Bitcoin Forum

Just read a good news and wanted to share:-

A very renown company like HTC just released a smartphone which have full node capabilities in which the user can actually generate their own keys and even run transactions without the use of any extra software or wallet .

They have also placed the price somewhat affordable like 250$ for per piece and this is something that is no other smart phone in the history ever did .

What do you think will be the next step since more companies are now going to be influenced by what they did therefore ; the acceptance is now wide spread therefore we can expect the price to increase further .

Is it beneficial ?
What is it's scope in the future further ?

If running a full node for the purpose of helping the network, then I'm a little bit skeptical. A full node should preferably be up 24/7 and for a phone, It should be resource consuming to do so when it comes to the battery and also storage as years go by.

And If by that, it's just so the user is in full control of his transactions unlike with SPV wallets or closed source/centralized ones then, to be honest, I doubt that anyone cares that much. Not to buy another phone anyway.

I would rather go with something like Bitseed (https://bitseed.org/product/bitseed-3/). It's a little bit more expensive, but it does the job perfectly and it's up 24/7 and it also lasts for years to come (1 TBB storage).

I like what HTC is trying to do here even though their mobiles are not very popular.

I don't really know the technical stuff involved here, but the intention is great and other companies should follow suite. $250 is a pretty great price in this aspect and I will definitely check it out soon.

Running full node on a phone actually sounds quite cool, because it would give more privacy and security to mobile users, but I too am really skeptical about the possibility of actually achieving it, I have a decent modern PC and I don't run full node because it cripples my performance to the point when it slows down other programs. The battery charge, memory storage, processing power, mobile data, all those things together would probably make running a full node a frustrating experience.

Is good that HTC make this type of phone, but maybe if is full node people will not let phone to run so much time for the node and running a node without rewards can not be like by some people.

It's unfortunate that the HTC  products are hard to find in this part of the world. This goes to show that numerous industries are already seeing the need to associate with the blockchain community and provides solutions that will be befitting to crypto enthusiasts. I look forward to having a device like this..

HTC is quite expensive here in our country and the supply is always limited. It's a good thing that there's another smartphone brand that supports crypto features.
I'm sure that most crypto users would aim to have this
smartphone because it would be an advantage and would give us the convenience that we want.

I already have seen it in a youtube video today, it's great that the adoption is moving forward. day by day there are some good news of any company in the world that trying to push crypto to the mass. Really good that another big smartphone company brings bitcoin features to the people :)

"A very renown company like HTC" <- is it HTC or just some Chinese copycat?

Top of range HTC phones are usually expensive. 250$ is way too cheap for a smartphone that contains innovation too. So it's already fishy.
Then I agree with what @OmegaStarScream wrote. You need big storage and a lot of bandwidth/data use, which will make your phone stay 80% of the time plugged in/charging and the data may cost you a lot. It's not something you'll be able to use.

It's either a scam, or mistake, or a commercial gimmick.

In case anyone wants to read the full news: https://www.coindesk.com/htc-says-its-next-smartphone-will-run-a-full-bitcoin-node

At $250-$300 like the article says, I find it a bit expensive, as others have said here, there are cheaper options avalaible if you want to run a full node. HTC is clearly trying to implement a unique selling point (USP) to completely dominate the blockchain phone market, but tbh, I don't know why they'd go for this when they're already a well-positioned brand in a niche market. If their goal is to attract Bitcoiners, then I'm already expecting the statement: "sales did not meet the expectations", because honestly, a Bitcoin user interested in running a full node is probably already doing so in a far cheaper way.

Alas, I have never seen news that would confirm Your words.Nevertheless, I think that ordinary people do not particularly need to create your node.And as already written above for a mobile phone it is too energy intensive.

Well, I think this will only slow down the functionaloty of the phone, not unless if the model of the phone is really modified for this purpose which is the reason why it is quiet expensive. As time goes by maybe mobile companies might start integrating blockchain tech in their mobile if ever blockchain tech and crypto will be massively adapted.

to run a complete node I suppose that this company will have found a solution to have a good performance of the device and the battery, anyway I believe that the blockchain phones are the future, besides that this is a more accessible price $250-300 than the phones by Sirin Labs $1000

There are at least 3-4 projects on this subject. There is also a phone rumor about this. But the biggest problem is the use of data and power of these devices! Is there a solution on this issue?

