: TEEPIN

Each Seeker telephone ships with a framework that decentralizes the system, past a consumption system. It’s known as TEEPIN —Trusted Execution Atmosphere Platform Infrastructure Community.

In your common smartphone, Apple and Google management belief and entry. They get to resolve what’s protected or allowed in your system. Seeker basically places you in management by TEEPIN, which makes use of cryptography to connect with the telephone’s {hardware}, platform verification, and a community of Guardians, a three-layer interplay that ends in a extra open and decentralized cell platform.

On the {Hardware} degree is the place the Seeker system will get to cryptographically attest that each software program and {hardware} are genuine. It then strikes all the way down to the Platform degree, the place TEEPIN verifies the system’s standing and the dApp’s authenticity towards on-chain contracts. The Community degree is the place all vetting occurs to make sure the platform stays open and truthful, with management distributed amongst customers slightly than a single entity. That is dealt with by the so-called “Guardians Community.”

It’s not solely about safety. TEEPIN immediately addresses the imbalance in management with the common telephone, which is closely centralized by tech giants.

Now, you might be now not an everyday consumer with Seeker, however a full proprietor with added incentives. First, your information is non-public and 100% in your management. Secondly, you might be now not restricted by Google or Apple’s platform guidelines, and also you now have extra freedom to decide on a variety of apps in Funds, DeFi, AI, DePIN, NFTs, gaming, and whatnot.

A Group-owned Open Ecosystem Over Walled Gardens

As I discussed earlier, Seeker does away with centralization. The management is distributed amongst a community of customers. Apple and Google are the only gatekeepers of the iPhone and Android, respectively. They bear the total duty of managing and directing platform guidelines.

Seeker operates below a community-owned mannequin, the place customers grow to be energetic stakeholders. SKR token holders get to take part in governance and resolve the insurance policies and path of the platform, not Solana Cellular. The Guardians bear the duty of vetting dApps and managing the integrity of the platform.

Apple/Google walled gardens create an extractive atmosphere the place customers are all the time on the giving finish, with builders subjected to a 30% income share. The income is centralized by these tech giants. Nevertheless, the Solana Seeker, by its TEEPIN framework, SKR token, and the Guardians Community, flips this mannequin.

The association with Seeker is such that it creates a closed loop of worth between customers and builders. Customers are incentivized and truly have a motive to make use of the system and dApps, and builders are additionally incentivized to construct worthwhile dApps as they get to maintain extra of the income and have a direct line to their neighborhood.

What you get is an ecosystem that thrives by itself as a result of it’s ruled by a neighborhood of motivated stakeholders. And for the primary time, your telephone is a node in each a social and monetary community.

What’s Subsequent for the Solana Telephone

Solana Seeker is a giant step up within the cell crypto expertise. It addresses among the greatest ache factors for crypto customers, which embrace safety and ease of use. We noticed this even with its predecessor, the Saga, which had poor UX that made usability a bit troublesome, however that’s fairly comprehensible given it’s a primary product.

From the options seen with Seeker, we will solely anticipate the Solana telephone to get higher from right here. However one main draw back with the Solana telephone is that the tech stack is restricted to the Solana blockchain. All the structure, proper from the dApp Retailer to the Seed Vault and Seeker ID, is tightly built-in particularly for the Solana community.

In consequence, the telephone isolates customers who maintain belongings on different chains like Ethereum, Bitcoin, or different Layer 2 networks, so there may be considerably of an interoperability concern right here. Additionally, mass adoption, particularly for normal customers exterior the crypto ecosystem, is usually a drawback, contemplating the truth that the telephone is purpose-built for a Web3 expertise.

Crypto customers might simply catch on, however there must be extra consciousness about the advantages. For example, Solana Saga was initially met with gradual adoption, however curiosity went by the roof with the memecoin airdrop schemes. Typically, it takes extra than simply superior know-how to unlock mainstream adoption, and it’s good to see Solana Cellular discover that half extra.

Solana Cellular is planning to launch a program known as Seeker Season by September, which is able to convey customers unique options, early entry, and advantages for actively utilizing the dApps supported within the Solana dApp retailer. This will probably be distributed each week.

Web3 has largely been a desktop-centric expertise. The Solana telephone is an try to convey this expertise to cell gadgets, the place your telephone is not only a bunch for apps, but in addition turns into a decentralized node. It goes with out saying that the Solana telephone will possible be a litmus check for the entire thought of creating crypto native to cell customers. However even because the pattern goes mainstream, it may very well be laborious for many individuals to see crypto cell phones move a secondary system.