DJI exec hints at future pocket-sized camera drones
It’s a simple question: How would you sell my Dad a drone? Right now, most drone buyers are professionals, hobbyists or video enthusiasts. That leaves a pretty big number of people not currently browsing for a quadcopter. At least, not yet. My Dad is one of those people, so if you can sell him one, you’re onto something. When I asked that question to Adam Najberg, DJI’s Global Director of Communications, his answer was simple: “Size is going to be an issue. Also ease of use.” So something smaller and simpler. No surprises there. But Najberg represents one of the biggest names in drones, so when he tells me what such a drone might look like, I listen.
“If I can take it out of my jacket pocket and throw it up into the air, or just put it on the ground and push a button, and it goes up and it takes a photo […] that’s the kind of functionality.” Right now, DJI makes no such product. It’s current consumer series, the Phantom, is probably what most people think of when they imagine a quadcopter. It’s portable, with a backpack, but not small by any measure. The flagship Phantom 4 is easy enough to fly, but my pops is unlikely to get past the manual. There are already several “selfie drones” available or in production, but nothing that’s really nailed it. DJI is well placed to change this.
It was here at IFA, that DJI chose to announce the $300 Osmo Mobile. A hand-held steady grip for your phone. This is the first product DJI has made aimed at, well, everyone. Previous Osmo grips came with a 4K camera built-in, and were priced way out of the casual user’s range (until recently, starting at over $700). DJI already has enterprise solutions, and caters to the build your own crowd, so it only follows that the next audience to tap is, well, that elusive everyone else.
A current trend in consumer drones is the use of 360-degree cameras and VR headsets. These are two hot technologies right in general, but I’m not sure how practical they are for mass-market drone appeal. After all, 360 video and VR don’t really gain much by adding a drone into the mix, at least not for most people. Najberg agrees. “We’re hearing that people want this, but we need to hear it from a big enough swath of the market.”
The biggest clue as to where DJI is looking next, perhaps, might not be the Osmo Mobile, but the phone it holds. Much like both VR and 360 cameras, the key to getting people excited about them is make it work with tech that we already have. Google’s Cardboard/Daydream, Samsung’s Gear VR or the latest mobile-friendly 360 cameras, they all have the phone at their center. DJI realized that the phone in everyone’s pocket made them a potential customer for the Osmo Mobile, so why not its drones?
Parrot, Ghost and (my new friend) Dobby all make drones that replace the traditional hand held radio controller with an app on your phone, so when Najberg tells me “What it comes down to is, if you have that phone in your pocket, it can become a controller for a lifestyle drone… then why not?” It’s hard not to imagine where this could be applied to DJI. For now though, the company’s keeping my old man guessing.
We’re live all week from Berlin, Germany, for IFA 2016. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show.
Android Central’s Top Picks from IFA 2016!
The best of the best from Berlin.
There’s a lot of tech here at IFA in Berlin, as is often the case. OK, that’s one hell of an understatement. There’s a LOT of tech here at IFA. Some from the usual players. A whole lot from folks we’ve, frankly, never heard of.
And that’s maybe the hardest part of these jaunts. Not the jet lag. Not the time away from home. No, it’s sorting through all the awesomeness that gets crammed into the Messe Berlin and put on display for the world to see.
But we’ve managed to narrow it down a bit. Here, now, are Android Central’s Top Picks from IFA 2016.
ASUS ZenWatch 3
We were maybe expecting a little more Android Wear than we ended up seeing. But what we got was pretty darn good. The ASUS ZenWatch 3 is one of the first entries into the new generation of Android Wear. Three buttons. A fully round face (and that’s the big new feature for ASUS). And looks that might well surprise you. It’s also one of the first to use the new Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor.
Read: Hands-on with ASUS ZenWatch 3
ASUS ZenPad 3S 10
You think it wouldn’t be too hard to find a good Android tablet. But there are some that stand out from the fray. And the ASUS ZenPad 3S 10 has been one of those this show. It’s a 9.7-inch QXGA (that’s 2048 by 1536) tablet that’s as slim as it is good-looking.
Huawei MediaPad M3
Take a Huawei phone and make it really big. That’s the Huawei MediaPad M3. In fact, you could almost call it a huge Nexus 6P-type device, if only for the one thing that continues to weigh like an anchor on the Chinese company’s devices. That’s the software, of course.
