Back to the future with Yuneec Breeze 4k

Yuneec China 12-minute flying selfie stick not what the world needs.

Good ideas catch on and are quickly imitated, as the selfie stick shows. But it is unlikely that UAV drone manufacturers will look to copy a drone “selfie” like the Yuneec Breeze 4k that gets easily buffeted by the wind with a battery life counted optimistically at 12 minutes.

Indeed, unlike the Yuneec Breeze 4k, if a selfie stick is damaged or lost it can be easily replaced. But the beetle-shaped 1-pound Yuneec drone at US$500 makes the prospect of damage or flyaways a bit costlier.

On damages, the Yuneec Breeze 4K does come with fold-in propellers, but not a dedicated carrier offering foam or other protection. The landing gear in the Breeze is made of plastic that can easily chip or break if carried in a backpack unprotected and hand guards for the propellers are missing-in-action.

Just that R&D effort alone raises question about the commitment of Yuneec to quality and reliable usage as it targets first-time drone buyers in a push that UAV drone manufacturers just starting out appear to have already won with prices as low as $99 for versatile models that can add 4K cameras from other manufacturers.

In fact, even the 4K in the Yuneec Breeze 4K name should be taken with a grain of salt as many early reviewers suggest using 1080P to get a more stable and ready-to-use video because of the patchy connection via an APP to smartphone WiFi and limited range of 80 meters–and then hopefully post it to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube Instagram or WhatsApp.

At that price and for far better camera features at a 2.7K video feed and a 3-axis gimbal and reliability the DJI Phantom 3 Standard is true value for money, especially for first-time drone buyers, and time tested for GPS reliability and under $500. There is really no comparison that the Yuneec Breeze 4K can stand up to.

In fact, unlike the Yuneec drone, the DJI Phantom 3 returns to the user at the press of a button and does the same if the control signal is ever lost and the stability of the drone in flight and hover brings back razor-sharp images.

However, the Yuneec Breeze 4k camera is not mechanically stabilized when filming in 4K, though images are electronically stabilized at 1080p–showing that 4K is not always 4K.

All of this has caught the attention of initial reviews of the Breeze with comparisons not at the nimbler and reliable models like the DJI series, but at newer drones that have flying times more than double the Yuneec Breeze 4K.

And the inevitable comparison of the Yuneec Breeze 4K is to the Yuneec Q500 4K, which has struggled as a bulky product beset by internal WiFi card issues and GPS reliability. Yuneec has attempted to move on from the Q500 4K with the Typhoon H class-but the legacy problems have reportedly impacted production and engineering fixes for the hexacopter.

In fact, some drone pilots suggest Yuneec risks getting lost in the crowd of low-end drone manufacturers that for now are not in the long-term game of innovation to gain customer loyalty like DJI.

 

The post Back to the future with Yuneec Breeze 4k appeared first on Drone Inner.

Flying Hover Camera in your room

The Hover Camera Passport is an easy-to-use flying camera, safe, portable and takes up little space because it is foldable. It does not “fly up” like a drone, but can simply be aired. Among its main features is the face tracking so that the focus of the image is on the faces, even with movement. It also has body tracking, allowing images to be taken even if the person is walking, jogging, skating, cycling or dancing because the Hover Camera can follow the activities following the person and run in 360 ° orbit.

As the Hover Camera has a closed fiber protector, it is possible to pick it up even in the air, without problems. The whole apparatus weighs only 242 grams, which facilitates the transport and allows the use in any place. The camera reaches a maximum speed of 8 meters per second and a height of up to 2000 meters. Its maximum navigation time is 10 minutes, without wind. It can operate in temperatures of 5 to 35 ° C. For those who like high technology, it records videos in 4K with 13MP in MP4 format, in addition to producing photos. It has 32G memory capacity.

But despite having good features, this camera should not be used over long distances, as from 60 meters you can lose the wifi connection. When this happens, it hovering in the room waiting for the person to come in to reconnect. But the Hover Camera is perfect for flying in small spaces, such as a house or an apartment, by the size, stability and sensors it has.

It also has a flash, plus a fact that reiterates that it was designed to be used in close-up photos and not in the distance. Hover Camera does not make images that can be used in movies, but are great for work, social networking or personal use.

The application is self-explanatory and very easy to use. The Hover Camera can also be flown manually via joysticks on the screen of the mobile application, a great additional benefit. It is a very good experience, because at least part of the fun of owning a drone is that it is capable of flying alone. Firmware updates are provided regularly with great upgrades, new features and more intelligence.

The new “toy” is impressing. The Hover Camera is being sold on average for $599.

The post Flying Hover Camera in your room appeared first on Drone Inner.