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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Hover Camera:Super cool idea, but there is one main reason I won’t buy it

Hover Camera is aiming for selfies about $600.Worth it?

“I was thinking Hover Camera could be interesting for say group photos (after hike etc) or for videos where one participates in a sports event or say to take a video of climbing up the last little bit of a mountain peak, a team running by, etc. But there are probably more use cases once we understand how it really works.

USD $600 is a bit steep for just another camera though.

Also looks like it would only do close shots well give the size of the lens.”

“It lasts about 7 minutes. Probably too small for much longer. I also don’t see it working outdoor in windy conditions very well due to the small size of body + rotors, which probably also means it’s not the fastest.”

“My only reservation is if Hover Camera things are a bit like tampons, i.e. the ads. kinda imply that you’re going to turn into some kind of super outdoors adventure type if you buy one…and stick it up your whatever…(joke intended Hull/HC)

I bought a Garmin VIRB a couple of years back and stuck it on my helmet (I’m a mountain biker) and I have hours of video of flat trail. It seems so much more technical when you’re riding it!”

“This is amazing, the portability factor is a huge advantage over other drones. This can easily be brought on a hike and stowed in a camelbak.”

“Great first model! Put out a model for $1500+ targeting the videographer market with more dynamic range, faster rolling shutter, & recording in a LOG format and Hover Camera will make a KILLING. Somehow manage to record in a raw format on top of that and you guys will suddenly jump to being a new power player in the video scene. I promise you.”

“Super cool idea, but there is one main reason I won’t buy it, the video quality is pretty bad compared to the Karma drone or Mavic Pro. If you look at some of the footage on their website you’ll see what I mean. Most of the footage on YouTube was recorded by a different drone. Once they come out with a better quality camera, then I would consider it, IT’S SUCH A COOL IDEA! The other concern I have with this Hover Camera design is that if you have long hair and because you’re most likely going to launch it from your hands, I could see hair getting caught up in the propellers, … maybe.”

So will you go with the Hover Camera Passport at $599 or add $399 more to get the more powerful and feature-packed DJI Mavic Pro? 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 Review: Just a flying camera?

My first drone flight experience was with the DJI Phantom 3 Professional, and as much as I appreciated its advanced capabilities at the time, I longed for something more compact — a device so small that I wouldn’t need to carry a separate bag or case for it. Eventually, a Chinese startup called Zero Zero Robotics released the $599 Hover Camera Passport, which comes in the unique form of a foldable cage while packing cool features like body tracking, face tracking and orbiting. I got to spend some time with the Passport over the past few weeks, I find time to take it for a quick spin and the Hover Camera review.

The Hover is Zero Zero Robotics’ first product and is designed to be safe, portable and savvy solution to allow let anyone to “effortlessly capture exciting moments indoors and out, from creative new perspectives.” Using Embedded AI to intelligently navigate its environment and the Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight drone platform, Hover Camera captures personal moments, but is not viable for tracking sports beyond the family Thanksgiving football game.

As the Hover Camera review, we should first focus on the camera specs, the core function of drones. 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. But EIS and No-GPS means shaky video in strong wind and outdoors.

Some of the issues with the Passport might get fixed in the future, since the drone gets software updates fairly regularly. My first gripe, and one that may be fixed, is with the auto-follow modes. 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. That’s just for the body-based follow mode. The face-based mode should follow you based on facial recognition, and I only got that one to work once.

Keep in mind that the auto-follow modes are one of the Passport’s biggest selling points, so this is kind of a big con. However, like I said, the drone gets software updates, so this issue could be resolved. The company even said they might add auto-follow for animals or objects (which isn’t available yet).

Compared to Mavic Pro 7KM controlling distance, Hover Camera’s 20M Wi-Fi distance may be not that satisfied. So does the 10mins flight time, if you want to shoot something great, you need to prepare more batteries.

That’s the simple review of Hover Camera, that’s not to say the Hover Camera doesn’t have some cool features. It does. And if you’re looking for a simple way to snap a selfie and video quality isn’t that important to you – go for it.

But $599 puts you very close to the Mavic Pro. Spend the extra $150…and you’re not just hovering. You’re flying.

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Watching this Hover Camera review before investing $599

Hover Camera is foldable and portable,it folds like a book. Very easy, simple to fold. Looks nice, compact after folding.Though small, it is also equipped with a pretty decent little camera. It shoots video in 4K, stills at 13 megapixels, and even has a built-in flash.

Designing the cover is tricky. For maximum safety, it should cover as much of the propellers as possible. But 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).And the Hover camera isn’t efficient enough as this cover reduces flight efficiency significantly as admitted even by its product manager.

Another issue is that the Hover Camera connects to an iOS device over direct Wi-Fi, which limits its range.But of course Hover camera isn’t a full-featured drone like DJI’s Inspire or Phantom. While it does shoot 4K video and have a 13MP camera, it’s meant to be more of a close-up camera or tripod – not a true aerial camera. The WiFi connection will drop when it gets about 60 feet away from you, and it’s just not meant to fly that high. The WiFi connection did drop once or twice on me, but this was before I even asked the company what the limit was – so it was definitely occurring when I was pushing past that 60 feet boundary.

