The Red Hydrogen One smartphone is definitely one of the most awaited devices for those who want to do professional videography on their smartphone. It was supposed to launch sometime within the summer of 2018. However, that schedule has been delayed till August of 2018.
In their official forum post, RED founder Jim Jannard mentioned,
“1. We have improved the program dramatically by taking a bit more time.
One example of this is… when we announced, you needed a module to shoot 4V with the HYDROGEN ONE. The module was going to have multiple cameras for realtime 4V and was going to sell for about $750-$1000.
A few months ago we added 3D cameras front and back to HYDROGEN so you could shoot 3D and convert to 4V without a module. Processing to 4V needed the cloud, your computer or was done VERY SLOWLY on your phone. Much better than a module but still not ideal.
Now, with a lot of hardware and software work (which created a good portion of the delay)… you shoot 4V realtime on the phone both sides. You monitor your cameras in 4V. You can Face Chat in 4V realtime. You can post 4V immediately. When you shoot, you also get a companion 2D file in your gallery. Of course, you can still select and shoot just 2D.
This development took some extra time including supply chain adjustments. I made the call. I am quite sure it was the right decision to push the launch if only for this. There are several other significant improvements that we were able to implement given the extra time.
2. Carrier certification. This is also a big one. This takes more time than we previously thought. Additionally, we are preparing to launch with multiple carriers and organizing a simultaneous launch has proven to be pretty tricky.“
Though, we don’t have a launch date right now but Red has already announced a showcase date where they’ll have fully working prototypes of the Hydrogen One. The event will take place in Stage 1, Red Studios Hollywood from 4-10 PM on May 19th. The Leia team who are manufacturing the 3D Holographic Displays for the Hydrogen will also be present on the event with their demonstration.
So, will be RED Hydrogen One be the best videography smartphone ever ? Well, maybe we’ll get to know that as soon as on May 19th.
