How the Saga phone compares to other blockchain mobile offerings
Solana’s offering a more robust project
There was a time when two makers-Apple and Samsung only handled the cellphone battle for supremacy. Now with the growing presence of web3 and the blockchain, more companies are getting in on the mobile market in an attempt to further their project goals. Currently, Solana, Polygon, and HTC have offerings for phones that either build upon their blockchain ambitions or help users surf the metaverse. Here is how each of these offerings compares.
Saga and SMS
The recent NFT.NYC event saw the introduction of the Saga flagship phone by Solana Labs. The company is making a massive push into mobile phones in an attempt to bring the ecosystem to potentially millions of users. With the release of the phone is also the release of their mobile blockchain technology called SMS or Solana Mobile Stack.
SMS s designed for ease of web3 functionality including improved use of Solana Pay, easier wallet access, play-to-earn game access, multiple decentralized apps, and a smoother NFT marketplace implementation. SMS is poised to bring the entire Solana ecosystem to the Saga phone and be widely available for any Android-based cellular device to use as the platform is not expected to be exclusive to the Saga.
The launch of the software is also paired with a high-end $1000 flagship device called “Saga”. The phone will contain all of the specs of a high-end device to remain competitive in the market for users that want a phone that is not only capable of web3 integration but also powerful enough to compete with the likes of Apple and Samsung, this includes the most recent Android operating system Android 13, an octa-core CPU with 1x3.19 GHz Cortex-X2–3x2.75 GHz Cortex-A710–4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510, Adeno 730 GPU, 12 GIGA RAM, and 512 GIGABYTE, UFS 3.1 of internal storage.
Polygon’s Nothing
Polygon recently revealed its partnership with Nothing, a new mobile startup. This is in lieu of creating their own cellular device. Polygon will cooperate with Nothing and bring the technology used by the Polygon blockchain onto the Nothing device.
Neither company has fully released all of the specs of the mobile phone as it is set for a release this July 12 but it has been said to allow easier access to dApps and games. The phone will also allow for easier use of payment applications and will be cryptographically secure, this means that your data and your information will belong to you and not to a company like Apple or Google.
The Nothing phone is poised to have a significantly lower price point than that of the Saga phone as the company has opted to use mid range specs rather than flagship ones. The phone is going to make use of a Snapdragon 778G+ chip which is less powerful than that of the Saga. The founder of Nothing is Carl Pei, who was actually the co-founder of One Plus which is a brand that has been known to deliver high quality at lower price points.
HTC Desire 22 Pro
For a while, HTC was on the heels of Samsung and Apple with innovation. The company has not had as much success as its competitors as the company has had to lay off a large number of workers, restructure itself, and almost declare bankruptcy.
The new Desire 22 Pro is not a blockchain-backed cellular device. This device is being touted as a “metaverse phone” meaning that it is meant to help upload users to the metaverse. The device will support Polygon and Ethereum and will have a headset that is available to be paired with the device.
Another aspect about the phone is that it is not a flagship phone either. The specs used on the device are mid-tier with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G chip which is less powerful than a Snapdragon 778G+ used on the already mid-tier Nothing phone. This means the device may not be suitable for intensive 3D experiences in the metaverse, but can certainly be used to buy and store NFT assets. The phone is the cheapest at about $475.
These are the devices planned currently with the expectation that many more will come in the future. The blockchain and web3 provide for possibilites beyond our current market. As new methodologies and ideas form so will the need for new tech, who knows perhaps an apple blockchain could be seen in the near future.
