“Big changes to the RED HYDROGEN ONE program”

Jim Jannard, founder and owner of the professional cinema camera maker Red Digital Cinema Camera Company, has not given up on the Hydrogen One android smartphone. However, it looks like early market feedback (ie: sales flop) of the phone has brought about a change in direction.

A few days ago, speaking on h4vuser.net the official forum for Hydrogen users, Jim said: “Some have noticed that we have taken down the images of the 2D module from our website.”

The fact had been spotted by a keen-eyed redditor who was quick to break the news.

“Red, arrogant maker of the terrible Red Hydrogen smartphone (only 1300 dollars) just removed all the material about PROMISED additional cinema camera-module from the official website…

Camera module was supposed to be available in 2019 and was frequently sited in reviews as the only reason to own Hydrogen phone, because the phones own cameras are simply bad. And phone itself as a phone is just, well totally crappy (especially for the price).” ReipasTietokonePoju

But Jim was eager to explain: “The reason for that is because we are currently in the middle of radically changing the HYDROGEN program. As I have said before, everything can and will change.”

Jim then goes on to say that… “A series of obstacles and then new discoveries have given us the opportunity to significantly improve the entire program, not only for HYDROGEN but also for RED.”

Jim moves in mysterious ways… and talks that way too. He continues in this style, describing the next steps for the Hydrogen One… without actually telling us anything.

But he promises “new opportunities to better satisfy the professional image capture customers”. One would guess this equates to more pro cameras, sensors and formats. That said, he hasn’t forgotten the “the casual consumer” either.

A smartphone that makes everyone happy?

Jim: “…the HYDROGEN team is fully engaged on the new in-device image capture system.”

Leading me to wonder if they weren’t before?

But Jim is excited to tell us more… “as soon as we file the patents and lock down the changes…”.

Sounds like early days.

There was a response which included general confusion. But Jim added some clarity: “The HYDROGEN team is exactly as before. The primary difference is that instead of the HYDROGEN team running the pro camera for HYDROGEN, RED is.”

Ah, ok then. The RED cinema camera designing team is now taking over from the RED smartphone designing team, when it comes to upgrading the camera. That’s certainly good news.

So, we don’t really know what the changes will be. Will they be dropping the 3-D holography side of things and focusing on the pro camera side of things?

We know that the industrial-looking Red Hydrogen One is big, ugly, and built with carbon fiber and aluminum – like RED’s cameras. However, other than the 3D display and the crazy design, the $1,300 smartphone was built from mostly regular phone parts.

One of the main selling points of the device was the modular accessory system. But that now looks to be dead in the water (not even saved by a waterproof housing).

“The modular accessory system was due out in 2019, and it was supposed to work via a set of copper contacts on the back. Besides a promised power pack and expandable storage modules, this was supposed to be the way to finally put Red’s camera magic into its smartphone. The “cinema grade camera module” would have doubled or tripled the thickness of the phone, but it would have come with a Red sensor and a removable lens system.” Ron Amadeo

So we will have to wait and see what Jim and the RED team come up with next. You don’t have to have a functioning market research team to know that what us filmmakers want from a RED device is the best camera tech it’s possible to fit into a smartphone. I personally do not want to add a ton of attachments and upgrades to get the good stuff.

Will the RED camera team be able to reach a quality of image that surpasses other smartphone makers? If not, then why would anyone but the most obsessive RED fan buy one?

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