Hands on with the RED Hydrogen

[kye]

16 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

The question is whether the novelty will wear off like it did with other 3D devices, because if there's not the long-term interest there, there won't be long-term 3D content.

It's a good way to differentiate it to other phones though... Certainly stands out as different, both in branding, design and the display. Not sure about the camera. Is it better than P20 Pro?

Most smartphones are too alike these days so this is good from RED... But we'll see how it does on the market.

My view is that the novelty will wear off, and that's a good thing, but ultimately the future is 3D because AR (augmented reality) will dominate.  The popularity of smartphones is undeniable, and while they are great for having constant access to apps and the internet, they absolutely suck as a user interface because the screens are so small.  The future of the smartphone interface will be AR, essentially placing smartphone technology within your field of view, like the heads-up-display did for driving.  A glimpse of it is with the Apple Watch which is essentially a second screen for your phone, but one that is much handier than having to retrieve your phone from your bag / pocket / nightstand, and AR would eliminate that separation between a person and their device.

In terms of how well this particular product does in the market, who knows.  There's a saying in startup culture - "being early is just like being wrong" but even if they are early, establishing yourself as one of the early developers with the knowledge, patents, tech, and company culture will mean that when demand goes up they can be ready.  

Capturing 3D won't really take off until there is a decent appetite for consuming 3D, which didn't happen with TVs, but might with VR, and definitely will with AR, however I think that AR could well be a long way off, at least in product lifecycle timescales.  Google glass was obviously a failure (for many reasons), but products like snapchat spectacles are bringing wearable tech into the market in ways that google glass couldn't accomplish, and if snapchat spectacles had the functionality of the Apple Watch to display instant messages and other basic info then they would be very popular.

I think VR will get some traction before AR, most likely from gaming, but the fact it blinds you means that it's limiting in how and where people will actually use it.  We're not about to see the average commuter put on a pair of VR goggles on the train for example!!

[webrunner5]

9 hours ago, kye said:

My view is that the novelty will wear off, and that's a good thing, but ultimately the future is 3D because AR (augmented reality) will dominate.  The popularity of smartphones is undeniable, and while they are great for having constant access to apps and the internet, they absolutely suck as a user interface because the screens are so small.  The future of the smartphone interface will be AR, essentially placing smartphone technology within your field of view, like the heads-up-display did for driving.  A glimpse of it is with the Apple Watch which is essentially a second screen for your phone, but one that is much handier than having to retrieve your phone from your bag / pocket / nightstand, and AR would eliminate that separation between a person and their device.

In terms of how well this particular product does in the market, who knows.  There's a saying in startup culture - "being early is just like being wrong" but even if they are early, establishing yourself as one of the early developers with the knowledge, patents, tech, and company culture will mean that when demand goes up they can be ready.  

Capturing 3D won't really take off until there is a decent appetite for consuming 3D, which didn't happen with TVs, but might with VR, and definitely will with AR, however I think that AR could well be a long way off, at least in product lifecycle timescales.  Google glass was obviously a failure (for many reasons), but products like snapchat spectacles are bringing wearable tech into the market in ways that google glass couldn't accomplish, and if snapchat spectacles had the functionality of the Apple Watch to display instant messages and other basic info then they would be very popular.

I think VR will get some traction before AR, most likely from gaming, but the fact it blinds you means that it's limiting in how and where people will actually use it.  We're not about to see the average commuter put on a pair of VR goggles on the train for example!!

Google glass was obviously a failure because woman complained that people were using them in the Restrooms. Not Google's fault. It was mostly a privacy issue here in the USA that they failed.

[kye]

52 minutes ago, webrunner5 said:

Google glass was obviously a failure because woman complained that people were using them in the Restrooms. Not Google's fault. It was mostly a privacy issue here in the USA that they failed.

I thought it was that they made you look like a complete turnip!  ???

[webrunner5]

1 hour ago, kye said:

I thought it was that they made you look like a complete turnip!  ???

These from Intel are even more interesting!

 

[Emanuel]

Don, Vaunt project is dead... :-(

[webrunner5]

3 hours ago, Emanuel said:

Don, Vaunt project is dead... ?

Well that kind of sucks LoL. They look sort of like normal Glasses. Hmm.

I am not sure what has happened to Intel. They went like a house on fire for years, and now they just seem to have hit a wall. Is the whole computer industry that way, or have Intel just run out of ideas? I really don't keep up with gaming much anymore. It raises my Blood Pressure too much. Not good for Old People LoL. ?

[kye]

9 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

These from Intel are even more interesting!

They are interesting.  That the project is dead doesn't matter because I think it's something that they will have learned a bunch of stuff from, and will keep that stuff in their back pocket for future times and products.  I think in the past companies would have done things exactly like this but just never told anyone about it, but because this is the cutting edge they don't really lose much from telling people it's a product 'coming soon' and then just don't launch it if people don't line up with their wallets open.

It's interesting that Intel went for middle-class-businessman - which is probably the right market to go for eventually, but the early adopters will be 'those pesky kids' and they will need something a little more fashionable....

Not a display, but an example of wearable tech that's actually fashionable.

[BTM_Pix]

So, RED have had a few issues passing carrier certification but it looks like the Hydrogen will be an actual retail product on 2nd of November.

The Houdini programme is interesting as it basically allows pre-order people to early access a production hardware version with development software (which will continuously be updated) on it two months ahead of the retail release.

It comes with this pretty serious caveat from Jim Jannard though if you stray away from RED's intention of it which is for you to help them test and develop it.....

