We just got a look at the upcoming RED Hydrogen One smartphone at an event meant for “RED Pioneers” (read: superfans). It is, without a doubt, one of the most ambitious smartphones in years from a company not named Apple, Google, or Samsung. It’s an Android phone with a 5.7-inch display and top-tier phone specs, but that description doesn’t do justice to what RED is trying to accomplish here.
The company better known for high-end 4K cameras with names like “Weapon” and “Epic-w” isn’t entering the smartphone game simply to sell you a better Android phone (though it does have both Verizon and AT&T signed on to support it). No, this phone is meant to be one piece of a modular system of cameras and other media creation equipment – the company claims it will be “the foundation of a future multi-dimensional media system”.
I doubt this phone will ever have any mass-market success, but that’s not really the point anyway. I like that RED is trying something new, something different, and takes it to the extreme with this industrial design. The module system here is different from previous failed attempts at doing so in that it’s designed to tie in with RED’s popular and expensive camera’s and lenses from other big camera brands, instead of trying to appeal to the mass market.
This might actually work out.
So.. why all the excitement? I honestly don’t get it. It’s a phone. It makes calls. It has some apps you use. Whooptie if it looks cool and is built like T-34 (?).
Definitely not exciting or worth headlining on a news site dedicated to operating system innovations.
*Yawn*
Must be a millennial thing.
The phone is supposed to have a Holographic display.
But it is forbidden to show the screen, so what’s up doc ?
*wow* All that quasi-religious excitement for a pricey technology stuff.
Meanwhile, things go wrong in the World.
I mean, why compete with the masses when you can make something that attracts a small but excited crowd.
Case in point – The Cat S61 & S60. Yup, it’s a rugged Android phone with air quality sensors, laser range finder and (and this makes me want one) an infrared camera.
Had Cat S60 myself. Truly awesome smartphone. Much better than that crapfest called iPhone in all areas except camera quality.
The obvious market for this phone are podcasters and independent media in general. I also think that many RED fans will jump in as well. Maybe it’s the opposite. It’s for the fans first and podcasters and indie media will jump in as well.
Remember that when Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone he said that Apple was only targeting 1% of the phone market to become profitable for a high profit margin device. RED could either be cashing in on their name recognition or trying to get into the phone market using the high end device Trojan horse. Tesla also made their expensive super car first in order to create an aspirational brand and is now making the cheaper car for the masses.
Either way inovators push the market further and I’m glad that a big name like RED is throwing their hat in the ring.