On Thursday (29 November 2018), startup SIRIN Labs, which first announced its plans in September 2017, launched FINNEY, the world’s first “blockchain smartphone”.

In this article, we try to give you everything you need to know to decide if this should be your next phone.

Here is what we have learned from today’s launch event, which was held in Barcelona, and the company’s press release, about this revolutionary new phone:

  • The phone will be built by Foxconn International Holding (which also manufactures the iPhone).
  • In addition to a distribution partnership with Amazon, the phone will be distributed by various regional distributors (initially, UK, Ukraine, Germany, Turkey, and Israel).
  • The phone costs $999 (available now from the company’s website; available via Amazon Launchpad from January 2019).
  • “Pre-sale is now open for SRN token holders on SIRIN LABS website for those who want to have their FINNEY shipped first. Later on SIRIN LABS website will offer additional channels of payments, including credit card.”
  • SIRIN Labs is opening its first two flagship concept stores in London (in December 2018) and Tokyo (January 2019).
  • An AI-based 24/7 security model called Behavioural based Intrusion Prevention System (IPS).
  • Physical security switch (for wallet protection). 
  • Runs on SIRIN OS (a Google-certified extension of Google’s Android OS).
  • FINNEY is only the first device to run SIRIN OS.
  • Embedded fully separate cold storage wallet to make sure your private keys are safe.
  • Built-in Decentralized Application Center (dCENTER). This “offers a marketplace for DApps (decentralized applications) as well as an incentivised learning center.”
  • Built-in Token Conversion Service (TCS). This “enables the seamless and automatic exchange between supported tokens and coins, eliminating the need to visit external exchanges”.
  • “Rates are “determined by collecting token’s market value across multiple major liquidity providers, that will then provide users with the most competitive rate automatically.”
  • “Ethereum and Bitcoin blockchain networks congestion levels define the speed of a transaction.” 
  • “SIRIN OS algorithm will calculate the optimal network fee to offer in order to provide the best speed at the lowest rate.”
  • “At launch TCS will support ETH, BTC, and SRN.”
  • The most interesting and unique feature of the phone is the Safe Screen with its sliding design; when you slide out this separate small screen, you activate the cold storage wallet. The Safe Screen’s “separate power switch is how users will be able to access their wallet.” Also, the Safe Screen is “able to allow users to independently verify that FINNEY wallet transactions include the correct amount, the correct currency, and are being sent to the correct address,” thereby “enabling users to verify that they’re not being tricked by malware or hackers looking to steal and send their cryptocurrencies or tokens to a fraudulent third party.”

Moshe Hogeg, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of SIRIN Labs, said:

“It is with great pleasure that we’re today unveiling to the world the first blockchain smartphone, brought to you by one ambitious startup that was able to bring an idea to mass production in less than a year. We’re now proudly selling a flagship device that offers the user experience we have envisioned for our SIRIN OS. We’re taking a huge step forward in bridging the gap between the blockchain economy and the consumer market. Finney is the mobile and truly secure experience crypto holders have been longing for.”

Kenes Rakishev, Chairman of Sirin Labs, stated:

“In an increasingly insecure digital world, where hackers in all corners of the globe are out to steal whatever they can, consumers need a product that gives them confidence their data is safe. With no solution available until now, many crypto users took a step back to a more primitive time and were using pen and paper to record their private key code. This and other ‘cold storage’ solutions are impenetrable to hacks but are also totally impractical for modern living. Finney is unique and is the only phone with an embedded cold storage wallet. There is nothing else like it on the market.”

 

Featured Image Courtesy of SIRIN Labs