One of my concerns about this product from day one has been how RED would cope with the sort of criticism (or naked, vengeful wrath) that can come your way from a consumer product versus how they would normally receive feedback from their, shall we say, more forgiving current user base.

The degree of restriction and sensitivity to criticism they are showing to what will, by and large, be stern supporters of the company and the product (its people who actually put their money down a long time ago remember) is a bit concerning considering how close they are to releasing it to the general public.

I get where they are coming from in terms of having real beta testers in the field (and actually acknowledging thats what they are rather than just throwing something out the door) but two months is not a very long time if the software is as unfinished as those restrictions and Jannard's comments would make me suspect.

https://h4vuser.net/t/schedule-with-houdini/1684

On the upside, this reaction video from people seeing it around the world is quite promising.

Well, it might be if we knew what it was they were looking at

 

[Snowfun]

21 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Well, it might be if we knew what it was they were looking at

 

Footage from the Pocket 4k?

[Cinegain]

Holographic pr0n of course judging their shocked but intrigued reactions. xD

[BTM_Pix]

2 hours ago, Snowfun said:

Footage from the Pocket 4k?

Of it shooting the Nikon mirrorless 

[webrunner5]

New hands on video.

 

[BTM_Pix]

Glad to see its finally being released, even though a lot of it looks unfinished, as was expected, in this version.

That being said, I'm having trouble deciding what got more hate in the comments section today, that RED Hydrogen video or DPR's Leica M10-P Review.

If this thing doesn't work fully when it gets into the hands of normal consumers, I can see Jannard having to stand at the entrance to their user forum like this.

[IronFilm]

On 9/5/2018 at 12:52 PM, BTM_Pix said:

If this thing doesn't work fully when it gets into the hands of normal consumers, I can see Jannard having to stand at the entrance to their user forum like this.

Why do you think they moved the discussion of Hydrogen off the reduser forum and over onto its own closed off forum....

[Snowfun]

1 hour ago, IronFilm said:

Why do you think they moved the discussion of Hydrogen off the reduser forum and over onto its own closed off forum....

H4vuser.net isn’t closed off...

(Although owners of the Houdini model are not permitted to review or say disparaging things about it which is fine as it is, and was intended to be, a pre-release model with several firmware updates to be delivered at least partly in response to user feedback).

Things appear to be on schedule for the planned November carrier release (with rumours that the 2d “cinema” module might be announced at or around that time... apparently some details were hinted at by JJ on the Houdini event last week). It will be interesting to learn what the compromise between performance and price will be...

 

[BTM_Pix]

5 minutes ago, Snowfun said:

Things appear to be on schedule for the planned November carrier release (with rumours that the 2d “cinema” module might be announced at or around that time... apparently some details were hinted at by JJ on the Houdini event last week). It will be interesting to learn what the compromise between performance and price will be...

Is it going to be available on a UK carrier at any point or is it just going to be like buying an unlocked phone outright and throwing a sim in if you are outside the US?

[Snowfun]

8 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

Is it going to be available on a UK carrier at any point or is it just going to be like buying an unlocked phone outright and throwing a sim in if you are outside the US?

I think the intention is to market them via US carriers and also sell directly from Red (or, technically, the Hydrogen sister company if I understand it correctly).  Not sure what the market potential at an average 02 shop might be but no doubt those who matter will be looking into it. 

Apparently Jim stated (to paraphrase) that the cinema module will be very expensive for a phone user and stupidly cheap for a Red owner. Whatever that means...

Hints of regret at not preordering?!

 

[BTM_Pix]

1 hour ago, Snowfun said:

 

Hints of regret at not preordering?!

 

I'm having enough trouble sneaking my recent Leica purchases under the radar at home.

A man has to pick his battles

[Snowfun]

My kind and loving offer:

”Would you like one too sweetheart?”

was rapidly reinterpreted as:

”Why do you need two?”

One cannot win...

[sanveer]

On 8/12/2018 at 4:40 PM, BTM_Pix said:

So, RED have had a few issues passing carrier certification but it looks like the Hydrogen will be an actual retail product on 2nd of November.

The Houdini programme is interesting as it basically allows pre-order people to early access a production hardware version with development software (which will continuously be updated) on it two months ahead of the retail release.

It comes with this pretty serious caveat from Jim Jannard though if you stray away from RED's intention of it which is for you to help them test and develop it.....

One of my concerns about this product from day one has been how RED would cope with the sort of criticism (or naked, vengeful wrath) that can come your way from a consumer product versus how they would normally receive feedback from their, shall we say, more forgiving current user base.

The degree of restriction and sensitivity to criticism they are showing to what will, by and large, be stern supporters of the company and the product (its people who actually put their money down a long time ago remember) is a bit concerning considering how close they are to releasing it to the general public.

I get where they are coming from in terms of having real beta testers in the field (and actually acknowledging thats what they are rather than just throwing something out the door) but two months is not a very long time if the software is as unfinished as those restrictions and Jannard's comments would make me suspect.

https://h4vuser.net/t/schedule-with-houdini/1684

On the upside, this reaction video from people seeing it around the world is quite promising.

Well, it might be if we knew what it was they were looking at

 

I don't know Why, but I have an l16 Light Camera kind of feeling about this. Grossly over-hyped. It may have an interesting 3D screen, but in my guess, it won't change the course of smartphones. Also the camera modules will push it into the highend FF Price range. And would it be truly pocketable afttgr that.

There is a HUGE need for way better photos from smartphones (and everything else pocketable). Though it should be pocketable, nd it should cost an arm and a leg. With a processor (SoC) that is 2-3 generations behind other Flagships, when it is finally released.