Oh man, I think we’re going to have to revisit the previous promise we made with OSOM’s first phone, formerly called OV1. Back in December, I said that if the privacy-focused OV1 was launched with the word “crypto” anywhere near it, we would never talk about it again. Well guys, it’s a crypto phone. Damn it, dude.

The OSOM Phone was fully unveiled today and is now known as the Solana Saga, a phone released by the web3 company called Solana Labs but definitely made by OSOM. OSOM also confirmed to me that Saga is indeed OV1.

Solana Saga’s slogan at the moment is: “It’s time for cryptocurrencies to go mobile” and that it is “a flagship Android device purpose-built for cryptocurrencies.” In addition, Saga is “tightly integrated with the Solana blockchain, making it easy and secure to transact on web3 and manage digital assets such as tokens and NFTs.”

If we try to get away from this association, here is what we know about Solana Saga. The phone will cost $1,000, and you can reserve it now with a fully refundable $100 deposit (but you’ll need a Solana crypto wallet for that). The phone is expected to go on sale around the first quarter of 2023 and will initially launch in the US, Canada, the EU and the UK.

In terms of specs, it has all the merchandise, which is probably why we’re still talking about it. Solana Saga features Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, 512GB storage, 12GB RAM, 6.55″ FHD 120Hz AMOLED display, 4100mAh battery with wireless charging, Bluetooth 5.0, WiFi 6, rear fingerprint sensor , 16-megapixel selfie camera and dual camera. The dual camera setup consists of a 50MP (IMX766, f/1.8) main sensor and a 12MP (IMX373, f/2.2, 120° FOV) ultra wide-angle lens. The dimensions of the phone are 166.2mm x 75.9mm x 7.9mm and the weight is about 195g.

Note. The specifications above were taken from the OSOM site here. However, during the phone’s launch press conference, Solana showed a slide stating that the device had a 6.67-inch display. We will try to confirm all specifications.

OSOM sent us the following quote about Saga from their CEO Jason Keats:

“OSOM is incredibly excited to partner with Solana on Saga. The world needs new hardware vendors to support the future that is Web3. Creating an ecosystem that looks to the future without being burdened by past legacy ecosystems is extremely exciting,” says Jason Keats, founder and CEO of OSOM Products Inc.

If you’re interested in buying it, Solana says orders “will be a priority for developers to test the Solana Mobile Stack and Saga.” I hope that those of us who are not interested in the world of crypto or are not a developer will just be able to buy it at some point. After all, it looks like a high-end security Android phone that will be a good daily driver.

I would also like to point out that this is being built by the Essential team and we know how good they are at hardware design and software support. They made big promises about the camera for this phone and learned a lot from the failures of the first Essential phone. We were looking forward to the appearance of this device, even if now it has a cryptographic focus. It might still be worth exploring because of who builds it, unless Solana, who runs the show, changes too much.

Ugh.