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Solana Saga: The android phone focused on blockchain and Web 3.0
Blockchain platform Solana at an event in New York on Friday announced that it has partnered with tech company Osom to launch a new blockchain-focused smartphone called Solana Saga.
The Solana Saga is a renamed and repurposed OV1, a smartphone that Osom had been working on for quite some time. Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of Solana Labs will be launching the OV1 under the Solana Saga name, and the device will be focussed on enabling users to make crypto transactions and use Web3 applications.
The company said that the Solana Saga smartphone will be tightly integrated with the Solana blockchain and it will have features on par with other Android flagship devices including a 6.67-inch OLED screen, 12GB of RAM, Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, wireless charging support and 512GB of storage.
5/ It’s coming first on Saga — a flagship device built by @SolanaMobile and @osomprivacy, shipping early Q1 2023.
— Solana (@solana) June 23, 2022
Pre-orders are now open. Reserve yours with a $100 refundable USDC deposit https://t.co/QapjO3ypWi pic.twitter.com/rIkd8t8vh5
“This is something that I fundamentally believe the industry needs to do,” Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder and CEO of Solana, said at the event. “Almost 7 billion people use smartphones around the world and more than 100 million people hold digital assets – and both of those numbers will continue to grow.”
In addition to the Solana Saga, Yakovenko shared the launch of the Solana Mobile Stack (SMS), “a framework for Android allowing developers to create rich mobile experiences for wallets and apps on Solana.”
The company says that SMS will allow developers to create new experiences for the Solana mobile ecosystem and also make those experiences available to other android phone makers.
“The Solana Mobile Stack shows a new path forward on Solana that is open source, secure, optimized for Web3 and easy to use,” said Yakovenko.
In order to create the infrastructure needed for the Solana mobile ecosystem, the company says that it will work with other players in the crypto space including NFT marketplace Magic Eden, Solana wallet maker Phantom, and cryptocurrency exchange Orca.
The Solana Foundation has also pledged $10 million toward the development of decentralised mobile apps on its SMS.