Original | Odaily Planet Daily (@OdailyChina)
Author: Golem (@web3_golem)
On September 19, Solana Mobile, a subsidiary of Solana Labs, officially announced the new web3 smartphone Seeker, which is the second generation of web3 smartphone developed by the company after the first generation web3 phone Saga. Earlier this year, Seeker started pre-sale under the code name "Chapter 2", and according to official announcements, pre-sales have exceeded 140,000 units.
Previously, the main reason why Chapter 2 was able to complete a large number of pre-sale orders without revealing the specific information of the device was that the airdrop appreciation of the first-generation web3 phone Saga by the Solana chain project far exceeded the purchase cost. Therefore, people have similar expectations for the second-generation phone.
It is reported that the early bird pre-sale price of $450 for Seeker will end on September 21. With the release of the specific details of the Seeker phone, what are the highlights of its device functions compared with the first generation of Saga phones that are worth buying? From the perspective of airdrops, if you buy now, can you expect to get your money back through airdrops?
Odaily Planet Daily will briefly introduce the specific details of the Seeker phone in this article, and count the airdrop value received by previous Solana phone pre-orderers, hoping to provide a reference for readers' purchasing decisions.
Seeker Phone Main Features
Hardware: Better cameras, but less storage space
According to public information, in terms of hardware, the Saga phone is equipped with a flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 processor and a 4110mAh battery; it has 512GB of storage space, 12GB of memory; a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen; two cameras, 50 million pixels and 12 million pixels respectively; and a fingerprint unlocking function.
According to the official Seeker phone hardware released so far, the changes are:
The storage space is smaller. Seeker has 128GB of storage space and 8GB of memory, which is far less than the first generation phone Saga;
The screen size is smaller. Seeker is equipped with a 6.36-inch AMOLED screen, which is better and lighter than the first generation of mobile phones;
The camera pixel is improved. Seeker is also equipped with two cameras, 108 million pixels and 32 million pixels respectively. The camera performance is better than the first generation of mobile phones.
At the same time, according to the official description, the Seeker battery performance will be better than the first-generation Saga, but no relevant data about the Seeker battery has been released yet.
Seed Vault Wallet: Wallet User Experience Upgrade
Seed Vault Wallet is a mobile-first crypto wallet built specifically for Solana Seekers. It natively integrates the hardware Seed Vault to achieve seamless self-custody, supports fingerprint unlocking and double-click to send transactions, and users can get a smoother and upgraded user experience.
Solana dApp Store 2.0: Adding Rewards Tracker Feature
Solana dApp Store has added a reward tracker feature to track and display all user rewards in a simplified and clear way, and updated the navigation to improve dApp exploration capabilities, covering payment, DeFi, DePIN, NFT, and games. At the same time, Seeker exclusive dApp products will be launched in the future.
Get extra Seeker Genesis Tokens
Each Solana Seeker comes with a soul-bound Seeker Genesis Token, which is the user’s VIP pass to unlock rewards, access, and content within the Solana ecosystem. Meanwhile, pre-ordering a Seeker now still earns you Chapter 2 pre-order tokens.
Integrated AI
Seeker users can use Alethea AI to generate tokenized AI agents (new or familiar faces) that can interact with the Solana community on-chain or in the app, unlocking new ways to engage and earn money.
Airship: Making airdrops cheaper
Helius launched Airship, a ZK compression tool that makes airdrops 4,000 times cheaper. Previously, airdrops to the Solana Mobile pre-order community cost $40,000, but now only cost $100 and can be automatically airdropped to Chapter 2 pre-order token holders.
Solana Phone Pre-orderers Received Airdrop Value
The airdrop value of Solana's first-generation Web3 smartphone Saga is appreciated. If sold at the right time, it can not only cover the purchase cost but also make a profit. Therefore, out of the desire to win airdrops, the pre-order volume of Solana Chapter 2 far exceeds that of the first-generation phone Saga. The following is a statistics of the main airdrop projects and airdrop values for the first-generation phone Saga and Chapter 2:
As shown in the above figure, for users of the first-generation Saga mobile phone, the airdrop value is indeed quite generous. Even for users who spent $1,000 to buy the phone in the early days (Saga's price was reduced to $599 in August 2023), the airdrop value obtained can easily cover the purchase cost. If the selling time is right, there will even be a lot of profit space.
For Chapter 2 pre-orderers, it is more difficult to cover the purchase cost or make a profit with the airdrop value than the first generation. The airdrops with higher value that Chapter 2 pre-orderers can get are MEW and MANEKI, while the airdrops of other projects are of smaller value. If you want to make a profit or make a profit, you have to sell at the highest point almost every time.
Is Seeker worth buying?
In summary, from the perspective of airdrop, even if the purchase cost of Chapter 2 is reduced, the difficulty of recovering the cost and making a profit has also increased. One of the reasons may be that the competition has increased. The total sales of the first generation of mobile phones Saga is only more than 20,000 units, while the number of pre-orders for Chapter 2 alone has reached 140,000. With more people sharing the cake, each person can naturally get a smaller share.
Solana continues to develop hardware products, perhaps with the goal of becoming the Apple of the crypto space and building its own hardware and software ecosystem. However, combined with the characteristics of Seeker, for users, the focus may be mainly on the reward tracker, Seeker Genesis Token, the new money-making model of AI agents, and the airdrop tool Airship. Perhaps this also reflects a positive signal that Solana officials are also catering to users' potential demand for airdrops and want to make the pie bigger again to attract more people to pay attention to Solana's hardware products.
