Ring Stick Up Cam review – CNET
The Good It’s weatherproofed for outside use and you can power it via its built-in rechargeable battery, the included USB adapter or a neat solar panel accessory.
The Bad Audio quality was spotty during testing. You have to pay for event-based cloud storage. Its 80-degree field of view doesn’t cover very much ground and the live video stream often looked grainy in testing.
The Bottom Line The Ring Stick Up Cam’s flexible power sources give it real appeal, but other standalone DIY cameras offer more for less.
Complete with 720p live video streaming, motion-sensing capabilities and an optional cloud storage service, Ring’s $199 (£159) Stick Up Cam is strikingly similar to the smart home startup’s Ring Video Doorbell, which comes at the same price. The only things that’s missing is, you know, the whole doorbell part.
The main benefit to the Wi-Fi-enabled Stick Up Cam lies in its portable weatherproofed design. You can install this camera pretty much anywhere outside, and power it with a rechargeable battery, a power adapter or an add-on $49 (£40) solar panel accessory.
But there’s a downside. Stick Up Cams were designed to complement Ring Video Doorbells. The idea is that you’ll have Ring’s buzzer watching over your front door and some Stick Up Cams covering any additional ground. And perhaps to ensure that you’ll need or want both products, Ring skimped on some key DIY camera features that would allow it to act as a solid standalone security purchase.
The Stick Up Cam is fine, but the Nest Cam Outdoor and Netgear Arlo are stronger DIY security cameras.
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Getting to know your Stick Up Cam
The Ring Stick Up Cam is a discreet outdoor-rated security camera with a black finish. It comes with a couple of different base attachments and related hardware. A screwdriver and a drill bit are included with your purchase, too, to help you with the install.
For simplicity and to avoid making permanent holes in the CNET Smart Home, I placed a Stick Up Cam on a flat surface during testing instead of attaching it to a wall or ceiling. You’ll want to go with something more long-term if you buy one, since wind and other weather changes can easily knock an outdoor camera out of position. They’re easier for someone to steal that way, too.
I wouldn’t say the Stick Up Cam has an especially attractive design, but it did easily blend in with the surroundings. Its hardware felt durable as well, and it survived wind and snow flurries without complaint.
Take a look at the chart below to see how Ring’s Stick Up Cam compares to other outdoor cameras:
Comparing outdoor security cameras
| Ring Stick Up Cam | Nest Cam Outdoor | Netgear Arlo (Pro) | Canary Flex |
| $199 | $200 or £150 | $180, £135 or AU$240 ($240) | $199 or £159 |
| Black | White | White | Black, white |
| Adapter, rechargeable batteries or solar panel accessory | Adapter | Four CR123 lithium 3-volt photo batteries (rechargeable batteries) | Adapter or rechargeable batteries |
| 720-pixel HD | 1080p HD | 720-pixel HD | 720-pixel HD |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| No | Yes, with Nest Aware | No | No |
| $3 per month for six months of event-based cloud storage | Free 3-hour event-based snapshots (Optional 10-day or 30-day continuous recording and storage with Nest Aware subscription for $10 or $30 per month) | Free seven-day event-based video clip storage (Optional 30- or 60-day event-based video clip storage with Arlo subscription for $10 or $15 per month) | Free 24-hour event-based cloud storage |
| No | No | No | No |
| Yes, Android and iPhone | Yes, Android and iPhone | Yes, Android and iPhone | Yes, Android and iPhone |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 80 degrees | 130 degrees | 110 degrees (130 degrees) | 116 degrees |
| Motion only | Motion and sound (Person Alerts added with Nest Aware) | Motion only | Motion only |
| Yes | Yes, with Nest Aware | No | No |
| -5 to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (-21 to 49 degrees Celsius) | -4 to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 to 40 degrees Celsius). | 14 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (-9 to 50 degree Celsius) | -4 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit (-20 to 45 degrees Celsius) |
| IFTTT, Belkin WeMo, Wink, Kevo, ADT | IFTTT, Works with Nest | IFTTT, Samsung SmartThings | Wink |
While the Stick Up Cam’s specs may look roughly comparable to other outdoor security cameras, it falls short in a couple of key ways. First, you have to pay for cloud storage. While select DIY security companies do charge a monthly or yearly fee for cloud storage, more and more brands are offering some sort of free option.
