Smartphone manufacturer HTC announced the arrival of its first Metaverse phone that incorporates cryptocurrency and NFT functionality.
Smartphone manufacturer HTC announced on June 28 that it is releasing the HTC Desire 22 Pro, its first Metaverse phone with cryptocurrency and NFT functionality. The smartphone is available for pre-order and will be officially released on July 1.
The HTC Desire 22 Pro comes preloaded with “Viverse” apps, making it compatible with HTC’s Metaverse platform. It also comes with cryptocurrency and NFT functionality, making it easier for users to navigate the Metaverse and manage their digital assets.
Moreover, the phone allows users to buy NFTs from a digital marketplace and “create [their] own virtual space,” per HTC’s announcement. Also, like the earlier iterations of HTC’s “cryptophones,” the Desire 22 Pro comes with a built-in crypto wallet for Ethereum and Polygon-based assets.
Incidentally, Viverse is HTC’s own take on the Metaverse that is best accessed with HTC Vive, the company’s fully immersive virtual reality headset. When speaking about Viverse, HTC says it is “how different experiences and content ecosystems interconnect to offer a more holistic and seamless user experience in a decentralized and open way. Users can connect with one another while having a secure and private digital life.”
On that note, the HTC Desire 22 Pro is optimized to work best with HTC’s lightweight Vive Flow VR headset with HDCP 2.2 connectivity that enables users to mirror content to the VR headset wirelessly. It also comes with a pre-installed Vive Manager app for easier setup and management of VR hardware.
The HTC Desire 22 Pro “opens new immersive experiences as the perfect partner for VIVE Flow—whether it’s meeting colleagues in VR or enjoying your own private cinema anywhere you are,” said Shen Ye, Global Head of Product at HTC, in a statement accompanying the announcement.
Specs of HTC Desire 22 Pro
It’s worth noting that the HTC Desire Pro 22 is, in no way, out to compete with or challenge top-tier iPhones and Android devices. In fact, the company has tagged it as a “powerful midrange device.” Still, you can’t discount the specs of the HTC Desire Pro 22.
For instance, it boasts of a 6.6-inch Gorilla Glass display with a resolution of 1080 x 2412-pixel and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. In its deep recesses is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 5G and an 8 GB RAM with 128 GB of storage. The device runs on a 4,520 mAh battery featuring fast charging and Qi wireless charging functionalities.
Users who love taking photos will enjoy the Desire 22 Pro’s 64-megapixel main camera (f/1.79), 13-megapixel ultrawide lens (f/2.4), and 5-megapixel depth-sensing camera (f/2.4) to go with a 32-megapixel front-facing camera (f/2.0) for selfies. Those who love to shoot videos will have a field day with the featured image stabilization, night mode, and 120fps slow-motion capture.
HTC and Crypto Technology
As early as 2018, HTC already embraced cryptocurrency technology with their Exodus 1 smartphone with a built-in crypto hardware wallet. It also could run a full Bitcoin node. The first iteration was succeeded by the smaller but equally powerful Exodus 1s. In recent years, though, HTC concentrated on the Vive VR headsets.
The release of the Desire 22 Pro is HTC’s way of staking its claim to the title “first Metaverse smartphone.” The specs of Desire 22 Pro are developed to make marrying HTC’s blockchain phone credentials with its VR product line as seamless as possible.
It remains to be seen whether HTC’s window of opportunity will grow or get narrower by the day, with Apple purportedly working on an AR/VR headset that it plans to release in 2023.
Get more news updates
Get more NFT news updates at Omnimint News. For more information on Omnimint, and details on how to join our community, please follow our Twitter, or subscribe to our Telegram channel for more updates, and please feel free to submit your article