HTC, Taiwan based consumer electronics company has finally launched its first-ever blockchain-focused, low-priced smartphone named Exodus 1s. The best part is, the phone can only be purchased in cryptocurrency. The launch was announced during Berlin’s Lightning conference on Oct 19.
The world’s first smartphone has the potential to make the bitcoin network stronger than ever because of its forthcoming mass adoption. However, the phone is supporting all other cryptocurrencies alongside Ethereum, Litecoin, Binance or Bitcoin Cash. So, the users can buy Exodus 1s with their choice of cryptocurrency. HTC claims that it has kept the price on a lower side to lower the barrier to entry and put a challenge to its competitors. The phone is available in €219 (~$244), which is around a third of the cost of its predecessor which costs about $960.
Reportedly, Exodus1s has the potential to run a full bitcoin node under $250, but not extensive as mining Bitcoin (which requires loads of computer power).
To be precise, the users can buy, sell, trade, lend, and borrow the cryptocurrencies with this blockchain-focused smartphone. Now, the cryptocurrency transactions can be validated and transmitted independently via Exodus1s, as a centralized third-party or an in-house technical tool. Meaning, consumers can operate their decentralized bank from their pocket.
However, while running the full node, it is recommended that users should connect to WiFi and plug into a power source, due to high power consumption conditions, or else it can be used on the move as well.
The new smartphone can play the role of a catalyst towards cryptocurrency adoption in a secure way, which until now has become one of the major concerns for the users.
“HTC is providing users the ability to own their keys, and now we’ve gone one step further to allow users to run their full Bitcoin node,” HTC’s Phil Chen said.
HTC Exodus 1s Smart Features
The company claims that the new Exodus 1s can save the entire Bitcoin ledger. For this feature, the user has to get a separate microSD card with at least 400GB of storage. At present, the Bitcoin ledger grabs almost 250GB (https://www.blockchain.com/en/charts/blocks-size), which is growing at a rate of 60GB per year. A user, in any case, must be demanding an entire ledger to verify the transactions without a third-party and this feature of getting the extra data storage would be highly beneficial.
Like Exodus 1, the newly launched phone is having a cryptocurrency wallet called Zion, to make its new phone function as a hardware cryptocurrency wallet to securely store cryptocurrencies.
Internally, the phone has a 3 years old Snapdragon 435 processor. By default, 4 GB of RAM and 63 GB of built-in internal storage is coming complementary, and it runs on a two years old Android Oreo 8.1 software.
The screen display is around 5.7 inches and features an 18:9 aspect ratio with 720p resolution. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack, a MicroUSB port for charging and a rear-facing fingerprint sensor. For clicking pictures, the 1s includes a single main 13-megapixel camera and a 13-megapixel selfie camera.
As per the information, Exodus 1s would be available online in 27 countries within Europe and the Middle East, including Germany, Greece, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, excluding the U.S.
HTC, the struggling electronics manufacturer has changed its strategies in the past few years and now trying to overcome its losses, by entering into the new-fangled blockchain industry. However, many others have jumped into the blockchain-based smartphone vertical to try out the new technology, including Samsung, LG, and recently Foxconn who collaborated with a blockchain-based startup Sirin labs for Finney blockchain smartphone.
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