LAKE FOREST, CA.—RED cinema, makers of high-end cinema cameras, have surprised everyone by unveiling an Android smartphone—with a glasses-free holographic display. The product is called Hydrogen One and looks to be the introductory technology for a whole proprietary "Hydrogen" ecosystem.
RED Hydrogen One
Announced yesterday, the tech details of the Hydrogen One are still obscure. The multi-band Androoid phone will have a 5.7in screen which, according to the company, uses nanotechnology to easily switch from displaying 2D content, holographic multi-view content, 3D content and interactive games.
What "holographic" content literally means is not completely spelled out. One assumes it means a kind of glasses free 3D, some low-resolution and examples of which were trialled a couple years ago. Dropping the expression "retina-riveting" into its press release, suggests a thrown down with Apple for screen resolution.
With the phone, RED is introducing a new proprietary 3D image format, called .h4v. This .h4v format looks to be cornerstone of the company's future plans to promote 3D/holographic content.
HYDROGEN AUDIO
RED is also incorporating spatial sound in the design. Always fond of bellicose imagery, the company declares that the smartphone's audio will "assault your senses."
"Embedded in the OS is a proprietary H3O algorithm that converts stereo sound into expansive, multi-dimensional audio," said the company. "Think 5.1 on your headphones...The difference this makes would be enough to justify the entire system."
THE NEW HYDROGEN ECOSYSTEM
RED made its name by introducing high-tech modularity into its camera designs, and the Hydrogen One looks to be just one module in a larger technology solution. The company said that the phone is "the foundation of a future multi-dimensional media system" and the "control centre for the Hydrogen system."
The phone incorporates a high-speed data bus which will allow future attachments for shooting higher quality imagery, including Hydrogen format holographic images. The phone can be integrated with all of Red's high end cinema cameras.
RED is also creating a channel for distributing its holographic content. Content, inlcuding video content, games and apps, in the .h4v format can be uploaded, downloaded and streamed.
ORDER ONE NOW?
The Hydrogen One is available for pre-order now. The phone comes in two versions, Aluminum and Titanium (the elements from which each version is made, we assume). RED will not guarantee these prices at the time of release.
But what's the most noteworthy thing about Red's Hydrogen One? One of the world's premiere camera manufacturers has created a media-centric smart phone—and hasn't mentioned anything about the camera in it.
Unless RED wants us all to buy our own Red 8K cinema camera, there's probably more to come.
From TV Tech Global
