Get your Hover Camera in 2018

The commercial drone market is literally soaring right now so any new addition will attract some attention. So to the latest craze in the drone market: Zero Zero Robotics’s Hover Camera.

At a price point on the low side in this group of $599, is it a good choice for new flyers? Let’s take a look.

# “Hover Camera might be a nice product but their service sucks. Be warned, if you email them it will take them a week to respond to you. I purchased in October and in December still have not seen my order moved from “payed” in “my orders” on their website. Despite the fact they had a sale in the last two weeks before Xmas for people to buy it and have it shipped before Dec 25th (if you lived in USA or China). Meaning they decided to give priority with their stock to people who send them their money 2 weeks ago vs people who purchased almost 3 months ago, even if not in US or China it makes no sense since they know international shipments take longer. After a week of waiting for an answer to my email about it they told me mine would ship in last week of December, and guess what….not! Very bad customer service.”

# “Almost mid-January and still nothing…I have canceled my order because they keep lying to me and pretending it’s being shipped “this week” for the past 3 weeks but it actually isn’t. I have been following a few posts on their facebook page where people complain about the Hover Camera customer service and delays in delivery and it made me decide to cancel. It also seems their QA is very bad with many persons having to return the product as soon as they got it because it would only work for a few seconds then die…imagine the wait time on that. Having to return it and then wait for them to decide to repair, then ship back…maybe get it in 2018 when there would be plenty of better products out there.”

# “I have wasted my money for Hover Camera! Arrived after waited 3 long months to be delivered. When I received it, It was faulted Hover device did not work. (after battery gets charged fully, nothing wrong with batteries). When I made a claim to them, they asked me to make video to proof that is faulty. Now they recommend me to ship it back to them for customer service I have to pay for shipping to China and it’s not going to be new product.

My advice is for you all don’t buy it!”

# “I wouldn’t buy Hover Camera if I were you. I received one with a defective battery. I contacted them right after opening and they never responded to me to fix the issue they caused. I had to pay for a broken product. Waste of money.”

Scan forums or some social medias like Facebook, you could find many responses toward Hover Camera customer service like these above.

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Hover Camera app: One of my favorite parts

Taking exceptional photos and videos is extremely easy with your flying camera, Hover Camera Passport.

The Hover Camera Passport has an accompanying app that gives you a fair number of controller layout options. You can fly with two virtual joysticks if you’re familiar with traditional controls; use the simplified layout if you just need to get the camera in position; or even turn on tilt mode and steer the drone around by tilting your phone in any direction. As with most smartphone-based controls, the Passport’s manual modes do feel a bit loose and imprecise — but we still appreciate the ability to switch up the control scheme.

It was simple and easy to understand even without the instructional screens. As someone who rarely reads instructions, that’s a huge plus from me. Plus, the Hover Camera Passport doesn’t require any bulky remote controls. That’s one less thing to charge, one less thing to keep track of, and one less thing to pack.

You can just look down at the app and fly, since the controls sit on top of a real-time video feed coming from the Passport. Whether the camera is recording or not, you can see what your Hover Camera sees at all times. It’s a little disorienting at first, but once you get used to it you can fly without ever having to look up.

The app itself performed admirably; it never once lagged on my Nexus 5x running Android Nougat, and I had the same results with a friend’s iPhone 5s running iOS 10.

The Hover Camera is now available at $599 with 8mins flight time.

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Hover Camera Passport review

Chinese drone-maker Zero Zero Robotics announced its Hover Camera Passport drone and $25 million in funding from investors including IDG, GSR Ventures, ZhenFund and ZUIG.

Being like a drone camera, it offers three modes of photography: 720P, 1080P and 4K. And the Snapdragon 801 processor allows easy recording in 4K, 13MP photo or 720P images in real time. It can recognize a human face and then track it. Hover Camera Passport also supports 360° shooting, throw-and-fly, automatic hovering etc.

And its foldable design gives it a weight that is only at 242g, lighter than iPad Mini. And its foldable size of 18 * 13cm is just a little big as a passport.

But the key to this drone’s design is the safety. The carbon fiber enclosure design protects the propellers, a design move that could have prevented injuries caused by the sharp blades of whirring propellers.

“I want it to be portable, I want it to be safe, I want it to be user friendly,” said Zero Zero Robotics CEO M.Q. Wang, a former Twitter software engineer. “Our goal is to build personal robotics for anyone.”

While the company has really tried to balance efficiency and safety, the result isn’t fully satisfying. As shown above, an adult woman can put her finger through openings in the cover, and of course kids can, too. So for all parents out there: this is not a toy for your kids to play with alone. With such a seemingly safe design, it’s actually more likely that accidents will occur.

It’s something that realistically could compete with the more inexpensive drones from the two established market players, Phantom maker DJI and Yuneec. DJI so far has received at least $105 million in two rounds of venture funding, and Yuneec in August received $60 million in funding from Intel Capital.