Netgear’s Arlo and Arlo Pro cameras, Canary’s Flex and Nest Cam Outdoor all offer free cloud video clips or photos of activity, with the option of upgrading to a paid subscription as needed. Ring charges customers $3 per month or $30 per year for its event-based cloud service. $30 isn’t a ton of money to spend, but I wish Ring could somehow include customers who either don’t need or don’t want to pay for six months of storage.
Second, the Stick Up Cam’s 80-degree field of view is pretty narrow. The competition ranges from 110 to 130 degrees, which can make a significant difference in how much of your front yard, driveway or back yard the camera is able to see.
Kinivo BTH260 Bluetooth Headphones review
If you were to pick me out of a crowd, I’d be the girl with the headphones.
I hate noise. Music keeps me sane. This is why the most important device leaving the house isn’t my phone, it is my headphones. My primary headphones are worn around my neck every day, they are one of the features coworkers and cohorts recognize me most by (after my hat, of course). As a very particular person, finding a good pair of headphones is a bit like finding a magic wand, except instead of just going to Ollivander’s, you’re looking quite literally in every shop you can find for something that fits your life, your lifestyle, and your wallet.
Lucky for me, the Kinivo BTH260 Bluetooth Headphones fit all three.
Now, behind-the-head or on-the-ear is a very particular style unique to each person, and I did not arrive at it lightly. Earbuds never fit; they’re often too painful to wear. Traditional over-ear headphones can cut me off from the world wonderfully, but they’re often too heavy to wear for long periods, too bulky to wear around the neck between sessions, and difficult to wear one ear on and one ear off, as I often do at work and around town.
The behind-the-ear headphone category is unfortunately not one that receives a whole lot of attention, at least from bigger brands.
There also hasn’t been an arms race of features and innovation here as there’s been in earbuds and over-the-ear headphones. What we do have are dependable, low-cost headphones with easy controls, easy charging, and sweet, sweet battery life.
They are Kinivo’s third generation of behind-the-head headphones, and as with many threequels, they’re hitting their stride with this one.
Enter the Kinivo BTH260 Bluetooth headphones. They are Kinivo’s third generation of behind-the-head headphones, and as with many threequels, they’re hitting their stride with this one. They bring a few new bells and whistles to a line that have been my workhorse headphones for years, and these subtle upgrades make a world of difference.
While previous models have curved backs to their cups, the 260s have flat, textured backs, with more angular sides. This allows the headphone to sit flat and stable on the table when not in use, diminishing scuffing. The 260s are also IPX7 sweatproof, which is great not only for when I’m wearing them in the gym but also when they’re around my neck seven to 10 hours a day in Texas’s hellish summer heat.
Controls on the 260s are a slight departure in two ways: the power button and the device status updates. On both the 220s and 240s, Kinivo opted to have a long-press of the power button turn the headphones on and off, and played a small tone upon boot-up. The problem with this, especially when turning the headphones off, was that if you didn’t long-press the headphones long enough, you triggered the callback button instead. This year, Kinivo opted for a standalone switch for powering the headphones on and off, making turning the headphones on/off seconds quicker and giving a clearer indication the headphones are on/off compared to just a blinking blue light.
Telling me how much battery is left upon startup is wonderful.
While previous models just used different beeps to denote it turning on and pairing/disconnecting from a device, not all of us speak beep, so the 260s now speak English. When you power on the headphones, the device tells you how much battery you have, and will say “Connected” and “Lost Connection” whenever they connect/disconnect from a device. Telling me how much battery is left upon startup is wonderful. Previous models kept us guessing how much we had until the dreaded Low Battery bell starting ringing. Now, we know: “Battery high.”
Battery life on the BTH series has always been great, with the headphones usually lasting me a week of mixed use, and the 260s are no different. These headphones can sit on my neck for 10-12 hours a day, sit on my ears four to five, and easily make it through the work week and well into the weekend.
