Count telecommunications giant AT&T among the Red faithful.
Amid prerelease hype and speculation over Red Digital Cinema’s Hydrogen One smartphone, which is said to incorporate a new type of holographic display, carrier AT&T said it will host an exclusive public demo of the technology at the second-annual AT&T Shape tech confab, coming up June 2-3 at Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles.
That news is an important vote of confidence in Red’s technology, suggesting that the company believes it has the potential to become a viable channel for content. “This revolutionary smartphone will provide you with significant advancements in the way you create and view content on the leading network for entertainment,” said AT&T SVP of Device and Network Services Marketing Kevin Petersen in a prepared statement. “When the Red Hydrogen One launches, you’ll be able to look around, below and into your screen’s image with a 4-view holographic display, which is even better than 3D.”
The exhibit listing at the AT&T Shape home page promises visitors will be able to try out games, movies and other content on the Hydrogen One’s “4-view” display with A3D surround sound. Tickets to the event are $100 and include a Warner Bros. studio tour as well as a full slate of exhibits and speakers.
Separately, Red announced that AT&T and Verizon will be the exclusive carriers of the Hydrogen One at launch in the United States, with Claro and Telcel carrying the phone in Latin America.
The Hydrogen One’s display grew from light-field display technology originally developed by Menlo Park, CA-based Leia, in which Red took an investment last year. It’s not immediately clear where the A3D sound technology comes from. That was the name of a positional audio format developed by Aureal Semiconductor (and now owned by Creative Labs) but no relation between the two has been indicated.
“This is the single most exciting thing I have ever worked on,” said Red founder Jim Jannard in a prepared statement.
Red will have its own friends-and-family debut for the Hydrogen One this Saturday, May 19, in a special user event at Red Studios in Hollywood, and Jannard said in a post at reduser.net that the phone will launch on all carriers on the same date in August.