Zero Zero Robotics was founded in 2014 and has about 80 employees, Wang said, but the company managed to remain largely unheard of until now.

The Hover Camera Passport is priced at $599. To step back for a second, consumers can buy a Parrot drone or DJI’s Phantom 3S starting. From $499. This new drone-in-a-grill has 10-minute flight, a controllable range of 20m and doesn’t support a remote control, working only through an app. So, is $599 cheap? There are a number of factors to consider.

“We wanted to make sure we solved a lot of hard engineering problems first,” Wang said.

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Hover Camera buy:Is $599 Too High

The Hover Camera is one of the more unique flying cameras we’ve ever seen, focusing on a durable and portable lightweight design, competitive price, and ease of use through an iPhone app.

Just like Lily and Zano, as the marketing message goes, it’s aiming for the selfie market. Like the others, it has attracted a fair bit of attention from the time it was first unveiled in April.

The official release unit is compact, foldable and weighs only 240 grams. It can recognize a human face and then track it. Hover Camera also supports 360° shooting, throw-and-fly, automatic hovering etc. The drone is priced at $599.

To step back for a second, consumers can buy a Parrot drone or DJI’s Phantom 3S starting. From $499. This new drone-in-a-grill has 10-minute flight, a controllable range of 20m and doesn’t support a remote control, working only through an app. So, is $599 cheap? There are a number of factors to consider.

There are three levels of consumer drone:

• Low-end “selfie drones”(under $400)

Example: Dobby

Features: Focusing on selfies, 4k video, flight time within 10 minutes, electronic image stabilization, limited flight range, controlled by smartphone.

• Consumer drones for aerial imaging (Above $650)

Example：DJI Mavic, DJI Phantom series

Features: Focusing on aerial photography, flight time around 27 minutes, three-axis gimbal, long transmission range, uses remote controller.

• Drones for professional photography (Above $1,500)

Example: DJI Inspire series

Features: Cinematic footage of higher quality, better camera, dual controllers.

There isn’t any mature product between $400-$650 yet. The Hover Camera is trying to wedge itself into this market segment. But, when you lay out its features, side-by-side with rivals, it’s simply too expensive as a “selfie drone.” And then ask yourself these questions:

1. Do we actually need a drone to take selfies?
2. Enclosing propellers with a cover, is that innovation or marketing?
3. Do you want to lower your technical expectations, yet still pay a high price for promised “safety?”

In summary, $599 for the Hover Camera is a bit rich for our blood. Drones with far more features, better cameras – stabilized ones – start $100 below that price point and get steadily better as they creep above it by another $100 or $200. The Hover Camera is cute, but it makes too many compromises and comes in at too high a price.

( Source )

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Hover Camera:Your new selfie stick?

If you are a selfie addict, this gadget should be in your arsenal of selfie accessories. Introducing the Hover Camera Drone.

Toss that selfie stick away. You can now get a flying selfie drone that will buzz around and take your photos for you. The Hover Camera from ZeroZero Robotics folds up small enough to fit in your backpack, so you can take it along on all your selfie adventures. Don’t worry, you don’t need to send your phone flying to use the Hover Camera ; it already comes with a built-in camera.

The drone is designed to fly around autonomously, following you and filming you from the air. It’s like a very fancy airborne selfie stick. Set it to automatically track your face or body, or control it like a regular drone using an app.

One big disadvantage to the Hover Camera is that it lacks a gimbal. Instead, it uses electronic image stabilization(EIS) to counter shake in photos. But EIS is only available while taking photos and cannot ensure that video shooting goes smoothly and stably.

In addition, the Hover Camera has a maximum hovering time of up to 10 minutes without wind. Though you get two batteries in the package, 20 minutes is not a lot of time to enjoy taking your selfies while hanging out. Excluding the time it takes to strike a pose or mug for the camera, you’re not going to get that many shots off before your battery is out of juice.

What makes it intriguing despite them is the clever folding design. A cage-like structure protects fingers from the propellers. You can even grab it right out of the air when you’re done filming.

It’s on sale now, but you may balk at the $599 price, which is a lot to ask for a personal selfie drone. You can get a very capable DJI Phantom 3 Standard $499 for less, after all. But if you love capturing your own image, and want to put an aerial spin on your selfies, the Hover Camera looks like a promising option for narcissists with deep pockets.

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Hover Camera or Phone to take selfies?

Advances in smartphone photography over the past decade have given us amazing rear-facing snappers. The introduction of accessories such as the selfie stick has taken this addiction to new levels, which begs the question: what’s next in the evolution of the self-taken image?

The answer may well be the ‘selfie drone’, such as the Hover Camera. It’s billed as pocket-sized and, to be fair, it does actually slip into your jeans with a little encouragement. The Hover Camera Passport sports a 13MP snapper that can shoot videos in 4K resolution and at the same time offer live 720 video feed of the ultra HD footage. This drone has sonar and optical sensors that make it possible for the Hover Camera to be stable and steady once in position. It is also powered with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor that has artificial intelligence to track and detect bodies as well as run advanced proprietary computer vision.