Charging these headphones is as easy as finding a Micro-USB cable and plugging in, no proprietary cables to hassle with. Many of us are moving on to USB-C as we upgrade our phones, but Micro-USB cables are still plentiful, cheap, and we all have about half a dozen littering our desk drawers and backpacks, so it’s hard to knock Kinivo for going with something established and reliable.
For my money, and for my music, the Kinivo BTH260 Bluetooth Headphones are what I turn to. These are the headphones that I don’t leave home without, the pair that sit comfortably around my neck on thrilling roller coasters and boring bus rides. These are many like my headphones, but these Kinivo BTH260 are mine. Without me, my headphones are useless. Without my headphones, I am hopeless.
Note that these headphones are very difficult to find right now, but should come back in stock soon.
See at Amazon
Digital Offers: Grab the Certified Ethical Hacker Bootcamp for just $45!
Not all hacking is bad hacking. The word itself is associated with negativity usually, but it can be used for just as much good as it can bad. Have you ever thought how cool it would be to research vulnerabilities and try to discover them on your favorite websites while working for them? It would be pretty sweet, right? But, how do you even get started?
Meet the Certified Ethical Hacker Bootcamp, a perfect way to get going. The bootcamp offers access to more than 40 hours of content that you can access at any time of the day, along with nearly 150 lectures on different topics. From learning perimeter defenses to gaining practical experience with DDoS attacks and more, there is a wide variety of great information here that will help you advance your current career, or help you make a move to a new one.
The bootcamp includes:
- Access 144 lectures & 45 hours of content 24/7
- Study by taking 600+ exam questions
- Gain practical experience w/ intrusion detection, policy creation, DDoS attacks, & more
- Learn about perimeter defenses
- Scan & attack your own networks
- Understand Trojans, backdoors, viruses, worms, & more
This sure sounds like it would cost a lot, right? Well, normally this bootcamp is priced at over $5,000, but right now you can pay just a fraction of that. You won’t set yourself into a financial debt to try and learn something new here.
Priced at just $45 for a limited time you’ll get everything mentioned above and even more. Don’t miss out on this deal or you may regret it later.
See at Android Central Offers
The best part of taking a trip is Google Photos
Keep your vacation memories backed up and properly archived with the features built into Google Photos.
Vacations. They never happen soon enough and, for some of us, they’re a luxury if they happen at all. That’s why it’s so important to not only relish every minute of free time but to also ensure that any memories you may have captured are properly archived and stored away for the next trip down nostalgia lane.
Google Photos is particularly helpful at making this happen. I recently took off on my first vacation since the new Photos features have made headway, including shared albums, high-resolution uploads, and the ability to create and edit movies. (Yes. It’s been that long since I’ve taken some quality time off.) I took over 300 hundred photos with my Pixel XL, Galaxy S7 Edge, and Gear 360 while traipsing around New Zealand. Here’s how Google Photos did all the hard work managing those memories.
Easy backup on the go
Admittedly, I may have committed a folly by purchasing the 32GB Really Blue Pixel XL, but Google Photos had me covered on my journey through Kiwi Land. Anytime I nearly hit my gigabyte limit, I’d find a Wi-Fi spot and get to uploading and offloading. It’s exceptionally easy to do with Google Photos, too.
In the hamburger menu bar, simply tap the option to free up space and remove any photos and videos that have already been backed up to the cloud. Each shot taken with the Pixel XL took up about 4MB, so I hit my limit pretty fast. But whenever I cleared off those photos that were already backed up to the cloud, I recovered about 10GB of disk space.
You can also back up photos from other apps. I backed up all of my Instagram Stories and Snapchat snaps, as well as the folder containing content downloaded from the Gear 360. You can set up automatic downloads on any other mobile devices you might have in tow, too, so that everything is stored and ready to archive once you get home.