The biggest issue, however, is that the Hover Camera lacks what both the Mavic Pro and the GoPro Karma have: A stabilizing three-axis gimbal. This feature keeps their cameras rock-solid in the air, immune to vibrations and buffets of wind. That’s why video from either of those models will vastly outshine anything the Hover Camera is capable of producing – even if it has the desirable ultra-high-def 4k spec on paper.

Reviewers have noted that the Hover Camera video leaves a lot to be desired. There’s considerable vibration, which can produce a “jello” effect not seen in drones with quality stabilizing gimbals.

We found it very informative to watch Norm Chan’s Tested review. Norm starts out really, really wanting to like this drone. But the more he used it, the more he found it needed work. (Not only were there problems with the video quality, Norm also found some problems with the Hover Camera’s tracking abilities. When walking down the street with the drone following him, Norm found it could “lose tracking, and then crash into a tree or something. Not very impressive.”

As for the video?

Here is a short video using the Hover Camera Passport for those of you who want to see it in action:

“There just isn’t enough processing power to give you high quality video,” he says.

That’s not to say this machine doesn’t have some merits. But if you’re considering the Hover Camera, we’d encourage you to invest less than 10 minutes watching this review before investing $599.

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Hover Camera review-Video

(Video via Tested )

Zero Zero Robotics’ Hover Camera Passport, $599, packs a 13 megapixel camera, a battery good for about 10 minutes of flight time, and a software bundle that includes auto-follow capability into a compact assembly that folds up for easy carrying. Its rectangular enclosure safeguards its four rotors, while its .534-lb. weight keeps the drone below the FAA’s .55-lb threshold that requires owners to register their drones.

Many people are attracted by its compact design and ease of use.Above is a Hover Camera review tested from “Tested”. He’ll told you what he thought of the resulting footage.

 

 

 

 

 

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Hover Camera Receives Reviews

Hover Camera is one of the hottest gadgets in the 2016,is it special and good as expected?

So far, Hover Camera Passport has been tested and tried by some of the tech industry’s finest journalists and bloggers. Here’s just a few comments from our first-users:

“The Hover Camera can’t really stand toe to toe with the more full-featured drones on the market, but in all fairness, it wasn’t designed to do that. It’s designed to snap selfies and follow footage, and when it comes to doing those things, the Passport totally kicks ass.”-Digital trends

“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 for less, after all. But if you love capturing your own image, and want to put an aerial spin on your selfies, the Passport looks like a promising option for narcissists with deep pockets.”-Pcmag

“What’s not neat, however, is that the drone will cost at least several hundred dollars while its battery lasts only eight minutes. Zero Zero says it’ll give users multiple batteries per order, but still, that’s barely long enough for a full-fledged photo shoot. Though the cost is steep, Hover Camera at least has a cool design and looks really sweet floating in the air. It’s a personal drone selfie buddy!

This isn’t the first drone to track people around a room, either. Lily, a startup, is also accepting preorders on a drone that users can toss in the air and then follow them around. It shoots 1080p video and 12-megapixel photos. Even two years ago, AirDog announced its plans to release a drone that follows users around through the use of a wrist-worn remote.”-Theverge

If you have already ordered your Hover Camera Passport, don’t forget to share all your experience with us. You can also follow us and tag us in your adventures on the following platforms:

Facebook: http://ift.tt/2jpqw48
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DroneInner/

We can’t wait to hear your feedback soon!

 

 

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Hover Camera hands-on review

The Hover Camera Passport is another of these small, portable aircraft. It has some design advantages when compared with others we’ve reviewed, including the Dobby in that its rotors are protected by a plastic cage. This prevents them from getting damaged in flight, and prevents you from inadvertent injury.

Weight and Speed

It weighs at 242 grams or 0.5 pounds. At a top speed of 8.0 m/s, or 18 mph, the Hover Camera is one of the slowest drones out there.

Control Range

Range is another consideration. The WiFi connection will drop when it gets about 60 feet away from you, and it’s just not meant to fly that high. The WiFi connection did drop once or twice on me, but this was before I even asked the company what the limit was – so it was definitely occurring when I was pushing past that 60 feet boundary. But when the connection drops the drone will just hover in place so you can walk closer and reconnect the WiFi.

Battery Life

Battery capacity is the most accurate way of determining overall battery life, and with a 1,360 mAh battery, the Hover Camera Passport uses an above-average sized battery to power its flight, compared to the average of 650 mAh. While an above average battery capacity should translate to longer flight times, it’s also important to account for the takeoff weight when estimating flight time.

Possessing a flight time of 10 minutes, the Hover Camera Passport can fly for a slightly above average amount of time compared to the average of 8 minutes.

Video Stabilisation

One issue I had was with camera stabilization. It’s obvious that the electronic stabilization the Hover Camera uses is working overtime, and without it videos would be un-watchable. It’s definitely doing its job. The problem I had was that even with the electronic stabilization working overtime, the videos often came out choppy.