But will this sub $599 drone really improve your selfie game, or are you better off simply holding your phone at arm’s – or stick’s – length?

When taking the “mirror shot”, the Hover Camera is a godsend in this regard, but it does require some forward planning – you have to position the drone correctly, and then take a ‘timed’ shot using the accompanying app. You can then put your phone in your pocket and pull your perfect pose.

Of course, all this is ignoring the fact that you don’t actually need a mirror to take a shot when your camera is totally mobile, but when have selfies ever been about common sense and logic? And one issue with this shot is that when operating Hover Camera indoors, you run the risk of it colliding with furniture or light fittings – not an ideal scenario when you’re talking about a piece of tech which costs almost $599.

Given the amount of setting up involved, we’d call it even between drone and camera in this case – the Hover Camera doesn’t really make things any more convenient.

When all you’re interested in is grabbing an image of your smug, smiling face to share with the world, the Hover Camera doesn’t really make all that much sense. Your phone is the perfect tool for these kind of shots.

The drone does a commendable job of remaining stable indoors thanks to its optical flow technology, but we had a few too many close calls with furniture for comfort.

If for landmark shot or group shot, the Hover Camera could definitely be for you. Simply angle the camera downwards and track the drone back slightly until everyone is in shot, and you’ve got the perfect group photo.

It only takes a second to whip out your handset and compose a snap with your trust phone. However, there are obvious limitations – that’s where drones comes in, and if you’re serious about elevating your selfie game then they’re a very useful tool. You can take some seriously impressive aerial photos.

However, there are downsides to drones – setting up a shot takes longer as you have to get the drone in the air, and once you do, flight time is limited due to the fact that the battery only lasts around 8 minutes at the very most. The cost is also a sticking point – drones such as the Hover Camera don’t come cheap.

 

 

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Hover Camera Passport, drone or camera that steals itself

For the drone, we know a lot of types, like drone FPV, racing drone, drone of aerial photography. But today, I will introduce a new drone that uses super-advanced technologies. It is called “Hover Camera Passport“.

It is not like aerial photography drones on the market. The Hover Camera Passport is the first drone, or one can say the first smart camera that flies itself for the majority of consumers. Super safe and super portable thanks to its enclosed and foldable enclosed design.

Super smart

After activated the auto tracking feature, it uses face and body recognition on the basis of CNN. Hover Camera can quickly find the goals and you decide the choice. After double clicking the lens on the real-time image of the application, it starts the tracking photograph.

Release on the finger and Recover in half air

With the calculation of the flight controller independent study, the original sensor data is evaluated at a frequency of 1 kHz to sense the fuselage take-off condition in order to quickly adjust the flight controller’s orders. For the drive, it uses FOC calculation which allows a fast and effective rotation motor. And its lightweight design and complete fuselage protection offers a finger-lift and super safety.

Super close flight brings a special visual angle

A super close interaction allows you to be on the spot, and the visual angle of god is focused on you. The complete protection design, the sensors whose fused technology that fits inside and outside and the super flight close to you give a super close photography experience that never exists.

Being like a drone camera, it offers three modes of photography: 720P, 1080P and 4K. And the Snapdragon 801 processor allows easy recording in 4K, 13MP photo or 720P images in real time.

And its foldable design gives it a weight that is only at 242g, lighter than iPad Mini. And its foldable size of 18 * 13cm is just a little big as a passport.

The Hover Camera Passport is also applicable to the beginner thanks to the motion-control mode. It’s easy to learn.

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Hover Camera:the drone that takes care of filming you

You are a follower of selfies and you want to take the height with dronies? The drone Hover Camera should become your new friend.

Remember the Lily drone? This quadcopter that follows you to the track to film you with its function follow me. Since then, many drones have come to the forefront and we have been able to meet the Hover Camera drone, a foldable and compact drone that is carried everywhere with you. Its design does not mean a drone, but rather a bird that would be enclosed in a cage. Because the propellers are protected, it is impossible to cut your fingers on takeoff for example.

The Hover Camera drone is capable of filming in 4K and its camera is stabilized numerically. Its face recognition algorithms facilitate the flight in perfect autonomy, but the drone does not know how to avoid the obstacles. We are finally in the presence of a totally autonomous flying camera. Except that if you talk about autonomy, with only 8 minutes of autonomy. It’s little, very little!

During the demonstration, the Hover Camera drone was not very comfortable since the demonstrator did not let it take too high altitude. So we could not judge the automatic tracking capabilities of the device. We are curious to know the performance of the craft when faced with a Mavic Pro which had proved rather convincing on its ability to track and avoid obstacles.

The Hover Camera drone is available at 599 dollars, or about 600 euros once the various taxes are added. It’s a bit expensive in the face of a Parrot Bebop 2 that has been equipped with automatic tracking features and is much more powerful.

 

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Some tricks you need to know about the Hover Camera Passport

The Hover Camera Passport is a follow-up photography drone rather than a aerial photography drone. I’d like to call it the camera robot.

