RED enters the universe of smartphones, but does it in their own style. The RED HYDROGEN ONE smartphone includes additional features that shatter the mold of conventional thinking.
We’re not there yet, if you thought RED was introducing Star Trek’s Holodeck, but the HYDROGEN ONE might be the machine that takes us closer to that Sci-Fi concept. RED calls it the world’s first holographic media machine and says that the future of personal communication, information gathering, holographic multi-view, 2D, 3D, AR/VR/MR, and image capture just changed forever.
Priced at at $1195 for the Aluminum version, with a Titanium version that will cost $1595, the HYDROGEN ONE is a stand-alone, full featured, unlocked multi-band smartphone operating on Android OS, but it is more than a smartphone. RED says it is a 5.7” professional HYDROGEN holographic display allowing users to view all traditional 2D content at full screen resolution, view holographic RED Hydrogen 4-View content (H4V), view stereo 3D content and view 2D/3D VR, AR and MR.
The revolutionary thing about the RED smartphone – which, apparently, seems to be smarter than other smartphones – is that glasses are obsolete for viewing content. According to the information provided by RED, it is no longer necessary to carry or charge another device to enjoy multi-dimensional content. RED claims that users can experience “look around depth” in the palm of your hand, no glasses or headsets in sight.
Embedded in the OS is a proprietary H3O algorithm that converts stereo sound into expansive multi-dimensional audio. RED says it’s similar to 5.1 in your headphones and adds that it is the perfect match for holographic H4V or just listening to your favorite tunes. The difference this makes would be enough to justify the entire system.
HYDROGEN ONE is not simply a smartphone. RED sees it as the foundation of a future multi-dimensional media system. The HYDROGEN SYSTEM incorporates a new-high speed data bus to enable a comprehensive and ever-expanding modular component system, which will include future attachments for shooting high quality motion and still images as well as HYDROGEN format holographic images.
The announcement of HYDROGEN as a system is, no doubt, related to the recent patents registered by RED and made public some days ago, the same patents that made the whole web start to talk about Red and what the company was preparing. Many suggested a new movie camera, many others suggested a smartphone, but I believe no one expected this, even when it was officially announced that the presentation would be today. Again, it will be interesting to see if the HYDROGEN ONE, when it will be available, the first quarter of 2018, is really the dream machine it looks like on paper.
HYDROGEN ONE will also integrate into the professional RED camera program, working together with Scarlet, EPIC and Weapon as a user interface and monitor. The HYDROGEN ONE Media Machine is, apparently, the start of another adventure for RED.