MEET THE TREZOR MODEL T

MEET THE TREZOR MODEL T
Satoshi Labs, a Prague-based manufacturer of the oldest and most popular hardware wallet, has finally released its much-anticipated second generation TREZOR, the Model T.
Announced in November of last year, the Model T costs around 120 euros, compared to the 89 euro price tag for the original TREZOR One.

Unfortunately, the first batches were sold out almost instantly. Therefore, you’ll have to pre-order and subscribe for email notifications to know when it becomes available.

The package includes the device, which comes sealed and is about the size of a matchbox, along with a USB-A to USB-C cable, recovery seed cards, user manual, stickers, and even a magnetic dock as an extra bonus.

The biggest difference—and upgrade—from the original is obviously the color touchscreen interface, which also means that there are no more physical buttons anywhere. Instead, a micro SD slot for data encryption has been added.

Whereas before, you had to look at the device and the computer screen when entering the pin and confirming transactions, you can now unlock it and perform all commands directly from the screen.

This is definitely an improved experience since you no longer have to look back and forth between screens when accessing your wallet. The color screen is, of course, also a step-up from the previous model.

Second, I was extremely pleased to see that the USB cable is finally longer than 2 inches. I no longer have to get up and reach to the back of my desktop computer when starting up the device.

Third, the TREZOR Model T runs on an entirely new firmware, dubbed the TREZOR Core, which was written entirely from scratch. The TREZOR team says that they took the feedback from the previous model and other projects to develop this open-source code, which is available online, for review, development, or adaptation.

The new firmware was also developed with “expansibility in mind,” according to TREZOR. This should make future upgrades a lot more easier to implement down the road, such as support for new coins, forks, and other features.

If you have used the original TREZOR, the user experience will be exactly the same. It is also similar to many other hardware wallets in the space, where you access the wallet via a Chrome browser plug-in. Nevertheless, TREZOR has released software called the Bridge to eliminate dependence and avoid potential vulnerabilities of the Chrome plug-in.