INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The Red Hydrogen One is real
It sitting face down on my desk right now as I type these words
None of this is to say, of course, that it needs to or even should exist
The Hydrogen One is less a phone than an idea that manifested its way into existence through sheer force of will
It a testament to the fact that just because a concept is potentially disruptive doesn&t necessarily make it good
Not with a starting price of $1,299 (and $1,599 for the titanium version), at least
The handset functions best as a conversation piece
It big and it bold and it bizarre, sporting a massive footprint that dwarfs even the Pixel 3 XL, flanked by serrated edges that bring
nothing to mind more than John Rambo hunting knife
And certainly the size, weight and build of the product should leave little question that the thing could double as a weapon, should you
find yourself in a tight spot.
Of course, in this crowded smartphone market, getting noticed is half the battle
And the Hydrogen One has no problem on that front
I got a lot of &what that& when I took the handset for a spin, capturing friends and food in 3D courtesy of the dual stereo rear-facing
The next question is usually something in the area of &why& That one is a bit more difficult to answer
After a few days with the phone, I&m still struggling with a justification for the front-facing Holographic 4-View display that doesn&t lean
There no denying that it neat — or at the very least interesting
But I&m struggling to imagine a future in which most or even some of my picture or video viewing is done on this sort of device.
Red has
leveraged a new take on the sort of 3D displays we&ve seen on products like Nintendo bygone 3DS
Created in partnership with a company called Leia, the technology works thusly:
Leia leverages recent breakthroughs in Nano-Photonic design
and manufacturing to provide a complete lightfield &holographic& display solution for mobile devices, through proprietary hardware and
The Silicon Valley firm commercializes LCD-based mobile screens able to synthesize lightfield holographic content while preserving the
normal operation of the display.
All of that results in an image that provides a sense of depth to the viewer, without the sort of
eyestrain found in similar tech
On the face of it, however, it looks pretty similar to those old holographic baseball cards they made back in the day
It also means that, in spite of the 515ppi 5.7-inch display, images can sometimes feel fuzzy
Another interesting side effect is a fair amount of light bleed from the top and bottom of the screen while in four-view mode.
Content
will certainly be an issue going forward
That always an issue with these sorts of formats
Right now, the phone offers a slew of short nature photos, along with free access to a pair of movies (&Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find
Them& and &Ready Player One&) available as an exclusive to ATT subscribers
Then there the content you capture yourself
I will say I was surprised at some of what the rear-facing cameras could do
Turns out they handled low light fairly well
That said, my amateur photography skills ended up with my capturing some pretty wonky shots with uneven depths
But even if I were a better photographer, I can&t really imagine looking at my own images in 3D is a compelling enough use case to make the
considerable investment required
I realize I&ve been pretty harsh on this $1,300 phone
And there are, indeed, things to like here
The build quality is at the top of the list
It certainly not to everyone taste — the Hydrogen One is big and garish and won&t fit in the pockets of your yoga pants
Red always had that going for it
The thing is built like a goddamn tank.
And while, again, I can&t imagine the technology having a lot of stickiness (we can meet back here
in five years and you can make fun of me when every phone has some version of the tech), it utterly fascinating
It probably even more so when, let be honest, you&ve got a little bit of that sticky icky in your system
Also, shout out to the company for not cutting other corners here, including battery — 4,500 mAh is downright absurd
Another little-discussed feature (because we&ve gotten plenty of other things to focus on) is its modularity
Like an SLR, the rear camera can be swapped out
Of course, those modules aren&t coming until next year, so it not exactly a selling point at launch
When it does arrive, it will include things like an extended battery
It does look like the company painted itself into a bit of a corner with regards to module size, similar to what Motorola did with its Z
line.
The Hydrogen One is available November 2
It easily one of the most ambitious, bold and fascinating smartphones I&ve ever seen
If the device does, indeed, flop, it will have done so with the sort of audacity rarely seen in a space full of me-too devices
If you&re going to fail, fail big
At least that way you won&t be forgotten
