Here's how the RED Hydrogen phone's 'holographic' display will work
We now know a little more about the "holographic display" in RED's much-hyped Hydrogen Android phone.
The digital camera maker has announced it's partnering up with Leia Inc., a company that specializes in making holographic displays for mobile devices, to provide the Hydrogen phone with its special eye-popping screens.
At first glance, the Hydrogen phone might seem like another cash grab by an established company that really has no business making phones. But that couldn't be further from the truth.
From its "holographic display," which is able to seamlessly switch "between traditional 2D content, 3D content, and interactive games," to its magnetic connectors for attaching accessories (more on that in a bit), RED's actually trying to innovate in ways that we've never seen before on a phone.
That said, the special display is what has everyone going bonkers, especially if it can deliver Star Wars-like holograms.
From the press release:
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 software. The Silicon Valley firm commercializes LCD-based mobile screens able to synthesize lightfield holographic content while preserving the normal operation of the display.
It's all very high-tech and futuristic sounding, but it still doesn't give us any idea of what holographic content will look like on the display. Currently, the only known person outside of RED who's seen the Hydrogen phone's screen is YouTuber Marques Brownlee (a.k.a MKBHD), and he wasn't allowed to show it on camera. That said, he did say it was impressive.
As per Leia Inc.'s website, its holographic technology uses a "proprietary Diffractive Lightfield Backlighting solution" to illuminate a standard LCD screen. Thus, when special holographic (H4V) content is displayed, it looks as if it's popping out of the display.
In other words, it could look like a better version of Nintendo's 3DS, which uses a parallax barrier to achieve glasses-free 3D.
A few years back, the company brought a prototype of its holographic screen to Mobile World Congress. You won't be able to see the holographic effect, but here's what the demo looked like:
Amy Webb, a futurist and consultant, who saw the prototype screen said it "blew everyone away".
The Hydrogen phone has quickly garnered intense interest from not just phone geeks, but also from filmmakers.
In typical RED style, the phone is big and industrial-looking -- basically the complete opposite of an iPhone or Samsung Galaxy.
But more than just its tank-like design, the phone's beefy camera sensor and modular add-on accessories are particularly intriguing.
One of the company's patents suggests it could be cooking up some serious modules that augment the built-in cameras. Could the next Transformers be shot with a Hydrogen phone if it had an 8K sensor add-on? Who knows, but it's certainly possible if RED delivers on such a phone and accessory.
There's still much we don't know about the Hydrogen. We don't have proper specs and know virtually nothing about the cameras (both front and back). About the only thing we do know is the price -- it's expensive starting at $1,200 for the aluminum model and $1,600 for titanium -- and that RED's shooting for a launch in Q1 2018.
Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.
