Crypto Journalist Reviews Saga; Solana Back Into Prominence

• Solana Labs has begun rolling out its Saga mobile phone to pre-order customers.
• Journalist Jeff Benson recently reviewed Saga and found that the selection of Solana dApps was underwhelming.
• However, Benson acknowledged that the Saga was a new platform, and developers still needed to build on it.

Solana Labs has finally rolled out its Saga mobile phone to pre-order customers. The $1,000 Android phone, equipped with the latest technology, boasts a unique selling point: it is crypto-ready.

Renowned crypto and web3 journalist Jeff Benson had the privilege of reviewing Saga for a week and shared his thoughts about the crypto-ready phone in a detailed review. While Benson acknowledged that Saga worked well as a phone, he found the selection of Solana dApps underwhelming. Benson also reported experiencing “security fatigue” due to the multiple authentication steps required for most transactions.

Solana Saga offers access to the Solana dApp Store, where users can explore a range of web3 applications. It’s preloaded with 20 USDC and 0.01 SOL, along with 14 dApps, including Jupiter, Minty Fresh, TIEXO, Ledger Live, and Audius. Benson found the selection of Solana dApps underwhelming but acknowledged that the Saga was a new platform and developers still needed to build on it.

While Saga’s security features were thorough, with a circular, sunken fingerprint sensor on the back of the phone, Benson noted that the Seed Vault is “not quite a wallet” but works with Solana wallet and the Android OS, both restricting either “direct access to secrets.” Benson also reviewed the Phantom wallet, the most popular Solana wallet, and noted some integration issues with other apps. He said:

The app kept ghosting me, freezing up as I tried to press buttons and forcing me to close it out and reopen it.

Nevertheless, Benson concluded that the phone gives developers a solid starting point for building the network back into prominence.