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Say hello to the world’s first blockchain smartphone

asked 2017-12-01 13:43:47 +0300

p1rat gravatar image

updated 2017-12-01 13:46:14 +0300

jiit gravatar image

Hi,

today I read the follwing headline,

"Say hello to the world’s first blockchain smartphone"

Happily, this is now all set to change. Today at Slush in Helsinki, Jolla, the developers of the Sailfish OS, and Zipper, the Ethereum based mobile platform for decentralized apps, have announced an exciting new initiative. In a world first, they’re creating a blockchain community phone program for Sony Xperia™ X. Their aim is to develop a dedicated blockchain smartphone solution for the easy and secure use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications. "

source: http://blog.streamr.com/2017/11/streamr-jolla-zipper-blockchain-phone/

Can someone explain in "simple" words what does this mean?

greetings, p1rat

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14

Sounds like the contribution to a serious round of bullshit bingo to me.

Venty ( 2017-12-01 14:17:41 +0300 )edit
1

dang. not knowing what blockchain is my first thought was a phone made of blocks. like that googlebara or whatever it is called. guess you always have to look twice.

kaktux ( 2017-12-01 14:50:59 +0300 )edit

5 Answers

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12

answered 2017-12-01 13:51:08 +0300

ossi1967 gravatar image

updated 2017-12-01 13:54:51 +0300

There's an article here (including a video):

https://blog.jolla.com/slush2017_update/

and a TMO thread here:

http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=100077

They both try to be simple but (IMHO) fail. Which (again: IMHO) might be part of the problem. People at Zipper try to make a very, very complicated an difficult to understand technology easy to use. From their perspecive, it's probably a great breakthrough because they're used to the technology and its terms and the processes behind it. From everybody else's POV, it might still not be easy enough.

What makes me pessimistic is that even the marketing material that exists now and tries to communicate what Zipper is about fails to get the point across for many people. Like: What problem does it solve? How does it work? What is it? ...?

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1

I think that's a general problem with blockchain technology: I haven't found anything yet, that explains in easy words, what this technology is and what it is good for.

wanderer ( 2017-12-01 14:49:55 +0300 )edit
7

@wanderer, simply put, it's a cryptographic method to produce data that can be moved publicly without being tampered with, as the algorithm behind is assumed to be strong and very secure. Some people speak of the revolution of value. To me it's technology existing since 1976 put into new garment. Just as the expression of the cloud.

lakutalo ( 2017-12-01 15:07:06 +0300 )edit
1

Well spoken.

marsch ( 2017-12-02 01:41:24 +0300 )edit
12

answered 2017-12-01 14:14:10 +0300

ApB gravatar image

ALL ABOARD THE NEW TRENDY HYPE TRAIN.

FFS fix the software, get proper HW and quit riding on every new bubble.

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4

"You slide further on bullshit than you do on gravel" ) Not you personally @ApB, it's just a saying I heard from my father, a very successful salesman.

Agreed wholly with your last comment - fix what we already have!

Spam Hunter ( 2017-12-01 14:19:25 +0300 )edit

@Edz i get what your father meant but a strategy like that says a lot about how much you respect your customers. I feel that people that want a long run in any game should give something valuable to their customers. Of course some people just want bullshit and hype but personally i won't stick around that shit.

ApB ( 2017-12-01 14:24:22 +0300 )edit

@ApB - agreed. Hype and buzz words, leave me with similar feelings too.

Spam Hunter ( 2017-12-01 14:46:32 +0300 )edit
1

agreed - alongside several others (taken from duscussions here) i will leave the jolla train when my j1 dies. that is if until then no decent sailfish phone is available. and by decent i mean no tinkering halfbaked solution like the current sony but one where i simply click and buy a complete phone (which consists of hw AND preinstalled software) and no buy-you-phone-and-flash-it-yourself-kit. unpack and use.

kaktux ( 2017-12-01 14:58:15 +0300 )edit
1

@kaktux while i am not fond of the flash your phone approach i'd do it for a smaller phone. Hope they port to xz1c.

