HTC
made the Exodus 1, a secure phone based on blockchain, available for preorder from its web site.
HTC announced the device earlier this year, but details about the hardware were few.
HTC has now fully revealed the specs for the device, which include a 6-inch quad HD+ display with a 2:1 aspect ratio and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage. A handful of standard HTC features on board, such as BoomSound Hi-Fi speakers, Edge Sense 2 for better one-handed operation, and USonic active noise cancellation headphones.
The Exodus 1 has four cameras. On back you’ll find a 12- and 16-megapixel arrangement with one standard and one telephoto lens. On the front, the Exodus 1 includes a twin 8-megapixel camera setup for portrait / bokeh photos. It captures 4K video with HTC’s Sonic Zoom and Audio Boost sound.
The Exodus 1 boasts a CAT 18 LTE radio with 5-channel carrier aggregation and 4×4 MIMO. Supported LTE bands include 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 12, 13, 17, 20, 28, 32, 38, 39, 40, 41, and 66. The phone has a 3,500mAh battery with rapid charging, is rated IP68 for resistance to dust and water, and runs Android 8 Oreo.
Exodus works with multiple protocols with the intent of interchangeability between blockchains. Each phone will serve as a node to help with decentralization. HTC claims it can double or triple the number of nodes of Dfinity, Ethereum, and Bitcoin. The goal is to provide a way to facilitate cryptocurrency trading.
The phone features a secure enclave, provides a trusted hardware stack with APIs that connect to wallets, and provides owners with their own identity and data stored on the phone, rather than in the cloud.
HTC anticipates it will ship the phone in December to some 34 countries, including the U.S. and much of Europe. Preorders cost 0.15 BTC (Bitcoin) or 4.78 ETH (Ethereum), which are each about $960.