The aerial photography drone is operated according to the orders of the remote control. That is to say, it is you, the telepilot that controls the drone. But for the Hover Camera Passport, its characteristic that impresses me is that it can control itself. And as for a knowledge to be noticed, the majority of drones are controlled by the flight controller, and the telepilot gives orders to the flight controller by the remote control. But for Hover Camera Passport, there’s a difference. First, it can be controlled by the remote control, and it can also control itself thanks to the chip in which it integrates artificial intelligences. This is the first time we have seen a commercial drone with an integrated AI chip. The Hover Camera redefines the standard higher for the commercial drone.

The autonomy of this intelligent drone is about 8 minutes. Maybe you say why it’s just 8 minutes is not enough for me. But this is a drone that flies at a low altitude, if you want to fly it at a high altitude, well, you have to prepare several batteries.

The Hover Camera Passport is also a drone that is super safe as ever, even a child can play through its complete fuselage protection design. Even the propellers are covered with the plates, and this reduces the risk inside. And for take-off on finger, it’s better to do it in an open-air area, and the sonar location takes a little while, maybe it flies to a direction for a few seconds before being stable.

And finally, the Hover Camera Passport is interactive. Why? Because it can be controlled by several people, for example, you can use it with your family together, just push it to another person. The drone is no longer an exclusive thing for people who have the remote control. We can play together.

But better than talking, a video below will show you its mystery.

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4 key questions to find out Hover Camera

Instead of being a jack-of-all-trades, this Hover Camera from Zero Zero Robotics is built specifically for taking selfies and follow footage — We asked four key questions to find out whether it’ll be worth the price of admission in the dawn of a burgeoning drone industry.

So what’s it all about?

There are three main features that give Hover Camera its distinctiveness (if we can call it that). To start with it’s aiming at a very specific market. It’s not really a high-performance aerial imaging machine. So where does it fit in? Well, it’s a low flying one take selfie drone at best and probably for reasons we’ll go into later. Another distinctive feature is its enclosed or ‘housed’ propellers that are electric fanlike in execution but evidently safe to handle. The Hover Camera is light (242g) with a foldable design that can fold into the size of a hardback book.

Does it perform well?

The quick answer would be a resounding no. It does’t perform well at all. But the easiest thing to do would be to break down the Hover Camera’s performance in the following ways.

Camera and image sensor – with a 1/3.06 inch CMOS sensor and 13 million effective pixels the Hover Camera’s camera is simply too small to capture decent images. It’s likely outdated too with a small sensor today’s mobile phone manufacturers wouldn’t even use.

GPS – the Hover Camera only has a paltry 20m wireless video transmission range, which is much shorter than Dobby’s at 100m and absolutely nothing compared to DJI’s Mavic Pro with 7km! However, since the Hover Camera uses optical flow and a front camera SDK to hover, it’s a lot small and ‘floaty’ than the Dobby or Mavic Pro and is therefore susceptible to catch drift in the wind.

Flight Time – a total flying time of just eight minutes and before you know how to even use it, you’ll be recharging or putting new batteries in for another quick round. In practical terms, eight minutes is simply not enough for any kind of photo-shoot without this small inconvenience. Zero Zero have countered this by claiming that they will be giving users spare batteries for orders but for the price, we’re not so sure.

On Board Intelligence – let’s just say that the Hover Camera doesn’t have much in terms of intelligent features ad certainly DJI’s Mavic Pro is the big daddy in that department. When we tested it the active track function lost track of it’s subject several times. A big no no. 

What’s that you say? More than $600!?

For a starting price of $599 and for the features you get and cost and low battery power time, we honestly think you’re better of with a $5 selfie stick and saving your money for a DJI Mavic Pro. Even if you do fork out for a Hover Camera you’ll soon be pining for something more sophisticated and with better overall performance. Mavic Pro is still even cheaper than that.

Verdict

If we had to rate this, it would be 2/10. Zero Zero Robotics have potential but this first generation of Hover Camera really blows. Its natural competitors would be the Dobby, Yuneec Breeze or even Parrot’s AR drones but we would go for any of them first before forking out for a Hover Camera.

( Source )

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Hover Camera: the amazing foldable drone

The drone market is in full swing, many manufacturers are putting themselves there, with devices for all tastes, so there are drones of speed for drone races, or others can follow the sportsmen in full Action in order to film the exploits in aerial view.The Chinese startup Zero Zero Robotics proposes a new drone, Hover Camera, based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight drone platform, featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, is the future of personal paparazzi.

Wang was initially inspired by Alone Across Australia, a 2001 documentary about Jon Muir’s 1,600-mile solo trek across Australia. The adventurer filmed the entire experience himself, which proved to be quite a hassle; he constantly had to walk ahead, set up the camera, and retrace his steps. Wang thought there had to be a better solution — a camera that could follow and film simultaneously.

