A traditional company in Hong Kong, Ming Cheng Group, specializing in masonry and bricklaying, has exchanged 4,250 bitcoins in one go using convertible notes and warrants. (Background: The second-generation Solana phone, Seeker, has begun shipping, but requires an additional payment; the new currency $SKR has not yet arrived.) (Supplementary background: The second-generation Solana phone, Seeker, started shipping on August 4, along with the launch of the new currency $SKR and TEEPIN infrastructure.) The second-generation phone Seeker, launched by the public blockchain Solana, started pre-orders at $500 last year. Due to the airdrop frenzy, it has received positive reviews from cryptocurrency users. Users who pre-ordered last year should have already received various token airdrops valued between $10 and over $200 in their Solana wallets. Starting from August 4, the Seeker phone is officially being sent globally. After acquiring the first batch of Seekers, Dongqu has quickly conducted an unboxing to see what noteworthy details are present and to speculate on potential future capabilities. Packaging and Phone Appearance The Solana Seeker uses cardboard packaging, with the outer box made of matte hardened sticker glue, featuring laser engravings of the same size as the phone. Upon opening the first layer, you find the phone; the second layer contains the manual, quick start guide, and mnemonic phrase card; finally, there is the charging cable and a SIM ejector tool, but no charger head is included. The cables are secured with non-adhesive paper, and overall, compared to other phones' unboxing designs, it doesn't offer many surprises, but it isn't bad either. Considering that most users may place the mnemonic phrase card inside the phone box, Dongqu has also paid special attention to the hardness and pressure-resistant design of the phone box. The lid has been specially reinforced. Over the years, using the original box to store the mnemonic phrase card shouldn't pose too much of a problem, but users should be reminded that the mnemonic phrase card should be backed up in a secure manner in multiple locations to avoid property loss. Unboxing Experience Appearance Design The overall design is quite simple, with a 93% AMOLED 120hz screen on the front. There are only volume buttons on the left, while the right side features a fingerprint power button combined. The top has only a microphone, and the bottom includes a SIM card slot, charging port, and speaker port, with support for eSIM as well. Processor Performance The Solana Seeker uses the MediaTek Dimensity 7300 official processor, with a maximum frequency of 2.5 GHz. The AnTuTu score is 190,838, slightly lower than the flagship Qualcomm 865 from 2020 by about 10%. The GPU is Mali G615 MC2, with scores of 69,486 and 80,060 in two Vulkan scenarios. However, the Dimensity 7300 has made many improvements in decoding functionality and power efficiency compared to its predecessor. Memory The memory consists of 8GB RAM + 128GB storage, with the actual system occupying about 16GB, leaving approximately 112GB available. Playing some large games may be a bit tight. Screen Based on the system information, the Solana Seeker is equipped with a 2670x1200 AMOLED screen, supporting 1~120hz. In practice, under normal menu operations, it mostly runs at 120hz, while in power-saving mode, it automatically drops to 60hz. No similar standby display time functions were found, so it is presumed that 1hz cannot be activated. Additionally, at brightness levels below 50%, obvious PWM dimming can be filmed with a second phone, so users playing in the dark need to be cautious. In some games, noticeable screen tearing occurs, which is more apparent in games that do not optimally support 120hz. Battery and Charging The charging supports Type C 5-30w PD specifications. The system detects the battery size as 4500mAh, and in practice, it took about 9 minutes to charge from 51% to 64%. At 64%, the system shows that it still needs 18 minutes to fully charge, and from 90% to full only takes 7 minutes. This is very fast compared to Google Pixel and some flagship phones, but it raises concerns about whether such rapid charging might excessively damage battery life during the 80~100% charging curve. In terms of wireless charging, testing with a Qi2 certified power bank, it took 48 minutes to charge from 88% to full, but it still displays 'fast charging', leaving uncertainty as to whether it was charging via Qi2, requiring further testing. Camera The camera adopts a single lens + telephoto + telescope three-lens combination, but in practice, the app can only achieve 2x optical zoom, while digital zoom can go up to 20x (though it gets very blurry). The wide-angle is 0.6x, with a visual approximation of 135-150 degrees. In terms of image quality, it can't compare to the iPhone, but for most scenes during the day, this camera function is already quite sufficient. Indoor Sample One-time Sample Two-time Sample Wide-angle Sample 20x Digital Zoom... System Features The Solana Seeker adopts the native Android 15 system with minimal customization. The position of various function menus is very close to that of Google Pixel 8 & 9, while the Seeker adds a few extra options on top of the original system. Overall, there aren't many additional installed apps, apart from the Wallet and dApp Store. The hardware system-level also includes a built-in Seed Vault feature, said to be a chip isolated from the phone hardware, ensuring that even if the phone is hacked, mnemonic phrases cannot be stolen. The Seed Vault is located at the top of the system settings, allowing users to store any mnemonic phrases based on 24 characters, meaning keys for Ethereum and Bitcoin are also supported. If the developer ecosystem supports it, we may soon see users making payments in Ethereum and Bitcoin through this phone. dApp Store In the past, many cryptocurrency applications were made for desktop web pages, often experiencing connection errors with hardware or hot wallets on mobile. However, this issue is expected to be resolved on the Seeker, with most applications listed in the dApp Store being natively supported. With Solana's official backing and support, it is believed that smartphone operations involving smart contracts will encounter fewer issues. However, whether most Solana applications can be listed on the dApp Store will depend on the efforts of Solana's officials. If there are continuous updates and relevant rights airdrops, it may receive significant customer feedback and bug improvements, leading to more users and consequently more manufacturers willing to list related applications on the dApp Store. Overall Evaluation and Speculation The Solana Seeker features quick fingerprint unlocking and utilizes a 120hz AMOLED screen, making general daily operations feel more like a mid-range phone. In terms of configuration, it can be seen as similar to the Oppo A5 Pro. Regarding the processor, the Solana Seeker’s tuned Dimensity 7300 appears very conservative, possibly due to the plastic shell body. Game testing falls within a barely usable phase, experiencing persistent issues when playing large-scale games like Genshin Impact.

#BTC