Groestlcoin, our coin of the week month, has “SMS Support” built into it’s Aegis Android Wallet. Since my discovery of the coin, I have yet to have found an article that sums up how it works, and have only stumbled upon a forum post written by a developer in March of 2016, asking for people to test it… With no responses.
After asking around in multiple Discord servers, and googling to no avail, I knew this would be a drawn out piece of work.
What Is The Aegis Wallet?
Groestlcoin’s Android wallet, Aegis, is just like your ordinary offline mobile wallet. After downloading the blockchain(hours later), you can send and receive transactions, scan and read QR codes, and import/export private wallet saves. It also has some other unique functions, like the ability to track desired addresses, so you can get notifications of transactions with them involved, instantly.
It’s got a decent UI, and the ability to create and delete specific addresses is a much loved and needed feature.
Design/Interface
Speaking of the devil, the UI of the Aegis wallet, is clean, slick, and does what it needs to. It scales well on all standard Android devices, however my device seemed to have a problem with text clipping revolving around the navbar, and footer content. Surely that wouldn’t be too hard to fix.
The other pages/tabs loaded in clean, fast, and provide as simple of a design possible, given all the much needed content they hold.
Exactly what I was looking for.
QR Scanning
It works as intended. I managed to send off 0.1 GRS to my paper wallet from my Aegis phone wallet, with no problem. It was incredibly easy, and the scanner picked it up within a second of being in front of the code.
“SMS Support”
Here’s the part you’ve been waiting for…
Another feature the Aegis wallet boasts is its “SMS Support”, but what does “SMS Support” really mean for a mobile wallet?
Don’t get your hopes too high, as you can’t initiate and complete a transaction via SMS… Dammit.
The Aegis wallet, allows for you to request for the recipients share address from within the “send” tab, by sending a text to their cell number automagically. Once initiated, the “receiver” will get a text, asking them to provide their wallet address. Once the receiver replies with their address, the app will update the incomplete transaction with the new address. From here, the sender will have go back into their wallet, and verify the transaction before sending(which is automatically filled, thanks to the receivers response).
The sender will be able to cancel the transaction, up until he/she confirms and sends off the transaction.
If you’re confused, here’s a quick demo.
Backups/Imports/Restores
Aegis allows for you to back-up wallet files via bluetooth, and other media sharing apps, as well as restore/import wallet data from a both raw file, and it’s built in QR code scanner. Any GRS wallets can easily be transferred in, and out of your phone, in just seconds.
Problems/Errors
The only problem aside from the clipping issue(mentioned above), was the exchange rate(with all currencies). Apparently my 0.8 GRS, is worth $5,085.32 USD. I wish… Looks like it’s a quick fix, as a developer has responded to me about the issue.
There was also, an occasional crash, however this only occurred while the app was not in direct use(background process). Some kind of thread hanging issue, I’m assuming.
Before you cry, it had seemed the SMS function only works with 10 digit phone numbers(standard US numbers). If your carrier has any type of messaging restrictions, those will apply… It’s like sending off a normal text.
Extra
The friendly push notifications for transaction confirmations, were subtle and almost instant.
The screen clipping and crashing issues, may only be an issue for my phone. Try it out for yourself, on your device and share your experience within the GRS Discord.
The Aegis wallet, also has support for Android wear, however I have yet to test it(since I don’t own any).
In Response To The Forum Post Asking For Testing…
1. Can you receive coins? (small amounts to avoid losing them) – Yes.
2. Can you send coins? – Yes.
3. Can you scan a QR code from another phone? – Yes.
4. Can you send GRS over SMS? – Yes.
5. Does it calculate exchange rates properly? – No.
6. How fast is a transaction? – Wicked Fast!
7. Can you use a NFC tag as encryption without problems? – Did Not Attempt.
8. Is the watch-only function working properly? – Yes.
9. Is your android wear working fine with Aegis Groestlcoin wallet? – Did Not Attempt.
Conclusion
Aegis, is a great tool for managing your GRS assets, but could use a bit of work. For now, I would not trust it with large sums of currency.
The wallet is open source, so surely someone with the knowledge could fix these issues without a problem. I feel it just needs to be brought to our attention.
It’s almost there, just needs the last few fixes to get it optimal. Be sure to try it yourself, it’s free on the Google App Store, here.
Sources:
GRS Forums, and the GRS Discord.
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