Specs revealed for the phone created by the crew that designed the Essential Phone

Early this year we told you that some of the crew behind the Essential Phone was working on an unofficial sequel called the OV1. The phone was focused on security and was set to ship with a special "Secure Data Cable" with a USB-C plug. The cable was supposed to come with a switch to prevent the transfer of data through the USB-C port when the phone was charged through a public charging port.

The OV1 was supposed to deliver a flagship experience with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 under the hood. But plans changed in June when the OSOM OV1 became the Saga from Solana Labs. Now, the Saga is available to be pre-ordered from its official web page. We will get back to that in a second. First, let's look at the specs which were mentioned in a tweet disseminated by OSOM, the company that designed the Saga.

Now, it appears that the phone will be powered by the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, currently Qualcomm's top-of-the-line Applications Processor. The Saga will include a 6.67-inch OLED display with an FHD+ resolution (1080 x 2400) that delivers a 120Hz refresh rate. This means that the screen updates 120 times per second for a smooth scrolling experience. The device will also sport 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM with 512GB of storage. Need more storage? A 512GB capacity microSD slot is available on the device to expand the handset's storage capacity.

Keeping the lights on is a 4110mAh battery which is on the low side. The phone will ooze quality with a ceramic back, stainless steel frame, and titanium accents. It will come with Android 13 out of the box when it ships early next year. On the back will be a 50MP camera sensor and a 12MP sensor drives the ultra-wide camera. In front is a 16MP sensor for the selfie snapper. And on the back of the device is a fingerprint sensor.

With an IP68 ingress rating, the Saga can, in theory, be submerged in fresh water to a depth of 1.5 meters (nearly 5 feet) for up to 30 minutes. Do we suggest doing that? Absolutely not. If IP ratings were perfect, manufacturers wouldn't exclude water damage from their warranties.

As the Saga website says about the phone, "Web3 deserves a blazing fast phone that feels incredible in your hands. Pure Android paired with SMS powers web3 features for defi pros, NFT collectors, and the most demanding crypto enthusiasts." If crypto is not your thing, you can disable all of those features. The first 10,000 people who pre-order the Saga will receive a limited-release collection of NFTs (non-fungible tokens).

The phone will be priced at $1,000 when it ships and you can reserve your Saga now with a $100 deposit made through the Solana Mobile website. The $100 deposit is refundable and is applied toward the purchase price of the phone. Perhaps most importantly, the Saga will support Google Mobile Services which means that it will include the Google Play Store and will work with core Google apps.

The Saga at first will be available only in the United States, Canada, Europe, and the United Kingdom. On the website, you can send in your email address and the country where you currently reside in order to receive updates on the Saga via email.

We'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the Saga will support 5G and it is equipped with Bluetooth 5.2. The dimensions of the handset are 164.0 mm x 75.3 mm x 8.4 mm (10.2 mm at the camera bump). And the device will weigh in at 247g.

The Essential Phone became a cult favorite among Android fans and the Saga could become a cult favorite as well.