One note of caution, however: If you’re concerned about redundant backups — for instance, you use Dropbox’s camera upload feature for posterity — make sure that those photos are backed up before you free up disk space. I forgot to check and, as a result, a majority of my vacation photos were only backed up to Google Photos. That should suffice, but I like to have doubles in case disaster should strike. (Of course, you can download the photos again once they’re uploaded, but unless you have a Pixel they may not have been sent to the cloud at their full resolution.)
Fully-functional photo albums
I love to snap every dynamic moment of my time away, but I hate the dread that settles in when I’m back and I realize that I have to individually tag and upload every single photo before I can share it. Thankfully, Google Photos did all that for me before I even got home.
Google compiled every relevant photo and video I had shot in New Zealand into its own, ready-to-share library. The album includes location stamps for each batch of photos, like the restaurants we ate at, the hikes we took, and the scenery we drove by. It started documenting those locales from the minute I touched down in Auckland and ended the day I flew back home to San Francisco. It even accounts for photos that I uploaded with other devices and paired those with relevant locales.
One thing to note, however: If you don’t back up your photos during your vacation time, they won’t be archived in this manner after the fact. I only backed up half of what I shot with the S7 Edge. Everything else had to be manually added to the album folder after Google had populated it with what was available. It’s not a major deal, but it’s something you’ll want to keep in mind if you’d like to take advantage of Google’s automated features.
A helpful Assistant
Who doesn’t love a good home movie? The Photos Assistant offered up several videos of my trip based on the metadata of each file. I would have never thought to put together some of the clips that Photos compiled, but for the most part, it was right on the money.
Even better: You can add a bit of your own flair to the presentation by editing the video on your smartphone. In the Photos app, you can change the background music, tack on a filter, and edit the order of content. You can even add on any images and videos that Google may have missed. When you’re finished, you can give the video a title and export it to YouTube for all to see. Just make sure that if you’re not using the clips from the included music library that you’re not uploading anything that’s copyrighted — especially if you plan to show off your video publicly.
Google Photos can compile quick collages, too. If you’d rather not deal with choosing your own snapshots for an Instagram-friendly mock-up, Google will take a batch of photos you’ve shot in rapid succession and compile them for you. Of all the simple things that Google’s Photos Assistant can do, this one is my absolute favorite. It’s especially fun to include any outtakes.
How do you use Google Photos?
Have you used Google Photos on a trip? Did you like what it offered? Tell us!
Grab RAVPower’s 22000mAh power bank for just $30 right now!
Right now you can pick up the massive RavPower 22000mAh power bank for its lowest price yet, just $30. With such a large capacity you may think it will be a pain to carry around, but in all reality, it is actually quite portable and similarly sized to many mobile phones. 22000mAh should be enough to charge your phones and tablets anywhere from four to seven times, depending on which device you have hooked up to it.
The battery pack has three USB outputs, and each port puts out 2.4A, so you can charge using all three at the same time. This deal will only be available today, December 12, so don’t miss out!
See at Amazon
Alex’s Favorite Tech of 2016
2016 Alex’s Favorite Tech
Everyone at Android Central has spent an amazing amount of time with mobile technology, accessories and gear throughout 2016. The goal is simple: use all of this stuff, find out what works the best and let you know the merits of what we determine to be the cream of the crop. 2016 was a fantastic year for new technologies to be released but also for older ones to mature.
Whether you’re looking to buy for someone else or just get the best of the best for yourself this holiday season, here are my personal picks for my favorite tech of the year. It starts with phones, but goes so much further: accessories, smartwatches, headphones, fitness products and even some non-mobile gear. Read on and see what I’ve enjoyed in 2016.
Samsung Galaxy S7 edge
This holiday season, give the gift of not exploding. Samsung’s least incendiary flagship looks great, has arguably the best display of any Android phone, an enormous battery and one of the best cameras. You can expand the onboard storage with a microSD slot, and it also supports wireless charging so you don’t need to worry about plugging in to juice up. And should literal, not metaphorical juice become involved, it’s also water-resistant.
From $769 Buy Now
OnePlus 3T
The OnePlus 3T comes shockingly close to rivaling most Android flagships, with the latest Snapdragon 821 processor, 6GB of RAM and an excellent 16MP optically-stabilized camera — at a criminally insane price of $439. The software’s clean and fast, and it’s in line for a refreshing to Android Nougat in time to cure the New Year’s hangover.