Autonomous Flight

Hover Camera features a set of autonomous flight modes.Of interest to most backers will be the ‘Follow Me’ mode whereby the drone will track your movement and capture you in video automatically.Generally this feature utilises GPS but instead Hover Camera impressively features a unique visual facial and body recognition algorithm which may allow it to track a subject, in addition Hover Camera would be able to track people indoors where a GPS signal isn’t accessible.

Obstacle Avoidance

Obstacle Avoidance (OA) is always a hot topic. As Hover Camera sports only one camera, it hasn’t had obstacle avoidance.

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 $399 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 follows you everywhere

The Hover Camera Passport ($599) is a delightful little gadget: It’s a foldable, portable drone that has a built-in camera and auto-follow features.You could throw it up in the air and take selfies whenever and wherever you like.

The Hover Camera drone is equipped with a pretty decent little camera. It shoots video in 4K, stills at 13 megapixels, and even has a built-in flash — but believe it or not, the camera itself isn’t as interesting as what’s behind it. The Hover Camera Passport stands apart from other portable drones thanks to image recognition software, which (along with a quad-core Snapdragon processor) allows the drone to not only sense/track faces and bodies, but also maintain its position in space without the aid of GPS.

So it could recognize and follow a target. Just previously you had to use the companion app on your phone, and pick out the subject you wanted to follow on screen. With the new feature, you essentially “register” your face via the app once, and then you can forget about the phone. The next time you launch Hover Camera, it will fly in place, turning around until it spots you. Once it has you locked, it’ll follow you as before. To grab a selfie, just raise your hand until the front LED flashes, and gives you a three-count.

We’ve seen selfie drones before, and visual recognition is becoming a more popular way of tracking subjects than GPS. Using the camera to track isn’t always as dependable as GPS , but it does solve a few problems. Namely, no need for a separate GPS device (or phone), one less thing to charge, and your chosen target is easier to keep in the center of the shot (GPS doesn’t always exactly where you are, but obviously the camera does).

In general, battery life is fairly short at 8-10 minutes. Expect about 10 minutes of air time from Hover Camera. Though with a charge time of about 40 minutes, it won’t be long until you’re back in the air again.

Another limitation is the camera stabilization.It’s obvious that the electronic stabilization the Passport uses is working overtime, and without it videos would be un-watchable. It’s definitely doing its job. The problem I had was that even with the electronic stabilization working overtime, the videos often came out choppy. This detracted from the actual video quality, making the output look more like 720p than 4K video.

If you’re looking for a second drone to supplement a beast like the DJI Inspire or Phantom, or looking for a entry-level drone you can fool around with indoors or around friends, Hover camera could definitely be for you.But at $599, the Hover Camera doesn’t come cheap, so let’s hope these new features keep on coming.

 

 

 

 

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Hover Camera review

A new foldable drone has been revealed with a much cheaper price tag. The Hover Camera Passport, the company’s first camera drone, is it a good choice as a first drone for new flyers? Let’s take a look.

The Pros

Portable: The Hover Camera Passport’s size and folding factor are incredible. It truly can fit into a purse or backpack with ease and the cage protecting the propellers keeps them from harm. It’s also very lightweight at just over half a pound.

Safe: The enclosed propellers prevent them from hitting anything or anyone. Very few drones have something like this to make for safer flight.

Easy to Use: The Hover Camera Passport really does fly with the press of a button and can be placed by hand to to the location where it should hover. It uses Wi-Fi to connect to a phone and the drone can then be controlled using a dedicated app. It uses sensors on the bottom and front to keep itself in place.

The Cons

Tracking Needs Work: While the Hover Camera Passport is certainly capable of tracking, it’s far from perfect. Most reviewers, such as Norm from Tested, found that the framing was off and while tracking, the drone would easily get lost.

Low Image Quality: The video quality is essentially not usable. While it has 4K resolution, the electronic stabilization and image quality make for an unstable, grainy image. Compare this to something like the $399 US Phantom 3 Standard, which provides up to 2.7K sharp, stable video. Stills may be usable on the Hover Camera, but video is comparable to a cheap smartphone. Stability is better indoors, but still not great.

Overall, the Hover Camera seems like more a novelty than a good drone for first-timers. Going back to a drone like the DJI Phantom 3 Standard, one can accomplish incredible video while also learning the basics of flight and still use several smart features through the DJI Go app. The Phantom 3 Standard also features longer battery time and more reliability. For a first timer, it’s important to actually learn to fly and have a drone that can provide quality images and a new perspective as opposed to a gadget that is cool to try but doesn’t bring anything new to one’s life. Of course, the Phantom is not as portable. While the Mavic Pro comes in a portable and powerful drone.

Flying drones is now truly something anyone can do. If you are thinking of getting your first drone, don’t be afraid to ask questions and learn as much as you can before you purchase. You can even find a friend who has one or ask a dealer for a demonstration. Once you start flying, you’ll likely never turn back!

 

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