Remember the Hydrogen One ‘holographic’ smartphone from Red that made headlines a while back with its crazy specs and equally crazy $1000+ price tag? If those weren’t enough to arouse interest in the phone, its makers too went hyper in keeping things about the device under a firm lid.
Well, things have eased a bit since then, what with a video now available that sheds some much-needed light on the handset. Unfortunately, we are yet to see the device in action, which means the famed holographic display or the 4K stuff isn’t evident as yet but the phone still manages to enthrall us in more ways than one.
To begin with, the basic shape or design is miles from anything we perhaps have ever seen emerge in the mainstream smartphone segment. The phone is tall and wide, with the front dominated by what seems to be a 5.5-inch display. Size bezels are negligible while having significant portions of it along the top and bottom. Those again have been put to good use, what with the bottom bezels housing twin speakers while the top hosts the front cam along with other sensors about which there isn’t much clarity about.
The rear again is far more extravagant given its three tone finish. It actually is a three part design where the middle is made of metal and the top and bottom portions are Kevlar. And the makers don’t seem to hide the design too, which isn’t again a bad thing. In fact, the prototype device as depicted in the video seems to highlight the unique build of the phone. The Kevlar again are known to pose no hindrance to antenna waves, thereby negating the need to have dedicated antenna lines.
That is not all as the bottom portion also has a series of metal pins jotting out, the sort of which we have seen on the Moto Z.
No word yet as to what sort of add-on modules the phone would be accompanying with but what seems amply clear is that those are going to be equally ambitious. One of the prototypes had a sort of camera mod attached, complete with circular lens setting selector and it looked built for some serious stuff. Coming back to the design again, the sides are corrugated.
Those aid in holding the device besides also imparting a rugged look to the phone as well. The power button is on the right and also doubles as a Sony-esque fingerprint sensor. Slightly down below there is a dedicated video camera button as well. Volume buttons are accommodated along the left. Each of the buttons are conveniently fitted into a ridge, which is a nice thing too.
The rear dual lens cam is quite pronounced and is quite similar to the one seen on the latest Moto Z. The company logo is another unique aspect of the device, seeming as it does as a jewel or a glowing red button, something that is further accentuated by the surrounding metal ring. At the bottom, there is the Type-C slot along with a 3.5-mm jack.
As for the famed holographic display, Marques Brownlee who got to sample the device said it looked promising but still needed some more work to make it perfect. There seem some issues of light fading along the edges along with motion stuttering during high-end gaming.
On the whole, it is about three prototypes of the handset that the company treated Brownlee with and things looked interesting and exciting. No word though as to when the final thing is going to emerges but we sure are eager to see a working prototype of the same.
