Red has unveiled an updated launch schedule for its
first smartphone, the Hydrogen One, today. The device was initially announced
in July of last year, with the unique selling point of having a holographic
display. Back in January it was said to arrive at carriers sometime during the
summer, with pre-ordered units shipping before that. Needless to say, this
hasn't happened.
The Hydrogen One will be available at AT&T and
Verizon on November 2, while pre-orders will start shipping on October 9.
Carriers will only have Black and Shadow aluminum color versions, with Titanium
coming in 2019 in very limited quantities. The aluminum models are priced at
$1,295. For those who pre-ordered, Black aluminum will ship first, followed by
Titanium "shortly after".
On August 31 at Red Studios Hollywood there will be
an event that will kick off a developer program, which will deliver the Red
Hydrogen One Houdini Developer's Model to people who want in. Quantities for
this one will be extremely limited, the point of the program is to have people
outside the company test pre-release units of the phone. These will be
production samples with pre-release software. While they are said to work well,
several of Red's apps are in final development and the company is looking for
bug reports from the people getting the Houdini version.
Regardless of which exact variation you buy, the
device is powered by the Snapdragon 835 chipset which was all the rage when the
phone was unveiled last year, but is getting a bit long in the tooth now when
every flagship out there employs its successor, the Snapdragon 845.
The Red Hydrogen One has real-time 4-view video
capture capabilities - which when viewed on the handset itself allows you to
look around and behind objects you see on its holographic screen. This feature
was only incorporated this year, which is one reason for the ongoing delays in
release. The other has to do with an unnamed setback during the certification
process, which resulted in something needing to be retooled. The change has
been completed and certification is now back on track.
Given that it's not finished yet, the launch dates
above are still subject to change but apparently the odds for that happening
are "pretty low" according to Red founder Jim Jannard.
