When RED announced the HYDROGEN smartphone they said the initial batch was targeted to ship Q1 2018. If you are familiar with RED statements you probably took this with a grain of salt. For those who shelled out $1595 USD for the TITANIUM version, or $1195 USD for the ALUMINUM version back in July last year, you will be waiting till at least July this
year for your phone to turn up.
Jim Jannard issued this statement on REDUSER this week:
Launch date is uncertain due to supply chain issues and carrier certification. Now shooting for a date in summer so carriers can launch at the same time. Preorders will still ship prior to launch.
The display is very bright and crisp 2560×1440 in 2D mode with no negative effect from the 4V nanotech display component. In 4V mode, the brightness does drop but a beautiful show-stopping glasses-free, better than 3D image comes to life. Think being “immersed in”… not just “looking at”.
HYDROGEN will have stereo pair cameras front and back. This will allow you to shoot 3D to 4V without an accessory module (which was the original plan). You will also get a 2D companion file in your gallery along with the multi-view file.
Note. The selfie side only shoots 3D-4V in portrait mode. The back side only shoots 3D-4V in landscape mode.
HYDROGEN is a Media Machine, slightly bigger and heavier than other cell phones. This is to accommodate better speakers (think spacial sound even out of your speakers) along with a bigger battery (4500mA), the extra cameras, plus a headphone jack and easy to access external SIM slash micro SD card slot.
You will be able to post your 3D-4V files on social media. Other phones will see 2D, HYDROGEN owners will see 4V. An announcement of apps that support 4V will be coming soon.
There is a path to multi-view realtime face chat which is currently in beta testing.
The HYDROGEN Network will be up and running at launch. This will be the one place to find all 4V content. There will be 4V channels for studios, gaming, documentaries, etc. plus a serious 4V content creator can start their own channel to share or sell their content.
Modules (not available at launch) will include many options to support 2D image capture, 3D-4V capture and A3D (spacial audio) at the highest level.
We are also developing a line of prosumer and professional 3D to 4V cameras to support the system.
I know you have a lot more questions that need answers. Since we still have some time to adjust a few things before launch I will give more updates along the way.
As usual the post ended with:
“Everything in life changes… including our camera specs and delivery dates…”
We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone with a bad attitude.
As is usually the case on REDUSER there wasn’t a single person complaining that the phone they ordered has been seriously delayed. Instead there was only comments like this:
Getting carrier certification is not an easy process, and setting up a whole new network with 4V channels to share and view content is a big undertaking. It really isn’t any surprise that the HYDROGEN has been delayed. The announcement back in July last year provided very little information or detail as to what potential buyers were actually getting. Despite not even being able to show potential customers what they were buying, countless people threw down their hard earned cash anyway. The HYDROGEN may well end up being a great product, but I wouldn’t be willing to hand over my money for any product that I haven’t seen, let alone one that won’t even be able to get for over a year after purchasing. I guess blind loyalty goes a long way.
Have you ordered a RED HYDROGEN? Did you ever expect it to actually be released on time? Let us know in the comments section below.
