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Red Hydrogen One: The first look at the shaky image

31.10.2018

Translation: machine translated

It's finally here: The phone that was announced last year as the biggest revolution of all time. After unpacking it, a first look at the Red Hydrogen One, which is confusing, impressive and somehow funny.

In the distant past of 2017, the Red Hydrogen One received a lot of advance praise. These came primarily from the manufacturer itself, who saw the device as the return of the smartphone Jesus. And at least the revolution that Apple boss Steve Jobs heralded in 2007 with the phrase "One More Thing". At the very least.

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RED’s Hydrogen One has come up with the most hilarious press release ever
by Dominik Bärlocher

Now the black block lies before me in all its grandeur. Time to take a first look at the revolution announced for revolutionary revolutionaries.

Lame under the bonnet

The first dampener on my enthusiasm for the phone comes as soon as I switch it on. The Red Hydrogen One slowly crawls through the boot process, a jingle jingles out of the speakers with a bit of 8-bit charm and a logo can be seen gloomily on the screen. The logo of probably the best camera manufacturer in the world.

Cinema films are shot with Red or Arri cameras. Among other things, Red manufactures 8k cameras and calls the models "Epic" or "Weapon" or "Raven". Red was founded by Jim Jannard, who once founded the eyewear brand Oakley and then turned to the camera world in a fit of apparent madness. He had no idea about eyewear when he started Oakley. He knew even less about cameras. Although the camera fan said he owned "over 1000 cameras", ownership alone does not make an expert. With a lot of development work and clever collaborations, Jannard then managed to bring the Red One onto the market. The camera records in 4k, is compatible with pretty much any software and in 2007, Peter Jackson recorded a short film as an experiment and main test of the Red One.

The rest is history. Filmmakers saw Jackson's employees and wanted to film with the Red One. Does this now mean that I, as the owner of a hydrogen one, am part of the experiments of an entrepreneur whose intelligence I don't doubt, but whose connection to reality I do? Am I looking at a pile of scrap metal?

Because the Hydrogen One no longer has much to offer in terms of technology. It runs on a Snapdragon 835 system-on-a-chip (SoC), the best that 2017 has to offer. With 6 GB of RAM, it can still keep up, but somehow the phone seems to be struggling to set up. This is usually quicker with current flagships. To my reassurance, however, every boot run after switching on for the first time is much faster and about as fast as I'm used to from last year's flagships - especially those from the fourth quarter. The phone boots up in about 15 seconds and has maybe another ten until all apps and widgets are loaded on Android 8.1.

Jim Jannard's madness project has won back sympathy. Android 9 would be nice, but 8.1 isn't horribly outdated yet.

The display is where things get exciting. In last year's press release, Jim Jannard spoke of a revolutionary display. It would be holographic. So far, I've only noticed that I can take photos that work like one of those "holograms" we remember from childhood. Revolutionary? Not for me as a user and hobby film maker with the Sony a7s ii. Sure, it's fun for about four seconds, but it doesn't mean anything to me yet. Experiments will follow.

The great design

The first time I picked up the Red Hydrogen One: Wow. It feels really good in the hand. Sure, the device is a brick. The display measures 5.7 inches (14.47 cm) diagonally, but the edges are wide. This is because the sides of the phone have grooved indentations for your fingers and a secure grip.

The back plate is also not flat and fine. There is a plate with an eye-catching logo and grooves. Eye-catching screws and a carbon grain around the top of the camera bump. I like that. Very much, in fact. Because Red isn't trying to be elegant. Red has created a device that looks strong, sets visual accents and is generally functional. Also nice, even if it doesn't affect me: the finger indentations are on both sides of the phone, making it compatible with the brains of left-handers.

Under the grooved back plate is a connector for the camera manufacturer's cameras. If you look at a Red camera, you'll quickly notice that the screen and pretty much every control element is missing.

The Red Monstro 8k is actually a camera
Source: red.com

The controls are mostly external — The Red Monstro 8k is actually a camera
Source: red.com

The cameraman makes the settings on set on an external screen and control panel. That's where the Hydrogen One wants to be attached. You can use the connector to connect the phone to the cameras and control camera functions. We'll have to see.

These pins connect the phone to a Red camera

A call at this point: Do you have a Red camera? And fancy making a video with us? We bring phone, you bring camera? Leave me a comment or an email and we'll see.

In short: The Red Hydrogen One is one of the most interesting phones of recent years. Is it a tool? Is it a phone? We will see. And above all: What's the deal with the "holographic display" from the advert?

23 people like this article

Dominik Bärlocher

Senior Editor

dominik.baerlocher@digitecgalaxus.ch

Journalist. Author. Hacker. A storyteller searching for boundaries, secrets and taboos – putting the world to paper. Not because I can but because I can’t not.

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