ApB ( 2017-12-01 15:06:34 +0300 )edit
10

answered 2017-12-01 21:43:04 +0300

Spark gravatar image

updated 2017-12-01 21:56:06 +0300

Sorry, but @lakutalo's anwser - though it is not wrong - IMO does still not help on a basic understanding level.

The blockchain is a secure chain of values where additional values can be added. It gets longer and longer, like a log file. But an encrypted and thus secure one. It hasn't be cracked so far. What has been added to the blockchain cannot be manipulated anymore. This is the "technical" power of the blockchain.

This can be used, for example, for verifying transactions between two business partners. A transaction of a currency which is connected to the blockchain is performed and "logged" in the block chain. This transaction is therefore done and cannot be doubted anymore. The person receiving the money has a guarantee that the transaction isn't redrawn by the person paying and thus screwing him.

The security part in transactions - the role of the trustee - is performed by banks at the moment. Everyone trusts the bank in a way, that if you see the incoming payment, the money is really yours. This job can now be done by the blockchain, meaning there is no centralized organization (taking fees...) needed for financial transactions anymore. This is why they talk about decentralized economy or whatever now when talking about the blockchain.

Payments are one example for using the blockchain. A crypto currency (Bitcoin, Ethereum, ...) is created using the chain's secure logging, basically just to have a virtual unit. But I am sure there are many more examples of using this technology.

In three words, you could also call the blockchain a "decentralized secure trustee".

I hope that helped. And at that point we can jump to @lakutalo's answer.

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6

answered 2017-12-01 14:45:59 +0300

lakutalo gravatar image

updated 2017-12-01 16:19:26 +0300

It's just too damn easy to yield to the temptation at the moment. Everybody speaks about it here too, mostly people who want to polish their anticipated knowledge and build up on leadership by utilising fancy expressions. I can't hear it any more!

BUT I know at least one big organisation that has been very successful in mostly making announcements while only keeping the surface super shiny. As much as it is important not to miss new trends, I personally hope it will not interfere with most needed improvements of SFOS itself.

I have said all I intended to say on the matter. :)

Sorry I have just been too much on a roll now. ;) To answer your question, the intention is to create a crypto currency wallet (and as it seems their own currency) for SFOS and Android. It may also work as a future crypto contract management tool, but that's mere marketing for now IMO. I remember that in the blog they also announced a revolutionary way of payment which eventually could be integrated into Jolla's app store.

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From my view it's not a shiny announcement but a way to dispose of remains of a good reputation. If I was interested today in an independent mobile OS ("we are unlike"), I NOW would run away and forget Jolla forever. Yesterday, explaining my Jolla1 to fellows and friends: "Hey, look, it's beautiful, safe, independent, unlike." Today, explaining Sailfish on Xperia: "Well, it's mostly working not too bad.". Tomorrow: "It's bullshit, can't recommend." Too sad.

Robomike ( 2017-12-02 10:25:28 +0300 )edit

I agree. At the moment I'm starting to feel like I put my faith in a bunch of hobbyists hands...which is fine, unless they refuse to think of me as a customer. It's from one gizmo to the other. I still believe in SFOS, and I'm glad I'm getting updates regularly, but while they're trying to get the wheels on, the other OSs are shaping the market. IMHO, the focus now should be getting SFOS on as many devices as possible...then everything else will come naturally.

nyonglema ( 2017-12-03 02:14:37 +0300 )edit
4

answered 2017-12-01 15:40:56 +0300

h.berd gravatar image

As one who is a cryptocurrency fanboy I wouldnt invest in a cryptocoin which cooperates with a company like jolla. If you want to create a good coin, you have to do a lot of proper solutions and marketing, communication on different channels, fast bug fixes and you need a strong and well informed community. There is already very strong competition in fintech and some powerful players. Zipper is not listed on Coinmarketcap till now and Jolla cant provide simple core features for Xperia X. If there would be a real alternative for Sailfish I would be gone already. This blockchainphone project is just another lost project of jolla... Would love to see some focused work from you @jolla

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Asked: 2017-12-01 13:43:47 +0300

Seen: 1,925 times

Last updated: Dec 01 '17