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The original Hydrogen phone had a lot of people excited, as it was coming from world-renowned camera company RED. However, the finished product was disappointing for many reasons: the 3D screen mostly served as a gimmick, the module ecosystem never materialized, the camera wasn't anything special, and so on. Now RED has cancelled plans for a second phone as its founder leaves the company.
Powerful. Ambitious. Extravagant. These were some of the words RED would have wanted people to think of when describing the Hydrogen One. Instead, most people were left calling the phone and its launch schedule overpriced, underwhelming, and tumultuous. Our review was certainly less than favorable. In a new post by the founder, Jim Jannard, most of the shortcomings of the Hydrogen One can be attributed to problems with their ODM (original design manufacturer). However, they have a new ODM and work has begun on the Hydrogen Two, along with the long-awaited 8K add-on camera module.
It's rare that we come across a phone we suggest you 100% do not buy under any circumstances, but the titanium Red Hydrogen One earns that distinction. Red delayed the launch of the titanium phone last year, but now you can buy it for $1,600. You shouldn't, though.
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- Jim Jannard, founder of RED, has published a response on the Hydrogen user forum. It doesn't really contain any useful information, only that "the HYDROGEN team is fully engaged on the new in-device image capture system."
The RED Hydrogen One was possibly the most disappointing smartphone of 2018. There was a great deal of hype around the devices, as it was being created by one of the world's top camera companies. Instead of a phone with an amazing camera, like most people expected, we got a very expensive phone with a mediocre camera and a strange 3D screen gimmick. Now it seems one of the phone's selling points might never show up.
Red's Hydrogen One smartphone is one of the most interesting devices launched last year, though as any first-gen eccentric product, it suffers for it on several fronts that Stephen went through in his review. However, Red isn't done with it yet. It's now teasing Lithium, a huge 3D camera rig compatible with the One, that should be coming in 2019.
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- Verizon has just shared its own Hydrogen One announcement, similarly confirming plans to sell the phone for $1,295, beginning November 2.
The Red Hydrogen One might be one of the most unique phones we've seen in a while. The world-renowned camera company is making an entry into the smartphone market, and today it announced a partnership with A&T. Starting this Friday (November 2nd), you'll be able to buy the Hydrogen One on AT&T for $43.17/month across 30 months — about $1,300.
For as long as there have been smartphones, there have also been weird smartphones. While mainstream models tend to keep things basic, giving you slightly faster and more feature-rich versions of devices that have come before, there are always those outliers that seem to remind us that there's room for variety in this industry yet: phones that fold, have sliding hardware, or take similar steps to set them apart from the rest of the pack.
The RED Hydrogen One is an act of will given physical form — but will you share its creator's dream?
This past week in New York City, Red founder Jim Jannard stood before a huddled crowd of tech journalists, passionately making the case for his dream phone: the Hydrogen One. It's a big, heavy phone that looks little like the sleek handsets that dominate today's sales, built with a totally different set of priorities than we're used to seeing from mainstream OEMs. At a time when even Motorola looks like it's losing passion for modular hardware, Jannard and the Hydrogen One are eager to embrace it. And while we thought 3D screens on phones had died over half a decade ago, Jannard and his baby sure want to convince us there's life in them yet.
There aren't many phones made from titanium because it's vastly harder to work with than aluminum, but RED went for it anyway. The Hydrogen One has been teased repeatedly over the past year, but it's still not out. If you pre-ordered the titanium version, the wait is going to be even longer. According to RED, the first run of titanium phones was a failure. It's going to try and make it right with a free phone, though.
Every month or so, an update to ARCore rolls out to add the augmented reality framework to a whole new set of phones, tablets... and now Chromebooks? Yes, the first Chrome OS device has been found among the list of profiles included in the ARCore APK, and that is the recently released Acer Chromebook Tab 10. Also joining the list are the codenames associated with the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL, blueline and crosshatch, which are due out this Fall.
The RED Hydrogen One's existence was first announced 10 months ago, but we haven't even seen a completely functional prototype since then. We've heard some basic specs and seen some dark pictures, but that's about it. AT&T and Verizon have now revealed that they will be carrying this mysterious $1,200 holographic phone starting this summer.
Camera maker RED started teasing its first smartphone last year, promising a totally new visual experience with a "holographic" display. We still don't have any specifics on how that will work, but there are a few more specs available, along with an updated release window. According to CEO Jim Jannard, the Hydrogen One will launch with carrier partnerships this summer.