$439 Buy Now
ASUS Chromebook Flip
It’s a bad time to be buying a straight-up Android tablet, so there’s a strong case for saying the ASUS-made Chromebook Flip is the most capable Android “tablet” you can buy right now. You get laptop-level internals for $259, along with the ability to run Android apps. And, of course, the eternal gratitude of your giftee.
$259 Buy Now
Samsung Gear VR
Google’s Daydream may be the more up and coming VR platform, but Samsung’s Gear VR is well established, and the only game in town if you’re using a Samsung phone. Escape an increasingly terrifying and indeed doomed planetoid this holiday season by embracing the Gear VR’s great ecosystem of VR content. What better way to drift into a post-holiday food coma?
$99 Buy Now
Chromecast Ultra
This is the Chromecast to buy if you’ve got one of those fancy new 4K TVs. Even if you haven’t, a little bit more cash upfront will future-proof your streaming setup, and give you better connectivity than older Chromecasts, which stream at 1080p. You might as well mail the pixels to your eyes. So get an Ultra instead.
$70 Buy Now
Amazon Echo Dot
Amazon’s Echo Dot is the cheapest, easiest way to kick-start your connected home, with tiny cylinders of Internet-driven intelligence. Buy a few and dot them around your home. (Get it?) Get an extra one to keep as a faithful companion. Gently caress it each time you pass through the room, knowing it awaits your beck and call.We’re not judging, but your family members might. But they don’t matter. Now you only care for your Amazon Echo Dot.
$49 Buy Now
Huawei Watch
The Huawei Watch (or Huatch, as we’ve taken to calling it), is the best looking Android Wear smartwatch available right now. Functionality is the same as all those other Android watches — including an update to Android Wear 2.0 next year — but you’ll look so much more shuave with your Huatch.
$246 Buy Now
Samsung Gear S2
The new Gear S3 is all well and good, but if you’re after a smaller watch that won’t look like a dinner plate on your arm, the Samsung Gear S2 is a great buy. Samsung isn’t discontinuing the wrist computer it debuted last year, but it is offering it at a substantial discount, so you can get basically all the S3’s features at a considerable markdown. Works best with Samsung phones, but it won’t judge you if you use it with something else. (We think.)
$229 Buy Now
Acer Chromebook R13
A step above the Chromebook Flip, the Acer R13, and it’s a tier above the Flip, making it ideal for someone you love a little bit more than the person you bought the Flip for. It’s sturdy and well built, and addition to beefier specs than other Chromebooks, it’s also well equipped to handle Android apps from Google Play.
$399 Buy Now
Anker PowerCore Speed 10000 QC
Want to charge the everloving crap out of your devices? The Anker PowerCore 10000 QC has enough juice for multiple recharges of even the most capacious of gadgetry, along with Quick Charge 3.0 support to ensure maximum energization with minimal messing around. Also features snazzy blue lights, which frankly are worth the $24 asking price alone.
From $24 Buy Now
SanDisk 256GB microSD
Because we live in the future, you can store a quarter terabyte of own personal nonsense on something the size of a fingernail. Such is the black magic of the microSD card, which you can stuff in your phone, your camera or your laptop. This SanDisk card is also one of the speediest around, because a future person like you has no time to waste waiting for bits to transfer.
$70 Buy Now
OnePlus Messenger Bag
Turns out OnePlus also makes a pretty good bag. Store your various possessions in this surprisingly stylish messenger bag, which has enough space for a 13-to-14-inch laptop, a bunch of cables, power banks, a tablet and any other bits and bobs you might want dangling from your person. There’s also a leather version available for $100, if you want to get all fancy.
From $50 Buy Now
Unreleased ‘Akira’ title for Game Boy resurfaces
Akira, still one of the most definitive manga and anime ever made, never really got a game to do the source material justice. While that’s probably not going to change, Patrick Scott Patterson, retro game hunter-gatherer, managed to pick up four slightly different copies of the mid-development Akira title on the Game Boy. They are all experiment builds, so all that mid-test gaming nougat is housed in open-air cartridges — which makes me nervous.
