It’s been two weeks because the worldwide launch of the Solana Seeker, the successor to the Solana Saga. About 150,000 folks have begun receiving their telephones within the mail, and their critiques are trickling in.
As a common telephone, the Seeker might not flip heads. It’s measurably slower, and most reviewers say the digicam is a far cry from flagship gadgets just like the Samsung S25 Extremely or the iPhone 16 Professional.
As a crypto telephone, the jury’s nonetheless out. The Seeker is arguably miles forward of anything as a consequence of its “Seed Vault,” which permits customers to securely retailer their Solana property.
However there are just a few apps that assist this, and the juicy airdrops that turned the Solana Saga into an in a single day success are noticeably missing for the Seeker.
However issues are set to alter shortly and for the higher in September with “Seeker Season,” which brings a raft of latest apps, experiences and advantages for Solana Seeker homeowners.
So, is the Solana Seeker a very good telephone? Is it a very good crypto telephone?
Over the previous week, I’ve gathered on-line critiques and reactions to the Solana Seeker whereas conducting my very own checks to reply that query.
Solana Seeker evaluation: How does it carry out as a telephone?
The Seeker is unlikely to blow the socks off tech reviewers like Marques Brownlee, who referred to as the Solana Saga the “bust of the yr” in 2023.
On the time, Brownlee slammed the telephone’s subpar digicam, buggy software program, inconsistent fingerprint scanner and jaunty price ticket.
“This turns into the proper embodiment of crypto in 2023, at greatest, forward of its time. At worst, fully ineffective to most on a regular basis folks and offers no matter else goes to comply with it a good tougher uphill battle,” he stated on the time.
Two years later, now we have the Solana Seeker in our palms. Whereas there are components of it which are truly worse than the Saga on paper, I didn’t discover this impacting my expertise. There are additionally a number of locations the place the Seeker will get it very proper.
Its inner storage has shrunk from 512 gigabytes to simply 128 GB, reminiscence has gone from 12 GB to simply 8 GB of RAM, and its processor — the Mediatek Dimensity 7300 — barely loses out in opposition to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, which was used within the older Saga.
This wasn’t an issue in my playtesting, which included a spherical of battle royale shooter PUBG Cell and some chapters of The Strolling Lifeless: No Man’s Land, a turn-based technique recreation. Nevertheless, benchmarking checks point out the telephone may have hassle with AAA recreation graphics.
Then again, the digicam, as soon as a ache level for the Solana Saga, has vastly improved, going from a 50MP major digicam to 108MP with optical picture stabilization. The selfie digicam has additionally been upgraded from 16MP to 32MP.
One reviewer, YouTuber Cryptocomix, gave the digicam a 1/10, and in one other video stated, “The digicam on this factor is fairly tough, however Androids are at all times like that.”
Different critiques stated the digicam is “unlikely to win any awards,” but it surely was “consistent with what you’d anticipate from a mid-range Android Cellphone,” whereas one other evaluation referred to as it “good however not spectacular.”
In testing, I discovered the digicam on par or barely higher than my outdated iPhone 13 Professional, the flagship digicam from simply three years in the past, which is greater than sufficient except you’re a telephone pictures snob. Nevertheless, the distinction in high quality is noticeable once I put it subsequent to my pal’s new Samsung telephone.
Battery-wise, the Solana Seeker boasts a decently massive capability battery that may take round two days of reasonable use (in my testing).
It’s additionally cheaper than the Saga at simply $500, is smaller and weighs much less, whereas its show has a barely larger decision than its predecessor.
Learn additionally
Options
May a monetary disaster finish crypto’s bull run?
Options
Physician Who materializes in Web3: Tony Pearce’s journey in time and area
Solana Seeker: Is it at the very least a very good crypto telephone?
This can be a sophisticated one, so I’ll put it this manner: The Solana Seeker has all of the elements to be nice — type of like crypto — however nobody’s found out the killer recipe but.
One in all these elements is the “Seed Vault,” which makes a return from the Saga.
“Seed Vault” is their catchy title for the {hardware} pockets constructed straight into the telephone, which will be accessed with consumer biometrics. Because of a “Trusted Execution Surroundings,” this seed vault is remoted from the gadget’s fundamental processor, which means hackers theoretically can’t get into it.
It’s arguably the one crypto-centric a part of the gadget that may’t be copied with software program, which units it aside from anything on the market as we speak.
“While you approve a transaction, the signing request and approval are facilitated solely by this safe setting. Your personal keys by no means depart this remoted {hardware}, and the primary working system by no means sees them,” explains Emmett Hollyer, Solana Cell’s common supervisor.
“This is similar kind of safe {hardware} that protects cellular funds and biometric information in flagship smartphones,” he provides.
From a consumer perspective, this implies they’ll really feel a bit safer storing crypto on their gadgets, and because of the Seeker’s thumbprint scanner, they’ll now execute transactions simply by a fast repositioning of their finger.
Carefully tied to all of that is the Seeker Genesis Token and Seeker Pockets.
The Seeker Genesis Token is a novel soulbound non-fungible token that’s linked to each particular person Seeker telephone and is claimed as soon as a consumer units up their telephone for the primary time. It’s key to proving you’re a Seeker proprietor and is supposed to unlock distinctive perks and rewards sooner or later.
This Seeker Genesis Token can also be what provides customers their very own distinctive Seeker Pockets handle, like “Anatoly.skr,” for instance. New Seeker homeowners might be prompted to set this up once they activate their gadgets for the primary time, and the method is refreshingly fast and straightforward.
