TechReview#1 - Unboxing of Ledger Nano S

As an owner of Trezor, I always want to get my hand on a Ledger Nano S as they are the most famous hardware wallet in the field. This was ordered at EUR 45 during the Black Friday deal which offered 21% discount, the overall experience is also complimented by the speedy DHL shipping service.

The Walk-through

The first impression was the packaging. I have to say Ledger paid close attention to their product packaging, the box itself just feels a lot more premium than the Trezor’s. The minimal design on the front is very much appealing too.

The Nano S is secured firmly in the protective foam. So far there is no anti-tampering sticker on this box like what Trezor did with their box. Ledger claims that the wallet is built on a distinctive operating system (OS) called BOLOS which is tamper resistant.

The EAL 5+ certified secure chip we are using is the same one on your credit card or in your passport. Hacking a secure chip takes formidable efforts while information can be easily extracted from generic microcontrollers by amateurs.

In other words, Ledger Nano S is physically unhackable so they would not even bother to prove its authenticity with packaging tricks.

A small envelope consists of three pieces of paper. From left to right, they are:

• Recovery phrase sheet to backup the seed while setting up the wallet. There are only one and I would suggest it is better to backup on another piece of paper as well. Redundancy never goes wrong.
• Explanation of why the box isn’t using an anti-tempering sticker.
• Simple instruction to start setting up the wallet.

Bunch of accessories like the key ring, key chain, USB cable, and necklace.

The detachable necklace is what surprise me the most. Now you can carry the precious wallet with all fund inside with you whenever you go. Although I doubt that would be a good idea.

Front and back of the Nano S. An interesting phrase Vires in numeris was printed on the back. After some googling, that is a sentence in Latin meaning “Strength in numbers”, which is also the tagline of Bitcoin. Indeed, the whole idea of cryptocurrency is just dealing with all kind of numbers.

Two buttons at the bottom of the screen. They will be responsible for all the operations.

Nano S use a USB drive-like design with a joint to protect the screen and USB port. As you can see in the GIF, the joint is strong and doesn’t wobble at all. The sturdiness of small detail like this definitely convinces users on the build quality.

The Thoughts

In the sense of packaging and build quality, I would say Ledger Nano S with a cheaper price tag already surpassed Trezor in many ways. More accessories, beautiful box architecture, and great wallet design.

Of course, we cannot judge the wallet simply by its physical appearance. We shall cover more in the wallet configuration and software part. Til then.

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