Crypto in your pocket: the best blockchain smartphones
If you’re wondering what a blockchain smartphone even is or you’re already deciding which one to buy, this guide has you covered.
The first wave of crypto-focused smartphones from big players like Samsung is a small step toward a new industry. Here’s the most famous smartphones that have blockchain features.
These days smartphones with “Blockchain support” are almost the most popular news topic. Initially, the blockchain technology became known because of Bitcoin. In most cases, when it comes to blockchain, people think that it is only about finance and cryptocurrencies. But now this technology is used not only in crypto, but in many other spheres as well. Smartphone manufacturers have not been left behind: several technological giants have already introduced blockchain smartphones to their customers.
Samsung S10 — was it the first blockchain flagship smartphone?
The Galaxy S10 model of South Korean corporation is as always competes with Apple flagships. It uses the best screens and cameras, the most powerful processors, the latest technology, perfect design — this fight is not a joke. The S10 version was only available by pre-order until March 8th, 2019 — for those who could not wait. The first reviews of users who received Samsung phones have shaken up the crypto community. It turns out that among the numerous applications of this model is a Samsung Blockchain Keystore — an electronic wallet to store cryptocurrencies!
The lack of Samsung’s attention to this application cooled down the hype: it is very briefly referred to in official documentation.
There is a video on YouTube from one of the owners of S10, in which he tries to find Bitcoin support in the new Samsung wallet application. And he fails — there is no embedded solution for BTC in the newest Samsung flagship smartphone. Crypto community starts to panic.
Panic is unlikely to be justified: the ability to create or import a Bitcoin wallet is likely to be added later with one of the application updates. Or not — in general, it is not so important. It is unlikely that among consumers of Samsung’s high-end smartphone models (with price of up to $1000) there are so many people who are strongly interested in Bitcoin, blockchain and other cryptocurrencies.
The most interesting thing is how cautiously and carefully the company treats its new application, how it avoids the word “cryptocurrency”, how it does not advertise the crypto wallet. It is more like how a fisherman walks carefully on thin spring ice, being afraid to fail and at best to catch a cold, and at worst to drown at all because of one careless movement.
All the above is enough to say that the Samsung Galaxy S10 is not a blockchain smartphone, but just a good, expensive, beautiful and functional phone with a crypto application in the basic set of applications.
What about HTC?
Unlike Samsung, HTC Corporation with its EXODUS 1 smartphone actually uses the fashionable word “blockchain” in advertising. On the homepage of the smartphone is shown in its most advantageous angle — the back side, which has a very futuristic look thanks to a transparent cover.
Scroll down and you will see Vitalik Buterin (one of the founders of Ethereum), who, like Charlie Lee (the founder of Litecoin) is delighted with the new HTC product.
As an additional promotional “ booster” the pre-order of HTC EXODUS 1 can be paid only in cryptocurrency. However, by pressing the “CRYPTO” button and going to the payment page, the buyer will know the price of the product not in bitcoins, ETH or LTC, but in U.S. dollars.
EXODUS 1 is a good quality smartphone for $700 with good features: Snapdragon 845 processor; 6 GB of RAM; 128 GB of internal memory; Android 8 operating system; 3500 mA/h battery; twin cameras in the back and front (12+16 and 8+8 megapixels); 6 inch Quad HD+ display.
Let’s describe the features of EXODUS 1, thanks to which it proudly bears the name “block phone”. Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) — this technology is the basis for ZION, a special smartphone application.
ZION is a crypto wallet where you can store bitcoins, ether, litetcoins and several tokens of ERC-20 and ERC-721 standards. TEE creates a storage isolated from the Android operating system, where user’s private keys are generated and stored.
The idea is to protect sensitive data from malware that may be installed on a smartphone and possibly from unnecessarily “curious” permitted applications.
It turns out that ZION proposes not to trust the operating system from Google and does not let it to integrate with itself. If to put this idea in a nutshell, the smartphone user is encouraged to trust ZION, not Android. It’s clear that user-friendliness will always be a compromise with regard to security, and HTC has done its best within this framework, but there are flaws in this approach. When EXODUS 1 becomes popular enough for attackers to notice, they will probably find the key to ZION isolated storage via some kind of exploit.
However, the developers of EXODUS 1 know that it’s still far from being perfect. HTC’s Head of Decentralization Phil Chen recognizes that technologies used in the corporation’s blockchain smartphone continue to develop actively, and their current state is not final.
Other blockchain smartphones
Finney from Sirin Labs
It is a competitor of HTC EXODUS 1, which the manufacturer states unambiguously, giving a comparison table.
Finney is notable for its unusual design element — a mini screen that slides out at the top of the device, which is both an indicator of operation and a switch of the smartphone’s cold hardware crypto wallet. The solution is not indisputable, but interesting. Cold wallet is fully implemented: until the screen is extended, the storage is turned off and is in “cold” state.
At the price of comparison with EXODUS 1 is not in favor of Finney: with similar hardware characteristics Fiinney is 300 dollars more expensive. Perhaps, its own features are worth exactly that much. Finney had an ICO, the company collected 157 million dollars and released its own token, which circulates on the Sirin Lab platform as a unit of payment for goods and services.
It may seem that the introduction of different models of blockchain smartphones in this article is built on the principle of “from more renowned manufacturers to less known”. In fact, every next phone in this review shows an increasing immersion in blockchain, and to the bottom is still far away.
XPhone from PundiX
According to the creators, it’s “the first blockchain smartphone in the world”. Its functionality is divided into two parts: standard Android applications and clean blockchain services. This mobile device will be able to work exclusively in blockchain mode — without using the services of mobile operators, but at the same time allowing to switch to normal mode in one click.
In order to start working with blockchain mode, the user will need to create and configure a node. These actions are quite difficult for ordinary consumers, but on the other hand, such manipulations are performed only once. Developers will provide the opportunity to install decentralized applications in a store similar to Google Play.
Specifications of XPhone show that the device is similar to the above EXODUS 1 and Finney: 6 GB of RAM, 128 GB of internal memory, 3500 mA/h battery, Snapdragon 660.
The development team is focused on creating an ecosystem of Function X blockchain devices and plans to enter into partnerships with other manufacturers. Pundi X will create specifications, software and support the platform by outsourcing device development functions to third parties.
Electroneum.M1
The last smartphone in this article may seem like a bit of a ruse. This is an Android device for $80 — Electroneum.M1. Its key element is a cloud mining “out of the box”.
Blockchain functions of this smartphone: cloud mining of Electroneum (ETN) cryptocurrency, instant token transfer system ETN, cryptocurrency wallet for ETN. The project Electroneum, which sells this mobile device, positions it as a smartphone for emerging markets — cheap, with sufficient functionality, with pre-installed blockchain services.
ETN is trading at 0.004 USD price right now. It is far less than Bitcoin price, which recently tried to bust through $10 000 mark. You can earn far more money with BTC cloud mining. To make your own passive income source, visit Hashmart.io and buy your first cloud mining contract!
