OSOM and Nothing have shortly develop into two of probably the most fascinating corporations working the smartphone area in recent times. Nothing is the newest mission from OnePlus cofounder, Carl Pei, whereas OSOM is basically composed of former Important workers trying to launch their very own personal factor within the wake the corporate’s messy dissolution. That Pei bought Important’s IP felt like one other good cosmic connection between the 2.
Fittingly, each younger {hardware} startups are making information this week, although these bulletins have solely highlighted how in another way their paths have diverged. There was, in any case, by no means a straightforward time to launch a smartphone, however a spate of exterior forces amid chip shortages and provide chain shutdowns have additional raised the barrier of entry. For Nothing, which means being selective about launch markets and adopting a OnePlus-style invite system.
For OSOM, alternatively, it’s a serious pivot for the corporate’s debut handset. The OV1 is changing into the web3-focused Android handset, Saga. The rebranding drops OSOM’s title from the product, which, as Jacquelyn notes, is being launched by Solana Cell, a subsidiary of blockchain/crypto startup, Solana Labs.
“OSOM is extremely excited to accomplice with Solana in constructing the Saga,” OSOM founder and CEO, Jason Keats, mentioned in a remark provided to TechCrunch. “The world wants novel {hardware} corporations to assist the long run that’s Web3. Constructing out an ecosystem that appears to the long run with out being burdened by previous legacy ecosystems is vastly thrilling.”
Solana Saga Entrance (PRNewsfoto/Solana Cell)
The corporate will not remark additional, solely promising extra updates quickly.
OSOM has up to now been positioning itself as a privacy-first {hardware} maker. Keats told TechCrunch, earlier this 12 months, “We’re constructing a whole answer to privateness. We wish to construct gadgets and software program and providers that facilitate particular person consumer privateness. And that might be so simple as integrating our software program companions into our {hardware} to offer them an actual base for them to work, fairly than simply downloading their app from an app retailer. We will set up it on a system degree.”
What this implies for OSOM stays to be seen. What it means for the Saga (nee OV1) is one other delay. Earlier this 12 months, the corporate pushed the launch from Q3 to This fall, owing to its want to make the most of the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon chip. Right this moment’s announcement finds issues pushed again to “early-2023,” although pre-orders opened up as we speak. A fast spec rundown appears to be like promising, together with a 6.67inch OLED show, 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The businesses are taking pictures for a ~$1,000 price ticket – a change from the “nicely below $1,000” Keats instructed me earlier this 12 months.
The important thing to the system is the “Solana Mobile Stack (SMS),” which makes use of safety features baked into the Qualcomm chip. In response to the corporate, SMS,
[P]rovides a brand new set of libraries for wallets and apps, permitting builders to create wealthy cellular experiences on Solana, the world’s most performant blockchain, and is constructed to run alongside Android. The SDK gives libraries and programming interfaces for Android apps and safe key personal storage, simplifying the developer expertise to construct and lengthen dApps performance for Solana.
An SDK for the service is open to builders beginning as we speak.
“Builders have been blocked for too lengthy from creating actually decentralized cellular apps as a result of the prevailing gatekeeper mannequin simply doesn’t work anymore,” Solana cofounder, Anatoly Yakovenko, mentioned in a launch. “We dwell our lives on our cellular gadgets – apart from web3 as a result of there hasn’t been a mobile-centric method to non-public key administration. The Solana Cell Stack reveals a brand new path ahead on Solana that’s open supply, safe, optimized for web3, and simple to make use of.”
This isn’t the primary system trying to present a blockchain/crypo-focused expertise. HTC tried its personal cellular pivot again in 2018, with the launch of Exodus. The Taiwanese {hardware} maker has since set its sights on a metaverse-focused handset.