Read our Huawei MediaPad M3 review
Huawei Nova / Nova Plus
Huawei dropped not just one phone on us, but two — the Nova and Nova Plus. The former very much looks like a smaller Nexus 6P, actually. The latter scales things up both in size and internals, and is a very capable mid-ranger.
Read our Huawei Nova and Nova Plus preview
Lenovo Yoga Book (Android)
If there’s one thing folks are talking about at IFA, this is it. A folio-style tablet, erm, laptop, it’s got a 10.1-inch display on one side and a sort of giant glass trackpad on the other, connected with Lenovo’s incredible watchband hinge. Its pen input is incredible. It’s a crazy thing. And it doesn’t break the bank. (There’s also a Windows version, if that’s how you roll.) Our only real question is how well the flat keyboard will work in everyday use.
[Check out our Yoga Book hands-on!)(http://www.androidcentral.com/lenovo-yoga-book-aims-be-what-pixel-c-never-was.cta).large
Moto Z Play & Hasselblad True Zoom Mod
Want the modular fun of the Moto Z, but don’t want the high-end price tag? That’s where the Moto Z Play comes in. And along with it we have the incredibly interesting Hasselblad True Zoom Moto Mod, which gives you a 10x optical zoom with a 12MP sensor, all in that same Moto Mod size.
Read our Moto Z Play Preview
Samsung Gear S3 Frontier and Classic
Samsung’s Gear S2 won over a lot of smartwatch skeptic. The Gear S3 — in its two new versions, Frontier and Classic — looks to continue that trend. Samsung’s packing even more functionality in there, and it’s coming at these watches from a watch-first standpoint. While the tech stuff may have second billing, it’s definitely not been done with any less attention to detail.
Read our Samsung Gear S3 preview
Sony Xperia XZ
If you’ve been confused by Sony’s move from the Xperia Z brand to the Xperia X brand, well, this phone’s not going to help with that at all. But what you need to know is that Sony’s flagship design is in good form. If only there weren’t one or two features that continue to dog the Japanese manufacturer. Still, this is a very capable phone.
Read our Sony Xperia XZ review
Sony Xperia X Compact
If you want a small phone — and we don’t just mean “not huge” — then there’s only one place to turn. That’s Sony. And it’s back with a new Xperia X Compact that takes things down to 4.6 inches, with a 720p display and Qualcomm Snapdragon 650 processor.
Check out our Xperia X Compact hands-on!
ZTE Axon 7 Mini
Love the idea of the ZTE Axon 7 but want something just a bit smaller? This is it. This 5.2-inch phone scales things down in all the right places while keeping things plenty speedy.
Check out our Axon 7 Mini hands-on
What are your favorite new Android gadgets from IFA? Shout out in the comments!
Telltale’s second ‘Batman’ episode arrives September 20th
Telltale took its sweet time readying the first episode of its Batman adventure game series, but you won’t have to wait too long to see what happens next. The studio has announced that the second episode, Children of Arkham, arrives on September 20th on Windows (through Steam), PS4 and Xbox One. Mum’s the word on what happens in the next episode (some PAX West guests will already know by the time you read this), but it’s reasonable to presume that it’ll continue to balance Bruce Wayne’s attempt to balance his normal life with his vigilante side.
There’s more on the way, too. If you insist on a disc-based copy, you can buy the previously unveiled retail version (which includes the first episode and a season pass for the rest) on September 13th. And you should hear about more platform support this month — if you aren’t willing to switch devices just to follow the Caped Crusader’s exploits, you may be in luck.
Source: Telltale Games
After Math: Call me, maybe
It’s been a banner week for mobile devices not made by Apple (you’ll have to wait until the 7th for those). Samsung, quite literally, blew its chance to gain ground on Apple, given the new iPhone’s reputed lackluster feature set. Google likely killed off Project Ara, its modular smartphone. Verizon and T-Mobile both rolled out new service plans aimed at stretching subscribers’ data plans. Hasselblad actually made a photography device that won’t require the life of your first born to obtain. And Nubia unveiled its newest flagship phone — but where’s the bezel. Numbers, because how else would we determine market share?