Wang went on to found Zero Zero Robotics with Tony Zhang, a fellow Stanford University alum. The company’s flagship product is the Hover Camera, a foldable drone that takes 13-megapixel stills and 4K video. What’s really exciting is that the drone doesn’t need a controller; it’s self-flying.

That’s because the Hover Camera is based on the Snapdragon Flight platform, powered by the Snapdragon 801 processor. The drone can follow its subjects while being mindful of objects that may be in its way. Multiple sensors, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, and barometer, work together to keep the drone at a steady altitude (up to 164 feet or 50 meters). A sonar sensor and ground-facing camera help the drone fly steady, so photos and videos aren’t blurry.

The Hover Camera app can be used to track faces and bodies, as well as provide a live video stream and a 360-degree panoramic mode. The drone has 32GB of internal memory and an 8-minute battery life that can be extended with swappable batteries. A micro-USB 3.0 Type B cable can be used to transfer the captured media to a computer.

Enclosed in a portable, carbon-fiber case, the drone is lightweight yet durable. Its four propellers spin inside the casing, sparing clumsy fingers from unfortunate accidents. At 8.4 ounces, the Hover Camera doesn’t need U.S. FAA drone registration, a requirement for drones that weigh 8.8 ounces (250 grams) or more.

The Hover Camera is priced at $600. Learn more about the self-flying drone on the Hover Camera.

( Source )

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Discover the Hover Camera drone

Called the Hover Camera, the drone is designed to take perfect pictures thanks to image stabilisation technology and a built-in 13MP camera that will revolutionize the realization of selfies and photos of products or events.

The drones, technology initially reserved for the military, are more and more common in our daily life. For $599, everybody can afford this small flying camera, even if the most powerful models explode this budget.

A worthy substitute for the selfies boom, the Hover Camera drone shoots and takes high-quality photos, and can be controlled by a user’s smartphone via a Wi-Fi connection.

 The first drones were relatively heavy and dangerous, the propellers allowing the camera to fly away being unprotected. The latest models, and those being manufactured and marketed as the “Hover Camera” from Zero Zero Robotics feature protections and are much lighter.

The company said: “Hover Camera captures exciting moments, whether snapping an aerial family vacation photo, capturing the perfect shot from above the rim at a basketball game, or recording your wedding while you walk down the aisle.”

The Hover Camera drone uses AI algorithms to intelligently navigate its environment and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Flight drone platform.

 Meng Qiu ‘MQ’ Wang of Zero Zero Robotics told that rival drones are too difficult for people to fly without crashing or endangering others, but the Hover Camera is easier to fly.

For example, users of Hover Camera can select an auto-follow mode or input a location they want the drone to fly too, possibly recording its path along the way.

Stabiliser technology prevents fuzzy footage,while algorithms allow the drone to recognise faces and follow them.Though some reviewers pointed out that the electronic stabilization the Passport uses is working overtime, and without it videos would be un-watchable. The problem she had was that even with the electronic stabilization working overtime, the videos often came out choppy. As for the recognition technology, it’s actually a little difficult to get the camera to follow you if you aren’t moving extremely slowly and staying in its field of vision at all times. So, it’ll follow you on a run in a straight line, but it tends to cut out or “lose” you if you turn — even if you go slowly.

The Hover Camera drone can hover at a specific distance from the ground by using sonar and a bottom-facing camera to hold it in place, like an invisible tripod. However, it is unable to dodge obstacles due to a lack of cameras on its sides.

The drone can hover at a height of up to 164 ft (50 metres) and its altitude can be adjusted by swiping the phone screen used to control it.

While a two-finger vertical swipe controls the altitude, the drone can be steered by swiping left and right.

The drone can additionally be folded in two, meaning it can be easily stashed in a bag.

Carbon-fibre casing protects users from being cut by its four blades, while its battery gives the gadget 8 minutes of fly time.

Weighing just nine ounces (238g) the company claims its light enough so it doesn’t have to be registered with the Federal Aviation Authorities (FAA).

Thanks to the Hover Camera drone, the selfies will no longer have any limits.

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Hover Camera could recognize and follow you

The Startup Zero Zero Robotics has introduced its concept of an autonomous quad flying, but the drone rather than “flying camera”. Hover Camera could recognize people and follow these independently – without needing GPS.

With Hover Camera, the Chinese Startup Zero Zero Robotics wants to launch a quad-copter on the market, which the company itself rather than flying camera designates. Hover Camera has a built-in 13 megapixel camera with image stabilization and thanks to built-in algorithms can recognize faces and keep them apart.

The user can then select a face, which Hover Camera subsequently follows independently. In doing so, the aircraft does not orient itself with the help of GPS like other flight cameras, such as the Lily Camera, but via the built-in camera. A second camera is for support: it is directed downwards.

Hover Camera is particularly easy to use: In a video the inventors of the flying camera show how the device is simply released in the air. Then it floats on the spot. To ensure that the user does not damage the rotors, they are housed in a carbon fiber housing.

