I ordered the HTC Exodus One – the worlds first Blockchain smartphone late 2018 and it arrived in mid January 2019.
As you will see in the #UnboxingVideo – the phone is well packages and comes with all the latest features of a great smartphone on the market now. I do have to say how cool the “see through” back looks – very futuristic!
The main difference is the security chip which holds the data for the #ZionWallet where you can store your #Cryptocurrency.
This is a first move into helping people actually “own” their digital identity, and something we will hear much more about over the coming months and years, as the Blockchain revolution takes off.
In my new book “Commercialzing blockchain: Strategic Applications in the Real World “, I describe the benefits of this:
The Exodus 1 comes with a secure enclave — a secluded area on the phone’s chip kept separate from the Android operating system which the phone runs on. This “area” uses technology made by SoftBank’s Arm Holdings to keep a customer’s cryptocurrency safe.
It is basically a cryptocurrency wallet which holds your private keys. Private keys are lines of code which are meant to be known only to the owner of a cryptocurrency to allow them access to their funds. The significance of integrating Blockchain technology in the phone is that it improves the security and privacy of a user’s data and their own “value”
As I have mentioned before, the large companies “own” our data and with this phone it is one step forward to helping users own their own data using Blockchain technology.
To help with the user experience, the phone comes with a “Social Key Recovery” function that lets a user regain access to their funds if they lose their private key via a select number of trusted contacts.
So lets try the Zion Wallet and see what the interface and experience is like.
When you start the wallet you must backup your recovery key which is a 12 word phrase – this needs to be saved, written down and you have to retype all the words back in to progress
Once you have completed the recover set up you are set with the wallet
Next you set up the social recovery, this is where you invite three to five friends who can help you to recover your wallet. If your wallet is “lost” these trusted friends will send you a code to rebuild your wallet
A cool feature, but leaves lots of questions as to what is they lose their phones or are no longer friends!
Once this is all set up (you do not need social recovery straight away) you can start to use the wallet and it is very easy and simple
I easily sent 10 Ethereum from my other crypto wallet and it arrived in 3 minutes and cost £0.01
The final part is that you can use the wallet for the new and exciting Ethereum based tokens and collectables, such as Cryptokitties.
This is a new feature and will really start to open the phone and the wallet to everyday use for people
So whats my verdict? I have to say that I love the idea of this phone and being able to securely own my own keys and wallet. The phone is top of the range and for the equivalent cost in £ – whereas I bought the ETH, which was a bargain deal. If you like android phones and you want to work with Blockchain technology then its a great investment.
I love the fact that this is out there now and the two weaknesses can be tested: The crypto chip and the social recovery. Both of these are blockers to wider crypto and blockchain adoption, so its great to see these being tested on scale.
My view would be to wait a little longer, this technology is moving fast and new Blockchain phones are on their way. The important things to do today is to learn about Blockchain technology, and start to understand why you need to “own” your own digital identity.
#CommercializingBlockchain
#TheYearofBlockchain2019