Ben Heck’s Xbox One S teardown
There are few things Ben Heck loves more than tearing down the newest gaming consoles. Watch how he unboxes the Xbox One S and takes apart each component, including the controller. As Ben does his thing, we see how Microsoft kept costs down by making alterations to both the chassis and printed circuit boards. Ben also compares the XBox One S side by side with the original XBox One and discovers that a connector is missing. Which one could it be? The power supply is another major change with Xbox One S; in the early days it was basically a huge brick. Ben also highlights the changes in the CPU/GPU heatsink and the limitations of hacking the HDMI ports on the board. Do you think there’s something else we can do with it? Let us know over on the element14 Community, where you can also learn about upcoming episodes.
Garmin’s spendy Fenix Chronos is a tax on Golfers
I’m a fan of Garmin’s Fenix smartwatches. I’ve been wearing the Fenix 3 for about a year, and, for me, it has a solid balance between battery life (two weeks), training tools, smart features and good old basic horological tasks. The only addition I’d like is all day heart-rate monitoring — something added in the Fenix 3 HR. The Fenix line has never been cheap — the 3 starts at $499, and the 3 HR, $599 — but the new luxury Fenix Chronos will test most wallets, starting at $899. For that extra $300 you sure are getting a nice looking timepiece, but glance at the spec sheet, and you’ll see some surprising downgrades. In their place are new Golf features that track your putts per round, greens and fairways hit plus average distance.
By far and away the biggest difference is the battery life. Both Fenix 3 models have a 300 mAh battery that’s good for about two weeks’ general use, or around 20 hours in GPS mode. The Fenix Chronos almost halves the battery life, with a 180 mAh cell, good for a week of general use or 13 hours of GPS tracking. A week is still manageable, but it means you might need to pack your charger for business travel or vacations. On the other hand, I gave the Fenix 3 full charge before two week-long back to back work trips, and I’m going to make it home with juice to spare.
Another feature that’s not present in the Chronos is WiFi. You have two ways of wirelessly uploading all your runs/fitness tracking data on the Fenix 3. You can connect to the mobile app via Bluetooth, or punch in your home WiFi password, and the watch will do it automatically as you walk back through the door. Not so with the flashy Chronos.
It’s a shame, too, as the Chronos really is a well-built timepiece. I’m comfortable with the rubber strap on my Fenix 3, but the leather or titanium hybrid both felt much more comfortable and like a “proper” watch. The titanium edition of Chronos in particular had me considering how much I really needed that battery and WiFi, but this beast costs almost twice the leather version at an eye-watering $1,500. I think I’ll stick with the WiFi.
Gold isn’t a cheap game to play, so it’s possible that those drawn to the sport’s tracking features are more than happy to peel off a few more bills for something that will work just as well with their business suit. This might make some sense if Garmin didn’t already have seven Golf-friendly wearables (albeit none that look like a dress watch).
We’re live all week from Berlin, Germany, for IFA 2016. Click here to catch up on all the news from the show.
How to return your recalled Galaxy Note 7 to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile or Sprint
Samsung has initiated a recall for the Note 7, but all you care about is your interaction with your carrier.
Since a majority of us in the U.S. still buy our phones from the big four carriers, we don’t really care about the process of returning our still-new recalled Galaxy Note 7 elsewhere — we want to know how to get it done here. Well, it turns out that one of the benefits of buying your phone from a carrier is that it handles a bit of the responsibility. In this case, that means you get to turn over your recalled Note 7 to the carrier you bought from, and it in turn figures out how to get it back to Samsung.
It took a little bit of scrambling, but the major carriers in the U.S. have all devised the same basic plan with various little wrinkles to let customers return or exchange their faulty Note 7. Here’s how everything breaks down at Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.
Returning a Note 7 to Verizon
Like every carrier below, Verizon has stopped selling new Note 7s while Samsung restocks things with new units. In the meantime, those with a Note 7 from the carrier can return their phone until September 30, which gives you nearly a full month. As you would expect, Verizon is waiving the restocking fee for anyone who returns a phone. You can exchange it for another phone, or just get your money back.
The best route for this is to simply head in to your nearest Verizon store — but perhaps call ahead of time to make sure they’re aware of the situation.
Returning a Note 7 to AT&T
AT&T took a little while to figure out exactly what it would do with the exchanges, but has settled on something similar to the others. Take your Galaxy Note 7 into an AT&T store, and they’ll let you exchange it for any other smartphone — if you choose to exchange for a Galaxy S7, S7 edge or S7 Active, you’ll get a $25 bill credit. You can also return any Note 7 accessories you bought with the phone.
