HTC first teased its Exodus blockchain phone earlier this year, and now you can pre-order one of your very own.
The HTC Exodus 1 is now available for pre-order, but buying this blockchain phone is a bit different than purchasing your typical device. If you want to pre-order the Exodus 1, you'll need to pay using cryptocurrency. HTC is asking 0.15 BTC or 4.78 ETH for its Exodus 1, which works out to around $950 USD as of this post. The phone will begin shipping in December.
When it comes to features, the highlight of the HTC Exodus 1 is its secure enclave. This can be used to hold the keys to your cryptocurrency and tokens, and the area is "protected from the Android OS," says HTC. The phone also features a social key recovery tool in case your phone is lost. With it, you can select friends who can keep your recovery details. These people must download a key management app and then utilize a secret sharing algorithm from HTC to piece together the information you need to recover your info.
The spec list of the HTC Exodus 1 looks a lot like the HTC U12+ that launched earlier this year. There's a 6-inch Quad HD+ display, Snapdragon 845 processor, 6GB of RAM, and 128GB of built-in storage. There are four cameras, too, with 12MP and 16MP rear sensors and two 8MP front-facing cameras. HTC has included IP68 water resistance, too, along with its special features like BoomSound and Edge Sense 2. Android Oreo comes preloaded.
HTC previously teased that its blockchain phones could act as nodes for cryptocurrency trading between users, but it doesn't sound like any of that is available right now. Still, if you're a big cryptocurrency fan, it could be exciting to see a crypto-focused device with a secure enclave and the ability to pay with Bitcoin or Ethereum.