The new COLDCARD improves upon the Mk4 by including a QWERTY keyboard, an enormous LCD display screen, and a QR code scanner.
Bitcoin {hardware} firm Coinkite is launching a brand new higher-end COLDCARD, that includes a full QWERTY keyboard, a bigger LCD display screen and a QR code scanner. The COLDCARD Q1 will even be battery-powered, eradicating the necessity for connecting the machine to an influence outlet or a pc.
“We always wanted to make a QWERTY device for fast passphrase input with battery power,” Coinkite founder NVK instructed Bitcoin Magazine. “We’ve been toying with the QR idea for years, and we finally found a secure way of doing QR scanners. I’m very excited about this, we think this is the ultimate hardware wallet.”
The COLDCARD Q1 resembles the historic BlackBerry. A grey, stealth physique encloses the safe parts launched with the Mk4, which was launched final yr. The new machine additionally borrows different options from the Mk4, together with NFC compatibility, USB digital disk mode, USB-C connector, exercise LEDs for USB and SD card, and CPU pace of 120 megahertz (MHz). The Q1 takes issues a step farther from the Mk4, nonetheless, in including a second SD card slot, an LCD display screen 4 occasions as huge, the power to make use of batteries for energy, a QR code scanner with LED illumination and superior scanning algorithms, and the large, 50-key QWERTY keyboard. It additionally features a flashlight.
The Q1’s QR scanner sits on the high of the unit and is related to the COLDCARD internally utilizing a 2-wire serial port. According to Coinkite, this ensures “there is less danger of scanned data doing more than it seems.”
“Your bitcoin deposit address or other data is decoded by this dedicated module that is very good at reading QR codes in every lightning condition, and also includes super bright LED to light-up your mountain-top cave! Think highly-optimized grocery store scanner, not cellphone camera struggling to read a QR,” per Coinkite docs.
The new COLDCARD Q1 is obtainable for pre-sale, however its launch date is but to be decided.
