RED Unveils a $1,200 Phone That’s a ‘Holographic Media Machine’
The cinema camera company RED just made a huge announcement: its first smartphone. The new RED Hydrogen One is an Android OS smartphone that’s being referred to as a “holographic media machine” for viewing and capturing “multi-dimensional” imagery.
“This incredible retina-riveting display advancement features nanotechnology that seamlessly switches between traditional 2D content, holographic multi-view content, 3D content, and interactive games,” RED says.
In addition to displaying content, the RED Hydrogen One will also be a camera for capturing content. A “modular component system,” perhaps similar to what’s found on the Moto Z with its Hasselblad camera add-on, will allow users to use attachments to shoot higher quality still photos and videos, including RED’s new Hydrogen format holographic images.
RED’s announcement contained only a single shadowy image of the Hydrogen One (shown above). Here’s what the same image looks like with some adjustment to brighten the shadows:
And the Hydrogen One won’t just be another standalone product in RED’s ecosystem — it’ll also be able to function as the “command central” for RED’s popular cinema cameras, pairing as a user interface and monitor for the Scarlet, EPIC, and Weapon.
For connectivity, charging, and storage, the phone uses a USB-C port and has an expandable Micro SD card slot.
There aren’t any other details or demos at the moment, but we’re still a ways away from seeing this phone actually hit the market. RED says it’s planning to start shipping the Hydrogen One in early 2018. You can currently preorder it on the RED website, where the standard Aluminum version will cost $1,195 and the Titanium variant is priced at $1,595.
RED does warn, however, that quite a bit is still up in the air. Specs, pricing, and delivery dates may all change over the coming months.