Everything that works with bitcoin is beneficial even if it won't really help the network it will help to promote it. People will read about it and discuss it like we're doing now so there's always a need for it in this space.
To run a node you need uninterrupted connection and we know how phones like to lose signal and disconnect. How long will the battery last if you do it? People buy phones to be able to talk not to mine with them or run nodes that will drain the battery and make calling impossible.

That is what made me things it is not sustainable. A smartphone is built for daily use, and long-term battery usage. If someone really run the full node on those phones it will surely degrade the performance, and making the battery leak faster. A full node was supposedly to run and activated to the internet in 24/7 manners, and I believe smartphone wasn't meant for it. IMO, all of these was rather to seeks attention for bitcoiner.

Past comments pretty much summarized what needs to be said here. It's completely unnecessary for someone who research or knows someone who do or visit this forum and ask so someone kind enough can answer.

If you want a full node, one that is running 24 hours is probably better and you can install and set-up software to reach the same results on a phone you already own.

Now for those who have a lot of money and want to start to discover the Crypto world it might be useful. But i would still recommend other resources online and at the end it depends on how good and intuitive the user interface is for a totally new customer.

Nice support from HTC company, I think their phones are not too popular again, as they use to be, they have seen the spike growth in the cryptocurrency community and want to leverage on it by incorporating such technology on their device. Am concerned about the phone life and its health and I hope it will be well protected from hackers. I enjoyed the first HTC I ever use and would later pass it to my cousin.

I currently own a HTC phone and i find the phone okay, so i think this is welcome move, also Samsung is doing something similar. i think in future, running a node on smartphone will be standard operating procedure in order to ensure security of private keys. that way people who want can use bitcoin for micro-payments in a more secure way. but for long term storage, i think other options will be better.

Hi! My opinion is that it’s gonna be really popular and it will bring certain awareness. We see how smartphones copy each other so it’s a question of time when all of it will have such stuff in.

It is interesting more of these larger phone companies are looking to integrate cryptocurrency into their flagship phones. Such as samsung promising to do with a built-in cryptocurrency wallet on their s10 and even older galaxy phones supporting an ethereum wallet.
https://www.cryptoglobe.com/latest/2019/05/samsung-to-add-crypto-wallet-to-budget-galaxy-smartphones

Once upon a time HTC phones were very popular in my country, now I can not find at all (CIS countries).Maybe it's a marketing ploy of the company for engaging buyers, I would not trust the phone your savings or you can break or you can lose.

It is nice to see that more and more phone companies are getting interested in crypto and it would really make some great publicity .
Maybe in the future we would see almost every phone supporting different kinds of crypto and they are going to be the one who would sustain the price of each crypto that they promote.
They will make the market more lively than it is now we would see more people coming into crypto because of this companies.

Why pay $250 for a smart phone, if you can buy a inexpensive Raspberry Pi4 at about $35 with a large memory stick or second hand harddrive that would do the same thing? There are plethora of tutorials out there on how to setup a node with a Raspberry Pi, so you do not need to struggle with some new phone to get the node running.

Storage will also not be a problem, because you can just install a new bigger harddrive or memory stick, when it is getting full.  ;)  Enjoy!

If there smartphone will generate plenty of sales and many will use the said upgrade then there is a big possibilities that it can benefit the crypto world like they can help to increase the price.

I wonder if when they have released the said smartphone so at least we can see the how the other users give their honest opinion whether it works for them or not. Because in my case, I am not really familiar with nodes even I am in crypto community for several years already and I wonder if others can easily use it.

I think I can run full Bitcoin node on any sufficiently powerful Android phone. If there is bitcoin for ARM architecture, it is possible. Root the phone, install Busybox and Linux deploy, then install Debian by using Linux deploy and then finally install Bitcoin node inside the Debian.

I have no hardware for this experiment, but I think any Android phone with 3 or more GB of RAM, root priviledges and 256GB microSDXC card will work.