Finney Is A Blockchain-Powered Smartphone For Cryptocurrency Enthusiasts
Smartphones, over the years, have become quite stagnant. We see a similar design, specifications and features in the majority of phones. That doesn’t mean there is no innovation, Huawei launched the P20 Pro with a triple-camera setup while Vivo launched the first-ever smartphone with an in-display fingerprint sensor. However, in October, we won’t see a launch of an engineering marvel but, a rather quirky smartphone to say the least. Sirin Labs, the Switzerland-based firm will launch the first-ever blockchain smartphone.
In September 2017, the company unveiled a blockchain-powered smartphone and PC for cryptocurrency nerds. These devices would act as secure wallets for all the cryptocurrency wealth the user possesses. Now, the company has roped in Foxconn to manufacture the smartphone. Interestingly, Foxconn is the same firm that manufactures the iPhones for Apple.
Sirin Labs has conceded that it plans on launching the Finney in October 2018. The company has already received 25000 pre-orders and hopes to sell between 100,000 and a few million units in 2018. A rather ambitious number, we must say. According to Sirin Labs, the company has plans to further launch blockchain-powered smartphones in an association with other OEMs. The company is already in talks with Huawei, world’s third largest smartphone maker.
Finney Phone
The Finney phone will retail for a price of US$ 999 (Rs 65000 approx.) or about 0.15 Bitcoin. The smartphone will be readily available to buy at physical stores in eight cities where cryptocurrency is currently striving, in countries like Vietnam and Turkey. This means that the chances of the smartphone launching in India are slim.
According to a report by Bloomberg, the smartphone will have a physical switch will activate coin-related services. Additionally, it will have a feature similar to Apple Key wherein users will be able to secure the devices with an iris scan, fingerprint, or a simple password. This feature will be useful for people who have multiple wallets with different passwords. The Finney will run on open source Android-based Sirin OS. Interestingly, users will be able to earn tokens by sharing their mobile data connection with people around them.
The specifications mentioned on the company’s website include a 5.5 inch display, 64GB of onboard storage coupled with 6GB of RAM. The device will also sport a 12MP rear-facing camera and a 13MP front camera. The website also has a small asterisk next to the specs which mean these are not the final specifications.
Last year when Samsung launched the W-2018 flip smartphone, we iterated that it was a device for a very specific audience. The Finney phone takes that to another level because not a lot of people would shell out a thousand dollars for this smartphone.