Sadly, that is the place the new-tech awe all of a sudden stops.
Solana DApp retailer, a piece in progress
The Solana Seeker is presently let down by its decentralized app retailer, referred to as the “dApp Retailer” — one of many telephone’s huge promoting factors.
Hollyer says loads of enhancements are coming down the road in September as extra folks get their palms on their orders.
Solana Seeker’s app retailer is marketed like Solana’s model of Google Play or Apple’s App Retailer. It options apps constructed on the Solana blockchain and optimized particularly for Solana Cell customers, sans the predatory 30% dev tax.
Nevertheless, whereas the Solana DApp retailer has a powerful 141 apps on supply, spanning buying and selling, NFTs, DePIN and extra, many Seeker customers discover some apps don’t work, notably with Google logins.
Many additionally don’t presently assist the Seeker Pockets, forcing customers to undergo e mail registration, which feels outdated as compared.
I analyzed over 110 apps on the Solana DApp retailer, discovering that solely round 67 have been up to date someday in 2025, and solely 24 of them have been up to date this month.
In testing, some apps don’t seem to have any actual performance or are shortcuts to the Courageous browser. One app, which claims to pay customers with crypto to coach AI, returned an error message after I spent quarter-hour arduously tagging a photograph to coach the AI mannequin, which means I didn’t earn any rewards.
The Moonwalk Health app, which rewards customers with crypto for hitting step targets, failed to connect with my health tracker and, as of as we speak, is now perpetually caught within the login display screen.
Author’s replace: I’ve since discovered that there’s a momentary situation with utilizing Courageous because the default browser, which presently has points with the cellular pockets adapter (which is what’s used to attach apps to the Seed Vault).
There have been, in fact, many apps that labored wonderful. Phantom, a Solana pockets app, has the very best variety of critiques on the app retailer, scoring a sturdy 4.9 stars. Jupiter Cell (a DeFi and pockets app) and Marinade Finance (a liquid staking platform app) have been reportedly additionally working properly (however didn’t in my testing).
I attempted Sweet AI, which permits customers to create distinctive AI-generated movies from prompts and mint them as NFTs. It helps the Seeker pockets and was enjoyable and straightforward to make use of. HIO Music, a social streaming platform, was additionally a well-polished expertise.
Hollyer says he expects the tempo of growth to “improve quickly” now that gadgets are beginning to get into folks’s palms.
“The true acceleration occurs now that gadgets are transport. Builders can lastly construct for a significant consumer base moderately than a theoretical one.”
Hollyer additionally factors to Seeker Season, a program they plan to launch in September, introducing new DApps and experiences weekly.
It comes after a month-long Solana Cell Hackathon, which introduced $100,000 in prizes for initiatives to construct for the Solana Seeker, operating from July 1 till August 4.
So, perhaps the apps aren’t right here but, however at the very least you’ll make some cashback with airdrops, proper? Nicely, I’ve some unhealthy information for you there, too.
Are there Solana Seeker airdrops?
Sure, however not for those who simply purchased it.
In case you hope to make a fast buck from airdrops, suppose once more. Solana Seeker is noticeably naked on this division, although this might change shortly with Seeker Season.
In keeping with Two Loot, the mixed worth of airdrops aimed toward Solana Seeker holders is about $139.72, however you need to have pre-ordered at the very least earlier than April 1, 2024, to be eligible for the most important one (MEW). There have been no new airdrops because the telephone was launched on August 4.
It’s an enormous distinction from the Solana Saga days, when every holder may declare 30 million BONK tokens per telephone (amongst different airdrops), price round $1,400 at its peak worth. The Saga went from flagging gross sales to fully promoting out in just some days.
“Airdrops have been positively a part of Saga’s story, however I believe that narrative misses the larger image, which is that the Solana group found the worth of being a part of an unique ecosystem and organically created methods to pursue that,” Hollyer tells Journal.
Hollyer says that for the Solana Seeker, this idea has been inbuilt with the Seeker Genesis Token and the SKR economic system.
The SKR is the brand new native asset of the Solana Cell economic system, however not a lot is thought about it apart from that it’s going to “energy economic system, incentives and possession throughout the ecosystem.”
“It’s an evolution of the natural patterns we noticed on Saga, one which goes past airdrops in direction of an entire economic system.”
“SKR might be a vital aspect of the Solana Cell economic system, and there might be extra particulars forthcoming quickly,” Hollyer provides.
Ultimate verdict: Shopping for the Solana Seeker is a guess on good issues to come back
The Solana Seeker improves from its predecessor however continues to be measurably worse than as we speak’s flagship telephones: It’s slower and buggy, and the digicam most likely gained’t assist you win any Pulitzer prizes. In the meantime, the Seed Vault and companion Seeker Pockets aren’t doing a lot with out app assist.
However let’s be actual: You’re not in crypto since you’re impressed with what it could actually do now.
So, for those who’re a Solana consumer with spare money or in search of a crypto-first telephone that may do all of it decently properly for $500, it’s a no brainer: You need to think about one.
“Proper now, we’re centered on getting all 150,000+ gadgets into folks’s palms. We predict our customers might be very excited with what we’ve received deliberate,” says Hollyer.
Subscribe
Probably the most partaking reads in blockchain. Delivered as soon as a
week.
Felix Ng
Felix Ng first started writing concerning the blockchain business by the lens of a playing business journalist and editor in 2015. He has since moved into masking the blockchain area full-time. He’s most desirous about modern blockchain expertise aimed toward fixing real-world challenges.