RED Releases a Futuristic Smartphone. I think.

The RED HYDROGEN ONE is a pocket-sized holographic media machine. I don’t know what that means.

Top image via RED.

After the REDUSER forum went dark for the announcement, I had to turn to RED’s Jarred Land for information about the new device that RED has teased for the past few weeks.

On Land’s Facebook page, he announced the RED HYDROGEN ONE as “a standalone, full-featured, unlocked multi-band smartphone.” The Android OS device is said to have a 5.7″ holographic display that can switch between 2D content, 3D content, holographic content, and interactive games.

The device claims that users do not need glasses to experience the 3D and holographic content.

RED’s 4-View holographic content uses the H4V codec. In addition, the HYDROGEN uses a propriety H3O algorithm to convert stereo sound into multi-dimensional audio.

The phone also integrates with the RED camera line and works with the EPIC, SCARLET, and WEAPON as an interactive monitor. 

Pre-orders are available in Titanium for $1,595 USD and in Aluminum for $1,195 USD. Prices are not guaranteed to be the same at launch. Pre-orders are set to ship in Q1 2018, assuming there aren’t any delays.

After reading the rest of the announcement PDF, I’m not gonna lie. I have no idea what most of this is talking about. Apparently there will be modules you can attach in the future, I think. It will include a USB-C charger, MicroSD card slot, and a gift for early orders. Outside of the cover image atop this article and a link to the PDF, this is everything the public currently knows.

There is currently no more information available, but we will update accordingly.

*Update 1: Jim Jannard has added a few minor additional details in the reduser forum. (Bolded text is the author’s own.)

The Holographic Display. It is incredible. It is multi-view (4-view) as compared to stereo 3D (2-view). Watching shocked faces light up when people see it is really motivating. There is no good way to describe it until you see it. Hopefully we will get some skeptics eyes on it soon… then they can tell you.

Our display is technology you haven’t seen before. It is not lenticular, which is inferior tech in every way, has been tried many times before and failed for good reason. (see Amazon 3D Fire, LG Optimus, etc). Lenticular display dramatically lowers resolution, cannot be turned off for standard 2D content, only works in one direction (usually landscape), has color crosstalk… to name just a few issues.

One website said it was unclear whether HYDROGEN came with a battery. Let me assure you that it does. 🙂

It also comes with internal storage and an external micro SD card slot. And a headphone jack. A selfie camera and a back camera. These cameras will not produce cinema quality images. No cell phone does. What we will have is a modular system that adds image quality well beyond any other camera short of our professional cameras. Remember that we have a lot of elbow room on this front…

*Update 2: Jarred Land has posted a photo of David Fincher and Brad Pitt experiencing the HYDROGEN .H4V content.

Crazy. Last night it seems the entire the world was arguing over how insane we were (again) and how the Hydrogen display we are promising is just simply impossible.

While everyone was taking bets on how many years it would take to actually crack the no-glasses code, I was sitting with some friends having our own little .H4V viewing party on fully working Hydrogen Prototypes.

This isn’t voodoo or witchcraft, but it definitely is magical.
I can’t wait for you all to see it. 

Thoughts on RED’s latest announcement? Let us know in the comments.