HTC reveals €219 Exodus 1s cryptocurrency phone with... Android Oreo

There hasn't been much news from HTC about new phones this year, besides some budget models. The company did confirm earlier this year that it would develop a new version of its 'Exodus' blockchain phone, which was itself a slightly-modified U12+. That new device is finally real, and it's... something.

The main selling point of the Exodus 1s that it's the first phone that can function as a full Bitcoin node, meaning it can verify and perform transactions on-device instead of relying on another service. Of course, there's a catch — you have to buy a big microSD card, because the current Bitcoin ledger (the shared record of all Bitcoin transactions) takes up approximately 260GB, and it continues to grow. On the bright side, 1TB microSD cards exist now. As with the original Exodus, the on-device Zion Wallet can store, send, and receive several different cryptocurrencies.

While the crypto features are neat, the rest of the phone is absolutely embarrassing. The processor is none other than the three year-old Snapdragon 435, paired with the two year-old Android 8.1 Oreo. The rest of the specifications aren't too bad — 4GB RAM, 64GB storage, 3,000mAh battery, etc. — but I'm not sure who besides hardcore crypto people are going to pay €219 (~$244) for a phone with 2017 budget hardware and software.

The Exodus 1s is available for purchase in Europe, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE starting today. You probably shouldn't buy it, though.

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• HTC

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