The rotors can be folded away together with their protective cage. Hover Camera is then only as big as a pocket book. The control of the drone, or the selection of the object to be tracked, is done via a smartphone. Inside the flying camera, a Snapdragon-801 processor, which is responsible for the implementation of the sequence algorithms.

In a conversation with IEEE Spectrum, the hover-camera makers have stated that there are already 1,000 functioning units. 200 of them are to be given to Betatester, on the website interested parties can apply. Zero-Zero founder Meng Qui Wang has further plans for his flying camera: he can also imagine the flying machine as a flying eye for other household robots. Then Hover Camera should warn the other devices, for example, of obstacles.

Hover Camera is priced at 600 US dollars with 8 flight time.

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Hover Camera: An interesting flying camera

( Video from DeathByVlog )

Want something that looks like it has been taken out of Sci-Fi novel? Introducing the Hover Camera Passport – a device that floats! Yes, it really does float. It also can be folded down to the size of a book, so it can fit in your backpack or bag.

The Hover Camera drone features a 13MP camera capable of capturing photos at 4K resolution and offers 32GB of internal storage. To get started, you need to toss the Hover into the air, after which you will be able to control it via your smartphone.

The Hover Camera features face tracking and body tracking capabilities and can capture 360 degrees of panoramic video or orbit autonomously around you in circles.

This drone is a bit more expensive than the others – it can be yours for $599, but we have to admit is a really fascinating piece of technology. If you want to get a more powerful portable drone, then Mavic Pro is for you.

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Could the Hover Camera crush DJI?

Unfamiliar to most costumers, the Zero Zero Robotics company has stirred the drone industry with the Hover Camera, a drone with a compact and unusual design. At launch, it was widely covered in traditional media and went viral on social media for a number of reasons: being the first selfie drone on the market, a charismatic CEO, exposure on talk shows, etc.

Could the Hover Camera crush DJI? Let’s take a closer look at the drone.

Zero Zero Robotics’s original idea was a selfie drone but what it actually came out with it more like a “tracking drone.” It’s a rather abrupt shift from one concept to another and possibly dangers as consumers prefer to stick with what they know.

Launched with first-class advertising and web design, the company even advertised on TV, which is an even more powerful platform. Yet, the moments following the launch weren’t in as high of a spirit.

DJI’s impressive Mavic Pro may not have had the impactful launch of the Hover Camera. But while Zero Zero Robotics has $25M in venture capital from investor, it seemingly has little more than this following their lackluster launch.

1. Market

This year has seen a number of portable drones being launched, including Dobby, Yuneec’s Breeze, GoPro’s Karma, DJI’s Mavic Pro, Tencent’s Ying, etc. Looking at how it’s positioned in its market, the Hover Camera competes directly with Dobby and not so much with DJI.

2. Timing

A successful launch needs more than a good concept; marketing, distribution, manufacturing capacity, and especially timing is crucial for success.

Based on this, the Hover Camera looks weak as a competitor. Dobby beat it to their launch, while the Mavic Pro performs significantly better for serious aerial photography.

3. Product

The Hover Camera has a unique design and unique functionality. But uniqueness doesn’t guarantee the survival of Zero Zero Robotics, and it doesn’t mean they can challenge their giant competitors.

4. Pricing

The Hover Camera’s pricepoint is seemingly far too high. Its launch price of $599 meant competing with the Mavic Pro and Phantom 3. It’s also significantly more expensive than the Dobby at $399. This is something that could have and should have been controlled during the design process.

Mavic Pro	$999	Yuneec Breeze	$599	Dobby	$399
Mavic w/o RC	$749	Phantom 3 Standard	$499	AR Drone	$299

5. Performance

While DJI’s Phantom and Inspire series set standards for aerial photography, but we’re yet to see a clear standard setting product in the selfie drone market. Hover Camera has traded performance for “100% safety” as they call it and that’s possibly something they regret. Like DJI did with the Mavic Pro, both performance and safety needs to be taken into consideration.

Conclusion

Unlike other companies in the selfie drone market, Zero Zero Robotics did not crowd fund the launch of the Hover Camera. Still, it faces intense competition from players like DJI and Xiaomi and the company has a tough road ahead. To say the least.

( Source )

 

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Does Hover Camera Sacrifice Performance for Size?

Zero Zero’s new Hover Camera is a unique offering – a tiny, foldable camera with wings. You can easily control it with your smartphone or even let it follow you around as it automatically tracks and captures you on camera. But while the concept is appealing, questions remain: is the technology ready for being rolled out to the market? Which such constraints put on engineers and components due to size, it’s a challenge to create a high-performing product.

Let’s take a look at how the Hover Camera performs in real life, in three important aspects.

Stability

This tiny drone by necessity comes with tiny motors and propellers powered by a tiny battery. This leads is to wonder how it performs outdoors, in moderate to strong winds. As we found in our hands-on tests and as confirmed by Tested in their review, the Hover Camera has trouble even with the slightest bit of wind, and is easily pushed away from its path. Together with the fact that it uses Electronic Image Stabilization instead of a mechanical gimbal, the Hover Camera is just not stable enough for reliable image-making.

