Solana's new mobile phone Seeker is launched. Can it make a profit through airdrops?

Original title: "Solana's new phone Seeker is unveiled. Can it make back its investment through airdrops this time?"

Original author: Golem, Odaily Planet Daily

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 devices developed by the company after the first generation web3 phone Saga. At the beginning of this year, Seeker started pre-sale in the form of 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 disclosing specific information about 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 of mobile phones.

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 the Saga phone that are worth buying? From the perspective of airdrops, if you buy it now, can you expect to get your money back through airdrops?

This article briefly introduces the specific details of the Seeker phone, and counts the airdrop value received by previous Solana phone pre-orderers, hoping to provide a reference for readers' purchase decisions.

Main features of Seeker phone

Hardware: better camera, but smaller storage space

According to public information, in terms of hardware, the Saga phone is equipped with a flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and a 4110 mAh battery; it has 512 GB of storage space and 12 GB 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 hardware of the Seeker phone, the changes are as follows:

· The storage space is smaller. Seeker has 128 GB of storage space and 8 GB 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 phone;

· Camera pixel upgrade, Seeker is also equipped with two cameras, 108 million pixels and 32 million pixels respectively, and the camera performance is better than the first generation of mobile phones

At the same time, according to the official description, Seeker battery performance will be better than the first generation Saga, but no data on 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 Seeker. Its natively integrated hardware Seed Vault enables 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: Adds Reward Tracker Feature

The Solana dApp Store has added a Reward Tracker feature to track and display all of a user’s rewards in a simplified and clear way, and has updated the navigation to improve dApp exploration capabilities, covering areas such as payments, DeFi, DePIN, NFTs, 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 a VIP pass for users to unlock rewards, access, and content in the Solana ecosystem. In the meantime, you can still get Chapter 2 pre-order tokens by pre-ordering a Seeker now.

Integrating 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 4000 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.

Airdrop value received by Solana phone pre-orderers

The airdrop appreciation for Solana's first-generation Web3 smartphone Saga can not only cover the purchase cost but also make a profit if sold at the right time. Therefore, in order to win airdrops, the pre-order volume of Solana Chapter 2 far exceeds that of the first-generation phone Saga. The following statistics show the main airdrop projects and airdrop values for the first-generation phone Saga and Chapter 2:

As shown above, for the first-generation phone Saga users, the airdrop value is indeed quite generous. Even the early users who spent $1,000 to buy the phone (Saga's price dropped to $599 in August 2023) can easily cover the purchase cost with the airdrop value they received. If the time of selling is right, there will even be a lot of profit space.

For Chapter 2 pre-orderers, it is more difficult for the airdrop value to cover the purchase cost or make a profit 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?

To sum up, from the perspective of airdrops, even if the purchase cost of Chapter 2 is reduced, the difficulty of making a profit 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. There are more people sharing the cake, and each person can naturally get less share.

Solana continues to develop hardware products, perhaps with the goal of becoming the Apple in the crypto field and building its own hardware and software ecosystem. However, considering 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 attention to Solana's hardware products.

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