German device maker Volla has been shipping smartphones and tablets with a custom version of Android called Volla OS for several years. And one of the main reasons I’ve focused on his relatively small company is because it has supported installing Ubuntu Touch as an alternative operating system since day one.
But the company’s latest phone also has another feature that sets it apart, for better or worse. of Volla Phone Quintus is positioned as a smartphone “equipped with decentralized cloud computing.”
In a nutshell, instead of hosting cloud services on its own servers, Volla Volacloud From other Volla mobile phones.
This is an ambitious goal that Volla positions as a solution that “empowers users” because no data is stored on the servers of “big tech” companies like Google or Apple. But this is also a solution that relies on the consent of other users.
First, you must accept that your data will be encrypted in a way that allows it to be stored on other people’s hardware in a way that other users cannot access. Volla says it uses Holochain technology, which uses a blockchain-like system to track transactions and prevent anyone from tampering with the data. However, it also allows data to be securely deleted, which is not possible with blockchain.
Second, you should assume that there are enough other users participating in the Volla Cloud ecosystem. They are willing to give up storage space and data bandwidth on their phones to continue accessing their data.
This summer’s press release also mentions “decentralization.” Volla mesh netThis allows phones to communicate with each other by creating a peer-to-peer network over LoRa radios. But there’s no mention of LoRa or Meshnet on the Volla Phone Quintus’ Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Volla website pages, making me wonder if this is a feature that will be available on the company’s future hardware.
The good news for those skeptical of the promises of Volla Cloud and Volla Meshnet is that they are completely optional. You don’t have to use it if you don’t want to.
Volla started accepting pre-orders for the phone earlier this year during the aforementioned crowdfunding campaign, and is currently in the final stages of production: applying the software, packaging, and sealing the boxes before shipping to customers. It says it’s starting. The first units to ship will go to backers of the Kickstarter campaign, and orders on the website and Indiegogo are expected to begin shipping in November.
Volla Phone Quintus features a 6.78 8-inch, 2400 x 1800 pixels, 120 Hz AMOLED display, MediaTek Dimensity 7050 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, support for WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and support for the following cellular network bands .
- 2G (GSM): B2/3/5/8
- 3G (WCDMA):B1/2/4/5/8
- 3G: BC0
- 4G LTE:B1/2/3/5/7/8/20/28AB/38/40/41
- 5GNR:n1/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/41/77/78
The phone has a 50MP wide-angle camera, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, a 2MP macro camera, and a 15.9MP front-facing camera on the back. Other features include a fingerprint sensor, NFC support, and a USB 2.0 Type-C port for charging.
Volla offers two operating system options for its phones: Volla OS and Ubuntu Touch. Volla OS is a custom Android-based operating system stripped of Google apps and services and modified with custom launchers and other apps. Ubuntu Touch, on the other hand, is a mobile GNU/Linux distribution based on Ubuntu.
And if you can’t decide on a single operating system, Volla Phone Quintus supports multiboot, allowing you to install a second operating system on the internal storage and choose which one loads at startup. Masu.
