Preview of Essentia's App - Blockchain dApps in one framework

eyox (50)in #essentia • 7 years ago (edited)

ICOs have gripped the technology world and are changing the way to raise funds for startups. With massive amounts of money through Ethereum invested in the initial coin offerings, most ICOs don't even have a working product. There are lots of ICOs built entirely on concept and hype, yet they are successful in raising adequate funds. When I said 'adequate', I'm talking about $5m+. Sometimes, these ICOs only have a whitepaper, a good website, and influencers (also known as shillers) that help the project to become popular. On the other hand, there are ICOs with great working products or demos that gives them an advantage in raising capital. One such example I came across was Essentia. I've already talked about them utilising Masternodes in the previous article, which is great to see. This article will go over Essentia's framework portrayed in a simple yet informative demo accessible at https://app.essentia.one/

Logging in

When first entering the app, you will need to log in using a password. The UI seems neat and has a simplistic design.

When logging in, you will have 3 methods of storing your backup access. This is via mnemonic phrase, seed and keystore file. This is very similar to myetherwallet.

Launchpad

After logging in, you will be directed to a launchpad/dashboard.

First impressions are that it looks really good with a mix of flat UI style and gradients. The icons are big and clear. It's very responsive and fast. I have highlighted the launchpad with numbers. These numbers represent:

1 - Your navigation bar - wallet, storage, elogin and forkdelta. We will go through these soon.

2 - If you want to suggest a dApp you want to see integrated with Essentia, you can click the chat with essentia logo to give the url of the dApp website. Essentia already has lots planned in their roadmap including GoNetwork, Friendz and Dent. You can also vote for which dApp you want to see through this page.

3 - A search tool for finding a Dapp or tool which you can add to your launchpad.

4 - A list of dApps and Tools which you have selected.

5 - All available dApps through Essentia

6 - All available tools through Essentia. At the moment there is none but this is just a demo so expect some in the future.

7 - A profile page with your eLogin ID, private address, backup settings, currency and display themes. Expect a lot more customization through this page.

Wallet

With Essentia you can send money, go through your transaction history, check your balance and recent currency rates. They have a list of assets as a preview of what you would expect. I like the mix of colours but would like to see Total Balance shown in a box or more clearer style. There is a graph, same as the ones in CoinMarketCap with a transaction history. I also notice that the refresh buttons are a bit unclear.

Below is the menu to send Ethereum to another wallet. The look here is better than myetherwallet in my opinion.

Storage

You can store your valuable files and data in Essentia. The integrated decentralized storage provides the highest level of security, reliability, and usability. At the moment IPFS, a peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol to make the web faster as well as Swarm and Storj are integrated. Storj is a decentralized cloud storage that removes intermediaries to control your data. It's an interesting blockchain solution and good to see Essentia have already integrated with 3 storage platforms.

eLogin

With Essentia you will be able to log in to all your decentralized applications securely and with just a few clicks. eLogin uses simple message verification to log in to services. It's a good alternative to the conventional passwords where you may not remember the password although there are password managers out there.

Forkdelta

This is one of the most important features in this platform. You can trade your tokens on the decentralized ForkDelta exchange, all within the Essentia platform. The UI integrated with ForkDelta is great!

Final Thoughts

One aspect I found was annoying is that I had to re-login every few minutes after inactivity. Also, notifications bell on the top right of the menu was not found on the home screen. Other than these small issues, the Essentia app looks stunning and gives me a great expectation that this app will be a success.