Solana Branches Out to Hardware Development With Web3 Mobile Phone

Solana Labs’ subsidiary Solana Mobile announced Thursday the launch of an Android mobile phone, Saga, that is integrated with the Solana blockchain network. 

Saga is intended to enable users to easily transact with their cryptocurrency and manage digital-asset products and services such as tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the company revealed at an event in New York today. 

Solana Labs also introduced Solana Mobile Stack (SMS), an open-source software toolkit that allows for the development of native Android Web3 apps on Solana. 

SMS’ other features include the Seed Vault — a secure custody protocol that facilitates instant signing of transactions while keeping private keys partitioned from wallets, apps and the Android operating system, according to the launch announcement.

“We live our lives on our mobile devices — except for Web3 because there hasn’t been a mobile-centric approach to private key management,” Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana, said. “The Solana Mobile Stack shows a new path forward on Solana that is open-source, secure, optimized for Web3, and easy to use.”

Designed and manufactured by OSOM, Saga will feature a 6.67 inch OLED display, 12GB RAM, 512GB storage and a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 mobile platform. The device’s retail price will be $1,000. 

The Solana Mobile Stack SDK is now available to developers, and the device is available for pre-order starting today, with delivery in early 2023, the company said.

“Developers can now bring the power of Solana to the computers in our pockets, not just our backpacks,” Solana co-founder Raj Gokal said in a release. 

Solana is among a growing number of crypto companies, such as Polygon and Circle, that are hiring talent from big tech firms such as Google and Amazon to develop Web3 spaces.

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