RED announced its $1,200 smartphone is coming this summer — take a look at all its futuristic technologies

The Hydrogen One phone, starting at $1,195, was immediately available to preorder.

RED teased an image of the Hydrogen One and gave the popular YouTube tech reviewer Marques Brownlee (known as MKBHD) a nonfunctional prototype, but not much else was shared about the device for several months.

In an update last month on the smartphone's status, RED's founder, Jim Jannard, shared additional details and a rough launch estimate for the final product, which both he and the company's president, Jarred Land, now own.

"I can proudly say that my current phone (and Jarred's) is a working HYDROGEN One... serial numbers EVT1- 0001 and 0002," Jannard wrote on a RED message board. "While there are still a few things to add, it does everything we need from a cell phone... plus display 4-view content. It is awesome. If we never sell one phone... I am totally happy. We both have exactly what we wanted."

Here's a closer look at the Hydrogen One smartphone.

Jeff Dunn contributed to an earlier version of this post.

This is the nonfunctional prototype Marques reviewed in July. Right away, you can see its design is much busier than those of most other smartphones. The back has a mix of metal and Kevlar, with a big dual-lens camera, four screws in the corners, a big ruby-like logo, and modular-accessory pins at the bottom.

RED says the base version of the Hydrogen One will use aluminum (for $1,195) and a pricier model will be made of titanium ($1,595).

The sides of the phone, meanwhile, are grooved to fit your fingers. On one side, there's a power button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner, as well as a dedicated button for video recording.

Of the Hydrogen One's industrial design, Jannard said, "This works."

He added: "The scallops make it easier to hold, fish out of your pocket... and looks cool as hell."

On the other side of the phone, you'll see volume buttons.

At the bottom, there's a USB-C port and a headphone jack.

The phone will have multichannel spatial sound for both the internal stereo speakers and the headphones, the update post says. Jannard said the phone would also include a dual SIM slot, which is extremely useful for travelers.

The front of the phone looks pretty standard, with a handful of speaker grilles dotted around a 5.7-inch display. But don't expect the slim bezels of a Samsung Galaxy S8 or an iPhone X here.

In 2D mode, or normal cellphone mode, the resolution is said to be 2560x1440. That's sharper than the 2463x1125 resolution of the slightly bigger iPhone X, which has a 5.8-inch display.

Brownlee said RED walked him through an early demo of the Hydrogen One's "holographic" display tech but that he wasn't able to show it on camera. Brownlee suggested it was a tad rough around the edges and still hard to say how much video content will use it.

For the "holographic" mode, Jannard says, the screen dims a bit before it pops out an image you can see without needing special glasses.

Jannard calls this "4V resolution" and says it's "better than 3D," but what that means isn't completely clear.

The "holographic" tech is optional; if you want to use the Hydrogen One without it, you can. But it's apparently going to have a very large battery for capturing and playing content. Buyers might want to take advantage of the size — and the price.

The Hydrogen One is a pretty large, relatively thick rectangle. Brownlee's comparison shows it's a bit taller and wider than an iPhone 7 Plus and a OnePlus 5.

The smartphone "weighs about 2 ounces more than most 5.7-inch cell phones," since it's a few millimeters bigger and a bit thicker, Jannard said.

"Think SOLID," he added.

Brownlee also tested a potential modular camera accessory. The idea here is to snap on lenses and sensors that would make the Hydrogen One's image quality compete with that of higher-end mirrorless and other small form-factor shooters — and possibly even work as part of a larger professional-style rig.

The phone won't need an additional module to shoot 3D or 4V on either the front or the back cameras, though. The stackable multicomponent modular system is "done through our pogo pin system on the back of the phone," Jannard said.

Brownlee's accessory was also nonfunctional — so again, it's too soon to say how well all of this will work. But unsurprisingly, it looks as if it would make the phone even thicker.

The modules might be worth the extra thickness, though. Jannard teased a YouTube-like network to "sell your 4V projects or give them away for free."

Jannard also mentioned an announcement about social-media partners, meaning you might be able to share "holographic" videos on your existing platforms.

To see more of the Hydrogen One phone, check out Brownlee's full video.

RED Hydrogen Prototype Hands-On!

Jannard said a coming post on the RED forum would show users how to shoot and create 4V content, so maybe we'll get a better glimpse of the functionality soon.

RED is also showing prototypes of the Hydrogen One phone to prospective content-production partners and said it would hold an event in April that customers who have preordered it can also attend.

The Hydrogen One phone isn't expected to ship via carriers until this summer, but preordered unlocked phones will ship earlier.

There's still no official word on carrier support just yet; it will take some time for carriers to certify the device.

Though the phone is chunky and expensive, if it is indeed a modular, glasses-free 3D device, the Hydrogen One will be one of the more interesting smartphones. Of course, we'll have to see a working model first.

RED announced its $1,200 smartphone is coming this summer — take a look at all its futuristic technologies

JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!