RED HYDROGEN ONE - Red announces Android smartphone with "holographic" display

RED has just announced their new Hydrogen One - Android powered smartphone . The phone , which is basically a new product category to RED who mainly focused on high end modular cinema cameras with starting prices of $6000 for the cheapest model . The new Hydrogen One , which follows their chemical naming scheme reserved for their RED sensor equipped cameras is said to bring a 5.7" display with "holographic" 3D ,VR and AR support which does mean that the RED Hydrogen may have a Dual camera system similar to most of the "peasant" smartphones today . The specs , are still kept under wraps as the product is only available for retail in the first quarter of 2018 , but so far ,the brochure does indicate that the phone uses 3D stereoscopic speakers (which we think are front firing ) and will provide an immersive experience with their "H30 algorithm " which is said to give a lossless , live playback with sound altered to the content being viewed on the smartphone .

RED Channel - which is said to be RED's upcoming online sharing platform is also said to come with the Hydrogen One . This allows shooters who film content using their stereoscopic smartphone to share them to a larger audience with 2D,3D , AR and VR ready services enabled .Although we initially scratched our heads on why RED announced a phone - (a consumer item which gets outdated in a year or two ) The online service might be the biggest reason for the new category gamble as it would open up RED to the smartphone connected world and give their brand more recognition in the long run (not to mention some young users who might into a RED phone who would buy this rather than spend 10k on a entry level system or directors who want to use this as a pocket field monitor via HDMI) . Although the phone is still set up for pre order , and with only the display information being mentioned , we can safely estimate that this Hydrogen one will basically have flagship specs as any other Android powered phone (Snapdragon 8xx processor , 4-6GB RAM? and a large battery ) along with support for MicroSD expansion , USB C etc .

Interested? well for starters , the phone is not going to be a mass market device so buying it will be much harder than getting one on carrier contracts or your local phone retailer . Second , the phones come in two prices - $1195 for the aluminum and $1595 for the Titanium variant  (Both are just pre set classes and will be quite similar in function with Titanium variants edging out in more features usually ) but these prices are without taxes and are subject to change . And finally - the specs , without any phone or even camera details revealed , the prospects of getting on the pre order page and ordering it might sound a bit like buying snake oil as hope remains on the phone living up to the hype ,so will the Hydrogen One blow every phone camera off the map? or will it be a Red giant with prospects of being a white dwarf ? only time will tell (or until RED gives us more specifications) .

Written By Rakitha for MasHD

Via - RED
brochure - hydrogenone(PDF)