In a recent press preview event in New York, they unveiled the device, which will launch Friday in AT&T and Verizon stores. The stakeholders see the Hydrogen One as a creative leap beyond the best phones Apple and Samsung have on the market. It will be priced accordingly, at $1,295. From its early days in the market, the Hydrogen One will also represent a synergistic opportunity for WarnerMedia and AT&T, one of the first since the companies’ $81 billion merger closed in June.
The phone’s holographic “4 View” screen is billed as the first of its kind, delivering 3D experiences without glasses and 360-degree sound with or without headphones. With a rugged aluminum body with Kevlar panels and battery life said to be superior to that of the latest iPhone, the RED Hydrogen One is the vision of Jim Jannard. The inventor and entrepreneur founded eyewear giant Oakley and then went on to create RED mainly because, as he explained to the crowd in New York, he wanted better gear.
Movies available at launch will include Warner Bros. titles Ready Player One and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Films from the studio will comprise more than half of the selections at launch, with plans to have half of the projected 110 film titles once the service is up and running.
At a storefront in NoHo, a couple dozen journalists joined executives from the companies for a blue-sky round of demos and remarks about how and why the device came to be.