The title is primarily broken into two (pretty broken) parts: Bike-based levels where you dodge static obstacles and an awkward-looking platform section where you punch and kick enemies that are, for some reason, much shorter than you. There’s also a bunch of jumping which will be familiar to anyone that played handheld games that were Hollywood movie tie-ins back in the 90s. You do, however, get to run around as protagonists Kaneda or Tetsuo — which is cool. There’s even a brief hovercraft shooter level and mutant bosses that Patterson was able to try through debug level options.
The ideas are all very Akira, but the game is severely unfinished. There’s a single cloying soundtrack and only a few sound effects repeated constantly. Level design is all delightfully broken up too, but what are you expecting from a collection of decades-old mid-development cartridges? Patterson plans to pull together the workable parts of each cartridge, pulling them into something vaguely playable for fans that probably don’t even care how the game plays.
Via: Kotaku
Panasonic checkout machine also bags your items
The rush to automate manual labor jobs has reached new heights in convenience stores. Self-service checkouts are hardly new, but Panasonic and Lawson have taken them one step further in Japan. The pair has developed a basket system which can detect the items you’re placing inside and then, once you’ve reached the till, bag them up automatically. It’s an elaborate concept — the bottom of the basket slides out, allowing your chosen goods to carefully fall into a bag underneath. The basket then slides away from you, creating a space to pick up the bag and walk out.
As the Wall Street Journal reports, the experimental “Regirobo” isn’t finished just yet. You have to manually scan the items, for instance, before placing them in your basket. (Electronic item tags will be introduced in February, enabling the automatic detection.) It’s also restricted to a single store opposite Panasonic’s headquarters in Osaka. Should the trial be successful, the company will pursue a wider roll-out in 2018, however.
The new Lawson and Panasonic collaboration follows the reveal of Amazon Go, an arguably more ambitious take on grocery store shopping. The company hopes to remove the checkout experience entirely using a mixture of “computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning.” You merely launch the Amazon app and swipe it across a terminal to enter; once you’re inside, the system will detect when you pick up items and add them to your virtual cart. The basket is negated entirely — you simply place the items in the same bag you wish to walk out with. Like Panasonic’s system, however, it will be limited to one store on Blanchard Street, Seattle.
For now then, convenience store jobs are secure. But for how long? That’s a difficult question. An even trickier one is the effect a global roll-out would have on the economy, the retailer sector specifically and employment.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Lawson, Panasonic
Twitter reinstates racist leader’s account
Twitter was supposed to have cracked down on “alt-right” racism back in mid-November, but it appears to be having second thoughts. The social network has reinstated the account of Richard B. Spencer, the white nationalist leader whose groups were an important part of the crackdown. He’d originally been banned based on Twitter rules barring “violent threats, harassment, hateful conduct and multiple account abuse,” although there weren’t clear examples of violations at the time.
A Twitter spokesperson tells us that it restored Spencer’s account because it allows people to reinstate one account when they’ve been banned for creating “multiple accounts with overlapping uses.” Notably, it also points to a BuzzFeed reporter’s tweet arguing that Spencer isn’t abusive on Twitter like many of those who share his racist beliefs. He’s unlikely to get his wish of reinstating other accounts, however. Twitter has shared the email it sent to Spencer, and it’s adamant that his extra accounts “will remain suspended.” You can read both statements below.
While this helps clarify what prompted Twitter to ban Spencer and why he’s back, it’s not going to make people happy. Many had assumed that Twitter was banning Spencer and his organizations based on his hateful ideas and ability to foster abuse by proxy, not because he had multiple accounts. The move isn’t going to please users (or potential buyers) concerned that Twitter isn’t doing enough to curb systemic harassment that scares some away from the service.
“Our rules explicitly prohibit creating multiple accounts with overlapping uses. When we temporarily suspend multiple accounts for this violation, the account owner can designate one account for reinstatement.”