Here’s the kicker: AT&T will also let you bring back that exchanged device to get a new Note 7 when the recall has finished and new devices are available. That’s a good deal.
Returning a Note 7 to T-Mobile
T-Mobile will let you return your Note 7 to any store by September 30, or call 1-800-937-8997 to initiate the process. You can return the phone for a complete refund, or choose to put that money toward a new phone if you wish. Like AT&T, you can also get a refund for any Note 7 accessories you may have purchased. If you pre-ordered the Note 7 and received incentives like the free Netflix subscription, SD card or Gear Fit 2, you can keep them even when you return the phone.
If you want to stick with the Note 7, T-Mobile is offering a straight swap for a new unit as soon as stock becomes available.
Returning a Note 7 to Sprint
Sprint Note 7 customers can return their device to any Sprint store or initiate the process by calling 1-800-SPRINT1. If you want to move to a Galaxy S7 or S7 edge, Sprint will move you to the new phone and refund you the difference in price, while also letting you return any Note 7 accessories you purchased. You can also put the cost of the Note 7 toward any smartphone of your choosing.
If you prefer to move to a new Note 7 when the recall is finished, Sprint will let you do a straight swap for a new device when they become available to the carriers.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7
- Galaxy Note 7 recall: Everything you need to know
- Samsung Galaxy Note 7 review
- The latest Galaxy Note 7 news!
- Here are all four Note 7 colors
- Complete Galaxy Note 7 specs
- Join the Note 7 discussion in the forums!
Verizon
AT&T
T-Mobile
Sprint
Modular phones really never stood a chance
The more complicated a plan is, the more likely it is to fail.
Project Ara is dead.
Just four months after Google announced they were going to work on a developer model for the end of this year and a consumer model sometime in 2017, the program was laid to rest. And really, is anyone surprised? The deck was stacked against them since the idea was born.
The idea itself is great. Forget the folks who say they will carry around different cameras or different speakers or different anything because those will end up just being one more thing left on a dresser after a few weeks. But Google’s example of an insulin monitor that can be plugged in when you need to test your blood is awesome, and I’m sure smart people had ideas of other ways it could actually be useful. That’s how some great ideas are born — think big and sort the details out later. But back to reality for a bit.
Great ideas and practicality seldom mix.
Phones and other small electronic things that use embedded hardware are pretty specific when it comes to the software that powers it. Writing the software and optimizing the code for a very specific set of components is mandatory. You have limited storage and limited power so you’re forced to use both very efficiently. Writing the software so that it can support more than one part for a single function would make that very difficult. It could be done, and Google may very well have a solid plan to make it work. Google isn’t the only company involved, though.
Android might be open source software, but the open portions can’t be used to write a working operating system. The people who make things like the processor or the camera or the memory controller will have some very model-specific software need to make them work. Without these files, your phone just isn;t going to work. A modular phone would not only need software support from Google but from the companies who make each individual part, too. And then those companies will need to be convinced to allow Google to redistribute that software as a downloadable package. And we already have seen how a single company can bring things to a screeching halt when it doesn’t like that idea, as Qualcomm held back needed software for the Nexus 7 2013 Lollipop update. Things can get a little ugly. Good people can quit their job in frustration.
Software support comes from many different companies.
Now multiply that situation by the number of companies who build the parts that fit into one of the six slots on the Ara chassis. Suddenly, unoptimized software that takes a lot of storage space isn’t such a big issue.
We aren’t sure why the project was scrapped, and I’m not saying this was the reason. But this would be a pretty big stumbling block and I don’t think even Google could work around it. Other folks in the “industry” that I’ve talked to feel similar, and we even heard some doubt about the project’s future at Google I/O 2016 as the news of Project Ara’s future was being announced.
Other companies are still going to work on a modular phone. One day someone will succeed and make one we can buy.
Amtrak’s next-gen high-speed trains, and more in the week that was
When it comes to high-speed rail, the US lags behind many other nations – but that’s set to change, as the government just gave Amtrak a $2.45 billion loan to launch a new generation of high-speed trains within the next five years. Magnetic levitation technology is often associated with trains, but one engineer came up with a wild concept for a self-driving mag-lev vehicle that doubles as a living room. In other transportation news, a technology group 3D printed a cutting-edge bicycle from scratch, and a group of Gaza students built a sun-powered car to battle the region’s fuel crisis.
