There is big news today for those of you who
pre-ordered the Hydrogen One phone from Red. But first, we’ll try to recap as
quickly as possible for those who missed the initial wave of news about this
phone.
Red is a maker of professional-grade video cameras
who held pre-orders this past summer for a US$ 1,200-US$ 1,600 modular smartphone
with a new kind of 3D screen that can be seen in either landscape or portrait
orientations. It’s a phone made for hard-core photo and video enthusiasts or
professionals.
Alright, moving on to the news. Founder of Red, Jim
Janard, writes in a forum post that he and the President of the company, Jarred
Land, both are carrying near-final prototypes of the Hydrogen One which Janard
mentions is exactly the phone the two have ever wanted.
Here are some newly revealed specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 for all variants
- One headphone jack
- Dual SIM
- Expandable storage via microSD (hybrid SIM tray)
- *4,500 mAh battery
The post also included some very carefully worded descriptions
about the phone’s size. With phrasing like “2 oz more than most 5.7-inch
phones”, “slightly bigger than other 5.7-inch phones”, “tad thicker”, and
“solid”, we can expect the phone to be quite large and heavy.
Red’s phone will be able to take 3D 4V video with
either side of the phone and it’s “holographic” screen will display them in
pixel layers rather than transposed images. So this is a whole new approach to
3D.
As far as how this new format of content can be
shared with non-Red smartphones, Janard explains that social media partners
will be announced soon enough. Carrier support is coming, though Red is
tight-lipped about any more detail than that. “Safe to say it is as good as it
gets.” Carrier models are coming sometime in the summer while pre-ordered units
will arrive a bit before then.
If you wanted to take a look at the hardware, Red
will be holding a Hydrogen Day at Red studios to show pre-order customers the
new hardware. This would take place sometime in April. In its current state, prototype
hardware is being shown to partners as they develop a Hydrogen Service platform
for finding and uploading 4V content.