Flight time

There’s no way around the fact that a tiny drone can only fit a tiny battery. The Hover Camera has a real-world flight time of about 7 minutes while filming, meaning that you have to carefully plan every shot so as not to run out of batteries. This means that while small, Zero Zero’s drone takes a lot of effort to use even though the product is supposed to be effortless.

Camera

The Hover Camera also packs a tiny camera sensor that performs on par with 2-3 year old smart phones, much below what an iPhone 7 or Samsung S7 can do. Because of the small sensor, both low light and bright light photography suffers as the dynamic range is simply too small. Night time photos are noisy and dark, while sunny photos exhibit blown out highlights and little detail.

The vision recognition feature also suffers in low-light conditions for the same reason.

Conclusion: Toy-like performance

Because of the compromises made in engineering the Hover Camera and the current state of technology, this flying camera really only performs as expected under ideal conditions. Any time it is moved outside of the lab, it becomes more like a toy than a product with a $600 price tag.

( Source )

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Is Hover Camera the next Lily drone?

The Hover Camera has an eye-catching appearance and folds up a bit like a barbecue clip. Its four propellers and motors are encased in an intricate carbon-fiber framework. The design prevents people from harming themselves from spinning propellers. However, we’re not sure how safe the gaps are and much like domestic fans, we’d be worried about our children’s fingers or toes get caught mid spin from impulsive curiosity. From our point of view, this isn’t a good design especially when you take aerodynamics into consideration.

Covering the propellers comes at the cost of increased weight and reduced efficiency. Because of this, the cover has to be hollowed out as much as possible to reduce weight and extend flight time (in practice, the  Hover camera helicopter can fly for about 8 minutes on a single charge).In any case, it’s urgent for users to find their pose, the passport’s flight time is embarrassing.

In a brief demo, the Hover Camera showed its promise, but also its limitations. It struggled outside in a mild wind. A bottom-facing camera helps keep the Hover a steady height off the ground, but the lack of side-facing cameras leave it unable to avoid other obstacles on its own. And like other drones, it’s still on the loud side.

The appeal of Hover Camera is that its small size and basic functions will allow people to record both inside and out, and let them stay close to the action, whether that’s a wedding or a game of pickup basketball. Weighing just 238 grams, Hover is small enough that owners won’t have to register with federal regulators.

And Hover Camera is incredibly easy to control. Unfold it, tap the power button, fire up the smartphone app, and you’re piloting via virtual joystick on the screen. Using a combination of downward-facing sonar and AI, it simply floats in position wherever you place it. Moreover, it gently moves up, down, and 360 degrees around on command, snapping 13MP photos and near-4K video at the tap of a finger.

Hover is using Qualcomm’s drone technology, while Foxconn will do the actual manufacturing. The company has quietly raised about $25 million in funding over the past two years.

At $599, it’s a pricey selfie-snapping accessory, but considering the thing is roughly the size of a Kindle, it makes the most sense as a travel companion since it can capture vistas and memories from jet-setting adventures around the world in a way even the best smartphone cameras cannot.

 

 

 

 

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Who is the Hover Camera for?

Zero Zero Robotics’s first drone Hover Camera is priced at $599. Let’s take a look at its key features.

Weighing in at at feather lite 242 grams, it’s extremely portable and can be folded to the size of a hardback book. With a maximum flight time of between 8-10 minutes, it runs on normal replaceable batteries and has a 20-meter transmission range through Wi-Fi. The Hover Camera uses optical and sonar sensors to position and steady itself while a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor runs artificial intelligence to detect and track faces or even bodies.

Equipped with 13-megapixel camera, it’s capable of shooting 4K video at 30fps and at the same time offers live 720p HD video. Furthermore, it uses electronic image stabilization (EIS) for anti-shake.

These features sound quite familiar don’t they? In fact, they’re pretty similar to other drones of the same ilk like, Zerotech’s Dobby and Yuneec’s Breeze as well as others. But these drones are priced cheaper than the Hover Camera and they outperform most of it’s features. So why the sky high pricing? What’s so good or so bad about the Hover Camera?

To start with, its propellers are fully enclosed by a strong carbon fiber frame, making it the safest drone we’ve ever played with. Using optical and sonar sensors to position instead of GPS, The Hover Camera is easily affected by lights and can’t really hover precisely. There’s no return-to-home function and without GPS it struggles to outdoors.

No Fly Zone

Additionally, without GPS, the Hover Camera can fly in no-fly zones. But is this an advantage over other drones when really it will never really harm any significant patch of airspace to warrant security lockdown. It’s simply too small and cute.

The overall appeal of the Hover Camera is that it’s easy to carry around. It folds up to the size of a large book and is extremely safe with a casing around the propellers meaning you could probably catch it mid air in flight by just grabbing the body. It would definitely be safe to fly around kids at parties. But if that’s the case, why not just use your phone and a selfie stick to get those extension shots?

