RED blames ODM for poor camera of first phone, says a second one is on the way

24 July 2019
Founder Jim Jannard has issued a statement, blaming the Chinese ODM for the Hydrogen One woes.

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If it were successful, American product, Chinese can't do, innovation holy place, copy cats etc....most, probably all of them use outside source(most likely China) and take all the glory upon themselves, when confronted with issues, bugs, display problems, bend gate, antenna issues, blame Chinese suppliers

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    • Anonymous
    • 7tn
    • 26 Jul 2019

    It's Red.

    Hi Jim!

    It requires skill and a certain flare to do this right. The contract should have allowed them to walk anytime with full ownership of all intellectual property, with adequate full documentation, and penalties, so only a serious company would sign it, and you could swap at any time. It might cost more, but this is the phone industry, and a certain part of the world you are dealing with. China has had a past history of private engineers with their own Linux code and tools, and hardware platform, being paid something like $20,000-$50,000 to formulate a phone's circuit and software in a few weeks (likely just the engineer's old hardware design adjusted) for a manufacturer. People get reference designs figured out by phone chip manufacturers as well. Not much design, as parts manufacturers hand you designs on a plate. Why would you expect them to do anything original. You have to find a company who can do it. Then, does your designer have connections?

    It needs somebody with flare in handling the above things as well. You need flare in business and design, and in a feel for the market, and in what will sell (like Steve did). I identified many things from the beginning. It's 100 percent not that they have flare instead.

    The design, functionality and price was a challenge. It's as if a cheap sunglasses manufacturer suddenly tried to make $1000 glasses. Apple and Samsung meant premium pricing, and had latest processor and good styling to back it up. If you only have pricing? Now light camera modules will further undermine the functionality lead, in a stylish phone. Holding even a Nokia 9 Pureview seems so right, you wish the Red Hydrogen was like that, but with 5 camera video.

    Red wasn't likely to achieve anywhere near what they thought with the pricing and that design. The next phone hopefully won't try to achieve what they wanted with the last phone, especially the more recent DSLR like camera modules. sleek, inbuilt functionality and stylish first, then modules.

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      • Anonymous
      • 7tn
      • 26 Jul 2019

      The last Oracle, 25 Jul 2019More like a $150 China white label, considering that the pr... moreVirtually 2 generations by the time they shipped on mass. They should have shipped with 855 or at least custom camera silicon.

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        • Anonymous
        • 7tn
        • 26 Jul 2019

        Anonymous, 25 Jul 2019Then whose to blame for the thick bezels and ugly design. A Hummer Owner. Virtually everything has this. Seeing one of the cinema cameras in real life looks like a cheap tin box.

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          • Anonymous
          • g3t
          • 25 Jul 2019

          Shui8, 25 Jul 2019So RED is only a naming for a cheap china phone. Seriously,... moreIPhone is the same

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            • redo raven
            • JiH
            • 25 Jul 2019

            toooooooo lateeeeee

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              • Anonymous
              • MA1
              • 25 Jul 2019

              Anonymous, 25 Jul 2019Then whose to blame for the thick bezels and ugly design. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

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                • Anonymous
                • xtS
                • 25 Jul 2019

                Then whose to blame for the thick bezels and ugly design.

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                  • Adul Al Salami Kebab
                  • nrX
                  • 25 Jul 2019

                  The same RED that slaps a SSD in a N64 cartridge they spray painted red blames the poor hard working OEM? Their reputation have reached a new low... V-V

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                    • Anonymous
                    • 39h
                    • 25 Jul 2019

                    What's new? Americans blaming China for their own problems and screw-ups. Masters at shifting blame, moving goal-posts, and rewriting history.

                      .alpha, 25 Jul 2019So RED tried to sell a $500 China white label phone for $16... moreMore like a $150 China white label, considering that the processor was 1 generation old, and the imaging sensor was also rather mediocre.

                        clearly it's the Chinese's fault for people not buying an outdated , overpriced , fugly , mediocre crap :D

                          Typical, no-one wants to take responsibility for their actions.
                          It was RED's fault for not oversight of the proper hardware, and release. They had the chance, every step of the way, to say to the pre-orderers: Look its not coming out like we hoped, so here's your money back.

                          The real stinger is, that RED actually knew how crappy the phone was. They did do the oversight. But they didn't care, and they wanted to rip off their loyal fanbase. They thought and hoped they could nickel/dime them and get away with it.

                          They didn't expect the deserved backlash. And now, the company is trying to save their reputation (which is deserved, since even their cameras are looking kinda bad) and portray them as the good guy. Only slimy people do this, and the stupid masses let them getaway with it: hence, we need a lot stronger education for children AND adults to flex their critical thinking brains, and break this vicious cycle of making ourselves the victims of our stupidity!!

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                            • Ddh
                            • YQt
                            • 25 Jul 2019

                            Or maybe because they made a phone that nobody asked for?

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                              • Anonymous
                              • bJt
                              • 25 Jul 2019

                              What about the “holographic display”? Lol

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                                • Anonymous
                                • kgd
                                • 25 Jul 2019

                                I know i'm not the only one who wanted this phone to succeed. When the teasers were released for this phone, some people were super hyped. Then, it got delayed, delayed, and delayed, and then the time it finally came, it was an outdated phone w/ a very disappointing, somewhat gimmicky 3D display. A shame that this phone flopped so badly, but perhaps if RED perfected it a lot more, it possibly would've done a lot better. I don't have much hope for the next one though, seems to have lost its hype.

                                  Anonymous, 24 Jul 2019Red is a scam,their "cinema grade" BS camera couldn't even ... moreSad .. but true

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                                    • Shui8
                                    • KZK
                                    • 25 Jul 2019

                                    So RED is only a naming for a cheap china phone. Seriously, last time i check, the camera are very bad, let alone the so called professional-cinematic video recording. Even cheap mid ranger phone way better than it.

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                                      • .alpha
                                      • sH@
                                      • 25 Jul 2019

                                      So RED tried to sell a $500 China white label phone for $1600. Nice, good to know

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                                        • Anonymous
                                        • XMP
                                        • 25 Jul 2019

                                        detachable camera sensor this time?

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