After months of teasers and last week's confirmation, HTC has finally made its first-ever blockchain smartphone named Exodus 1 official. It is essentially an Android device but with "Secure Enclave" dedicated to the cryptocurrency and security aspect of the smartphone.

In the announcement, HTC said that the motive behind Exodus 1 is to offer blockchain usage freedom to users. It wants users to actually own their data including browsing history, identity, assets, wallets, emails, and all without the need for central authorities. The Secure Enclave part of the phone is completely separated from Android OS and is also used for storing the keys.

If you happen to lose your phone or misplace your key details, HTC is offering a social key recovery mechanism for an easy and fast key recovery. As explained by The Verge, "You’re able to keep the recovery details with a few trustworthy friends, who must then download a key management app. HTC will then use a secret sharing algorithm to send the info to your friends, which you can then piece together if needed. The phone is also being opened up for third-party developers to make their own key apps and wallets."

In terms of specifications, the HTC Exodus 1 is pretty much same as any other 2018 Android flagship. It sports a 6-inch Quad HD+ display with 18:9 aspect ratio. Under the hood, it has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor coupled with 6GB of LPDDR4x RAM and 128GB of UFS 2.1 internal storage. It has a 12-megapixel and 16-megapixel dual rear camera setup and an 8-megapixel dual selfie camera setup. Both the cameras support Bokeh mode shots for those interested in the same.

The whole package is powered by a 3500mAh battery and will be running Android Oreo out of the box. It further has IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. It is currently available for pre-orders in 34 countries including the United States, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Austria, Norway, and other European countries. HTC is currently accepting only in Bitcoin or Etherium where the pricing has been set at 0.15 Bitcoin or 4.78 Ethereum which makes it about $960 in the traditional currency. The shipping of pre-orders is expected to happen sometime in December 2018.