For the price, Zero Zero are kind of taking us for a ride. The Hover Camera is not exactly an aerial image maker and though it does what it says on the box i.e. hovers, that’s about it. With all the effort it took to manufacture and market it, why wasn’t more included? In the end, you’d probably be better off saving for a DJI Mavic Pro. That way you’ll have endless exploration and intelligent features at your disposal. Its just a question of time before real customers find this out for themselves.

( Source )

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Hover Camera Falters in Wake of Phantom 3 Standard

Norm Chan is a vlogger from San Francisco who reviews the latest technology. Chan took a look at the Hover Camera from Zero Zero Robotics.

The Hover Camera is a portable drone that is small enough to fit in a handbag. Priced at $599, it’s an entry-level aircraft that may attract an audience that is new to flying drones.

The Hover Camera has a unique and easily identifiable design. Out of the box, it is shaped like an average-sized book but unfolds to reveal propellers that are elegantly protected. The Hover has a downward sonar sensor to know how far it is from the ground. Theoretically, the Hover Camera should be able to hold its position. Unfortunately, it does not use GPS for positioning like the Phantom 3 Standard, which is renowned for its accuracy in the air.

The Hover Camera is controlled with an mobile device app and has a range of 20 meters. The Phantom 3 Standard uses the fully-featured GO app and the range is 1000 meters, fifty times that of the Hover.

The Hover Camera’s 13 megapixel camera can take 4K video but the camera can only be pitched up 30 degrees or down 90 degrees. It does not have the full-range camera movement options of the Phantom 3 Standard. The Phantom has a 3-axis gimbal, which makes video capture very stable. Any effect of wind or vibrations are cancelled out by the motorized gimbal.

Chan discovered several issues with the Hover including its stability outside, the tracking capabilities, and quality of the camera. Specifically, the Hover Camera does not have enough processing power on-board to provide high quality video and the aircraft struggles to remain stable in wind. “Not very impressive,” Chan comments.

The Hover battery lasts for about 10 minutes, whereas the battery flight time of the Phantom 3 Standard is an impressive 25 minutes.

The Phantom 3 can record in 2.7K and 1080p and the aircraft gives you proven multiple intelligent flight options. With the Phantom you can live stream in 720p to your smartphone from the camera and you can broadcast your stream to social media. This capability is unavailable on the Hover.

The wealth of features of the Phantom 3 priced at only $499, $100 less than the Hover Camera, makes it a challenge for many consumers to justify opting for the latter.

Chan found that the flight features referred to as Face Tracking and Body Tracking did not perform in all conditions. “Where the Hover does fail is in the promise of subject tracking and delivering good quality video,” Chad said. It remains ironic, then, that those very features are often touted as the main selling points of the Hover aircraft.

In conclusion, while the Hover Camera Passport has some interesting features, it can’t match up to a trustworthy drone like the Phantom 3 Standard.

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Hover Camera review

While until a few months ago the flying drones with performing rooms could only count on leaders rather bulky and heavy, a few weeks on the market are arrived Karma GoPro and Mavic Pro. DJI and the first ultralight drones for selfies like Dobby. Nonetheless, Hover Camera, having successfully passed the examination, it is ready to take flight as ultralight drones capable of recording 4K movies.

Measuring just 182x132x33mm, and has a total weight of 242 grams that do remain below the regulatory restrictions for the flight of the European drones and US; very particular aesthetic, rather appreciable and original, unlike any drone currently on the market, with a small front camera with a camera to shoot at resolutions up to 4K, or to take selfies and photos automatically.

The Hover Camera drone incorporates brushless motors, all developed in-house and has a heart Qualcomm Snapdragon for a flight in total autonomy. The CPU board can be cooled, as he had suggested in his time drafting engadget, through the air flow passing through the drone from the bottom, flowing cooling the chipset.

The battery on board is just as 1360 mAh, but given the small size of quadcopter, can still ensure a maximum range of about 8 minutes, in the same range of performance of the competitors in the field of drones for selfies, Dobby Zerotech which however has prices (and protection) lower.

The main element of the Hover Camera is the camera, which can take pictures at 13 megapixels, and even record video in 4K at 30fps, equipped with a dual-tone flash that might come in handy when shooting at night or in dark lighting conditions favorable. Image stabilization, since the gimbal assembly has a single axis, occurs via software (as of Parrot Bebop), and the first video already show your shooting skills and stabilization.

The Hover Camera is equipped with radio control, reason for which will be piloted through the mobile application, combining smartphone and aircraft via Wi-Fi. Obviously, the application provides a live video stream, showing on the screen that frames the drone, with a 720p quality; the drone store images and movies in the internal memory of 32 GB.

The cost of this Hover Camera Passport is $599. In the bundle they are included numerous accessories such as extra propellers, a protective case, a carrying case, USB cable, battery charger, two batteries, and more.

 

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