Renewable energy is surging in the States – and Iowa just officially approved the largest wind project in the country, which will produce enough electricity to power 800,000 homes. Meanwhile, MIT developed a new solar cell that is more efficient and less expensive than existing technologies. We also explored how Sweden manages to divert 99% of its waste from the landfill by investing in recycling initiatives and waste to energy plants, and the Scandinavian nation is also planning to transform two disused power towers into soaring picnic platforms in the sky.
DUS Architects are leading the charge on 3D printed buildings – and they just unveiled a micro cabin in Amsterdam that welcomes anyone to spend the night. Researchers at MIT are pushing the technology forward by 3D printing objects that change shape according to variance in temperature. In other design news, architects are looking to the natural world for inspiration to create towers (and even cathedrals) from living trees. A Syracuse University art professor used grafting techniques to grow a plant that produces 40 different kinds of fruit. And the Biodesign architecture competition extended its deadline to September 6th.
Elevate your selfie game with this pocket-sized drone
Selfie drones? Sigh. We’ve only ourselves to blame. That said, the gadget fan inside of me is shamelessly drawn to the meretriciousness of the idea. The general problem of the aerial selfie is a nut that’s been cracked already, but we’re all for more options — and Dobby (above) from ZeroTech is one of them. Pitched as a “pocket drone,” Dobby is (as you might have guessed) small, with arms that fold out when an emergency selfie opportunity presents itself. It’s not a truly hands-free experience, as you’ll need your phone to control it, but it’s crammed with an array of smart features and we tried most of them here in Berlin.
Some of you might have seen Dobbie before. It’s been on sale in China since summer, and even made a cameo in our very own ICYMI. This weekend, ZeroTech brought Dobby to Berlin to celebrate it’s US and European launch. We’ll say it right up top, at $399 (469€) — the sort of money that can get you a family-size 4K quadcopter — you’ll have to really want one, but there’s a lot going on, so get comfortable, and we’ll get right to it.
The first thing you’ll notice about Dobby is its petite design. It’s about the size of a PS Vita, maybe a little fatter, and looks somewhat like a giant bar of soap. Until you fold out the arms, at which point it starts looking more drone-like. Perched on the front is a 13-megapixel camera, and on the underside is where you’ll find the removable battery and sonar/downward camera for indoor positioning. Somewhere hidden inside of Dobby are GPS and GLONASS sensors for satellite positioning. Dobby maybe small, but it’s not lacking in gizmos.
The camera snaps photos, of course, with a burst mode to make sure you “trap” the perfect picture. Video is grabbed at 1080p/30fps. ZeroTech told me the camera is similar to that found in phones like the Xioami Mi 4. The idea being, a mobile-style shooter takes better personal photos — no fisheye, or wide angle weirdness. The similarities with a phone don’t end there, as there’s also a Snapdragon 801 processor running the show. Those brains aren’t powering apps, though, instead it’s put to use to drive the smart features, of which there are a few. Maybe too many?
In our time with Dobby, ZeroTech tried to show us everything it could do. This includes voice enabled control (call it’s name, it’ll take off). You can also set Dobby to take off from, and land onto your palm. It’s not exactly the throw launched promised (but as yet undelivered) by Lily, but moving your hand upwards will see the drone take flight. Be careful of your fingers though, as Dobby nipped a pinkie from our demonstrator at one point.
One feature we sadly didn’t get to test was target tracking. The idea is, you select a person/cat/whatever currently in the camera’s view (via the app), and the drone will follow it. DJI’s Phantom 4 and Osmo also do this, with mixed results, so it’ll be interesting to see how well Dobby can hold up. Video is stabilized digitally, which should smooth it out a little, but again, this isn’t as effective as a dedicated gimbal, or OIS. One final feature that probably could have been left out are flying tricks — in particular Dobby can barrel roll. You can’t film while it flips, so it’s just a novelty.
While we had fun flying Dobby outside the IFA grounds (and taking the awkward selfie above), the first thing my colleague asked was, what is this for? It’s a good question. I enjoy flying drones generally, and shooting smooth high quality video. Dobby can’t really match something like a DJI in that regard. Of course, you can’t shlep a DJI around with you everywhere, which is the key selling point here. But, the number of times I’ve been caught drone-less when I needed one are few. That said, no one needed selfie sticks at one point (and I’m still not sure they do). Still, at $400, like I said before, put this one firmly on the executive toy list.
