why make a device that is not supposed to be portable but is also assumed to be used with a phone?
Because most people nowadays only have smartphones, and even when they do have laptops they tend to feel more comfortable with mobile devices.
I do this myself too, if I'm at home sitting on the couch I'll just take use my phone to watch a YouTube video or check Twitter StackerNews.
We wanted to build something that would be more comfortable and more accessible to non-technical people, and we believe smartphones are the way to achieve that.
reply
the benefit of a phone over something like a laptop is the increased portability. you'd think a hardware wallet embracing the phone as a medium of interaction with the broader btc network would also embrace this portability.
i understand your point. i just think it's a missed opportunity to make it easily portable because honestly the device looks cool as hell. i'd love to take it with me places and show it off to people. but if it's gonna accidentally break when i'm out and about, then i'd rather not risk it.
reply
On one hand I agree that it would be better if it was more portable, on the other I think it's probably better if people don't walk around with their life savings in their pocket. For that reason portability definitely wasn't one of the priorities for the first version, we think the device as it is now is already useful for the vast majority of users.
That said, we will definitely improve at least the durability, maybe also change the shape/size in the next version (a few years down the line, we just have a bunch of ideas now but we are focused on shipping V1 first).
reply
The benefit of a phone over a laptop for many people is that they only own a phone.
Also, phone's are far less likely to be infected by malware than a laptop.
reply