Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )

By CryptoLeo ( @LeoAndCrypto )

Solana Mobile's highly anticipated second phone, the Seeker, shipped on August 4th. This global first batch of 150,000 units was shipped, and many people (but not me) recently received their Seekers. Solana's first phone, the Saga, has generated significant revenue. To this end, Odaily Planet Daily, combining official information with testimonials from the first Seeker users, offers a look at the Seeker phone, including its appearance, user experience, improvements over the Saga, and its future vision.

Seeker Basic Data

According to its official data:

-The Seeker phone is 15.48cm long, 7.35cm wide and 0.93cm thick.

-Battery capacity is 4500 mAh, and the processor is the Dimensity 7300 released by Mediatek;

- Smaller storage capacity, 8+128 GB;

-The screen is 6.36 inches AMOLED, with a resolution of 2670 x 1200 px, a pixel density of 460 ppi, and supports a 120 Hz refresh rate (the same as Xiaomi 14);

-Support dual SIM cards, one Nano Sim card and one normal Sim card.

Review: User unboxing, first experience with the Seeker phone

Recently, many users have posted videos and pictures on X to share their purchases. This article selects 3-4 users' "purchase" posts after receiving the phone to summarize the evaluation of the physical phone:

The Seeker phone comes in a black box similar to the Saga, and includes a USB-C charging cable.

First things first:

1. The phone comes with a mnemonic card. You need to save the wallet mnemonic first and obtain a Seeker ID. Users can get an optional ".skr" domain name for free. Similar to ENS, the ID is unique and is issued on a first-come, first-served basis.

2. Mint Genesis NFTs. Similar to Saga, a "Seeker Genesis Token" NFT will be granted to the user's address without paying gas fees. Solana Mobile holders have already received an airdrop, but additional airdrops may be sent to Genesis NFT holders in the future, so it's worth a try.

Trading:

Every transaction on the phone is automatically processed through the Seed Vault wallet app and can be approved using the fingerprint sensor. The Seeker phone does not come pre-installed with SOL (the Saga comes pre-installed with 0.1 SOL), but the Seed Vault wallet app charges a 0.8% fee for swap transactions.

The Solana Mobile dApp Store boasts over 100 dApps, more than Saga's, but many of them are PWA-style shortcuts. Solana Mobile calls September a significant month for the Solana Mobile dApp ecosystem, and we can expect a massive airdrop from Seeker's built-in apps in September.

Hardware:

The Seeker feels good to hold and is durable, with a simple overall design. Weighing just 192 grams, it's over 20% lighter than the previous-generation Saga (247 grams). However, the phone is thicker overall, similar in thickness to the iPhone 8/9. Furthermore, the Seeker's camera may not be comparable to an iPhone's, but most people don't buy it for photography. Some users did notice a slight warming after extended use (a common issue with most phones and can be ignored). Overall, the battery life and display are noticeable upgrades over the Saga.

For more differences from Saga, please refer to: Solana's new mobile phone Seeker is unveiled. Can it make a profit through airdrops this time?

From Saga to Seeker, what has Solana Mobile done?

When it comes to crypto phones, you might have come across phones from Aptos or other projects, but they generally received poor reviews. The previous generation Saga phone, officially released in 2023 at $1,000, initially received poor reviews, but was later reduced to $599. The real turning point came when the project announced an airdrop for Saga phone users , with the value of the airdrop fully covering the cost (even at the early purchase price of $1,000). Consequently, when Seeker launched, more people tried to purchase the phone through pre-sales and public sales, which of course resulted in many people failing to successfully purchase a Seeker.

From Saga to Seeker, the Solana Mobile team combined the feedback from Saga usage and made significant optimizations to Seeker:

Improved usability and security

Phone appearance: For many users, they still prefer their iPhones and use Saga or Seeker as a secondary encryption device, so Saga is designed to be smaller, lighter, and brighter for easier transactions;

Improved security: Seeker's Seed Vault (which stores and locks users' private keys so that neither applications nor the operating system can access them, providing the security users expect from a hardware wallet) is just as secure and easier to use than Saga.

Mobile apps and transactions

More crypto-native: Seeker simplifies the transaction signing process and connection process, making it more crypto-native on mobile phones;

Seeker Mobile App: Provides support to all teams working on new products and features, including inclusion of reviewed apps in the Seeker App Store and incentives for their teams.

Precise positioning: The delivery range covers more countries than Saga;

Better incentive mechanism, the native token SKR

Seeker will also launch its native token, SKR, the second official token from Solana Labs following the launch of SOL. Most users have already received Seeker tokens, and the SKR TGE is expected to begin soon. SKR aims to drive economic development, incentives, and ownership within the Solana ecosystem, with tokens issued directly to builders and users. Emmett from the Solana Mobile team stated in an interview that the idea for SKR was based on "the need for a native token to achieve better incentives and long-term growth for the Solana Mobile ecosystem." However, SKR's launch is currently only confirmed, and everything depends on Seeker having a critical mass of users and developers.

Currently, SKR has no release date, nor is there information on the total token supply or economic model. Emmett expressed his confidence in SKR: All he can reveal is that the team will prioritize staking in the design of the token economics to ensure network security, and a white paper on SKR will be released soon. The SKR token will not compete with SOL and will not require capital to continue building the physical Solana Mobile. The aforementioned Genesis NFT may also receive a share of SKR in the future, so it must be minted.

Future Opportunities with Solana Mobile

Regarding Seeker's wealth effect, people should pay more attention to the value and share of project airdrops, including Phantom, Jupiter, and other projects that will airdrop to Seeker users. For more details, please refer to: " 8 Projects Confirmed Airdrops, Solana Saga Second Generation Phone Performance and Buying Guide "

Solana has a background in new technologies and innovation, so I'm particularly interested in the new apps that might appear on the Solana Mobile app, which could potentially generate significant wealth. Officials have been emphasizing that Seeker Season, Solana's major event for September, will be the inclusion of new innovations on the Seeker App Store. Many development teams have already applied to join. Seeker Season will select one project each week for inclusion on the Solana Mobile App Store, and initially, this project will be exclusive to Solana Mobile. (Future plans include partnerships with other phone manufacturers to provide distribution channels for their devices.)

In terms of cost, Solana is also relatively user-friendly. Good crypto projects will be included in the App Store completely free of charge (in contrast, apps entering the Apple Store require a certain fee, such as US$99/year).

Emmett mentioned the future: "In the next two years, we need to have at least one phone that is not made by us and can run this platform. It may be a phone of a brand that you already own, and you can access all the high-quality applications developed by this platform and make transactions very easily and securely. At present, Seeker still has a way to go. And I spend much more time with other hardware partners than I spend discussing our next phone."

As mentioned above, Solana Mobile is committed to seamless transactions. With a relaxed regulatory environment, Solana Mobile may be a good medium for crypto adoption in the future. Just like shopping online on Amazon, holding a mobile device with more transaction advantages has greater potential than sitting in front of a computer desk.

Over the next decade, the Solana Mobile team’s vision is to bring the mobile version of Solana to any smart device (perhaps not necessarily a mobile phone?).

At present, Solana Mobile's vision is too grand and needs time to mature. For now, the focus should still be on the projects that come out of the Solana Mobile Hackathon . Odaily will provide you with a project introduction as soon as it is announced.