Email to Spencer:
“Hello,
As referenced in our November 18, 2016 communication, creating serial and/or multiple accounts with overlapping use is a violation of the Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules).
Please select one account for restoration; the others will remain suspended. This account will need to comply fully with the Twitter Rules (https://twitter.com/rules). Please reply to this email with the username of the account you would like reinstated and we will make sure to answer your request in a timely manner.
Thanks,
Twitter”
Source: The Guardian
Parrot’s quirky toy drones are slowly growing up
There was a time when Parrot was the name in consumer drones. That’s partly because, way back in 2010 when it launched the AR Drone, the DJI Phantom was still some years away. Today, the landscape is a little different: DJI now dominates the skies, while its competitors can’t seem to catch a break. Except Parrot. The French company remains unfazed by the large industry that has grown around it, and continues to do what it’s always done: make fun, accessible products.
That’s not to say the company isn’t looking forward, though. Two recent updates to its Bebop 2 add “FPV” video goggles and the ever-popular “follow me” mode. This see Parrot finally adding traditionally higher-end or hobbyist features into a drone your technophobe parents could fly. Best of all for Bebop 2 owners, at least, is that both the goggles and follow-me feature will work with your existing drone. For Parrot, though, it’s all about re-invigorating the company’s flagship quadcopter, just in time for the holidays.
I’ve tried a number of drones with “follow me” modes, and each manufacturer has its own take. DJI’s implementation relies exclusively on visual tracking through the camera, which it calls “Active Track”. AirDog, on the other hand, uses a GPS wearable. Some other drones use your phone. Other methods still rely on GPS in the controller itself. Parrot’s interpretation is a blend of GPS (via your phone) and DJI-style visual tracking. In theory this should be quite stable given that the Bebop has two different ways of knowing where you are.
In a cold, overcast park somewhere in the Bay area, I tested out the new follow feature with generally positive results. Selecting a target to follow is easy, just tap on them via the app on your phone. That target/person will want to keep the phone with them for optimum connectivity. If Bebop loses “sight” of you, it falls back to the GPS signal to know where you are. I didn’t encounter this problem, but sometimes the drone would suddenly fly back or rotate left/right as it tried to keep me in focus. When playing back videos recorded by the Bebop, you can see some jerky motion as it follows. Nothing too egregious, though.
Parrot’s app also has all the smart camera modes you’d expect from a product like this, including the aerial selfie (aka “dronie”) and orbit which can also work with the follow feature. Like DJI’s Active Track, the Bebop 2 is smart enough to perform an orbit around a moving target (some drones just orbit a set point).
“Follow me” is just a small part of Parrot’s growing-up, though. I already mentioned FPV, which you can read more about here. Parrot’s goggles work much like a mobile-based VR headset. Activate FPV mode on the app, slide your phone into a goggles, and you’ll see what the drone sees as if you’re inside it. It’s much fun — and easy enough with the Bebop 2 that kids and parents can use it together. As a reminder, to fly FPV with an hobby drones, you’ll often need to open it up and add bits, or meddle with aerials and frequencies. Other drones like DJI’s Phantom series need bespoke (and potentially pricey) goggles.
That the follow feature costs $20 to unlock in Parrot’s companion app is a double-edged sword. It would have been nice for this extra functionality to come in a free app upgrade, but the fact Parrot is charging for it suggests it’s trying to get a return on an investment, which we hope means similar upgrades could be in the works. It could just be a money grab, of course, but for now I’m giving Parrot the benefit of the doubt.
The FPV upgrade is a little pricier. Existing Bebop owners need a new controller along with the headset which currently costs $350. However, if you don’t already have a Bebop, you can currently pick one up for $500 — a promotional bundle that includes the goggles and controller (the regular price is $699).
Given that Parrot also recently created a drone developer-kit, with dual high-res cameras, on-board barometers, motion sensor and more, it’s clear we can expect even more advanced quadcopters to come in the future, but for now, it’s refreshing to see Parrot help Bebop owners eke out a little more mileage from their existing quadcopters. We’ll always enjoy Parrot’s crazy toy drones too, but everyone has to grow up eventually.
AIVAnet 