DJI's Spark drone is so small and smart, it could be a game-changer
DJI unveiled its tiny Spark drone on Wednesday, and it's sort of the anti-drone for consumers.
It's small enough to fit in your hand, launches and lands from there, can be controlled almost entirely with gestures, lets you take a selfie from just 10 feet away, has a whole collection of pre-programmed video shots to help you figure out what to do with it, and even charges via a standard micro USB port.
Plus it's available at a consumer-friendly price of $499.
It is, in other words, the answer to the two questions DJI hears from consumers most about drones:
"Is it easy to fly?"
"How am I going to use it?"
The drone, which goes on pre-sale today and ships mid-June, seeks to dramatically shorten the distance from a consumer buying a drone (DJI said 46% of costumers have the intention to buy one this year) to actually flying one.
Spark, DJI's smallest and lightest drone, is not at all imposing like the DJI Phantom series or even the foldable and excellent -- but more expensive -- DJI Mavic Pro. Spark doesn't fold, but at this size, that may not matter.
It is also, though, not DJI's most powerful drone. The quadcopter's 1 2/3-inch sensor can shoot 12-megapixel images, but only shoots up to 1080p video at 30 frames per second (fps), which may still be more than enough for most consumers. Images can be saved to a removable micro SD card.
DJI did do something extra with the camera, using the Spark's on-board infrared to detect image depth information and blur out the background on pretty cool-looking drone selfie shots.
The camera is on just a 2-axis gimbal for maintaining image stability, but it gets an assist from electronic image stabilization.
Speed is, at 31 mph in sport mode, admirable, though some may blanch at the 16-minute flight time. Buying the $699 bundle (which includes extra batteries) may be a must.
However, if you're looking for more range and speed, you're probably not the DJI Spark target market.
This flyer is about simplicity and capturing moments as quickly and as simply as possible.
Without the optional remote control, the drone can fly up to 109 feet away. That's not volcano-exploring distance, but it's awesome group-selfie space.
With the remote, though, the DJI Spark can go as far as 1.24 miles and will know how to fly home, especially if you get too close to that 16-minute flight limit.
The QuickShot presets are accessed through the updated DJI Go flight app on your iOS or Android device. They have names like "Rocket" and "Circle" and package up the drone's object detection, tracking, and flight-path capabilities into one step-selections. The app will even auto-edit your videos.
With all that reliance on gesture recognition (make a finger frame in front of you for a picture, waving it away to have it fly further away from you) DJI could not skimp on sensors. The spark includes GPS and GLONASS, a 3D object detection system and a downward-facing position sensor.
In another nod to consumer-friendliness, this drone comes in a variety of colors, including red, blue green and yellow.
We can't wait for our first test flight.
Topics Drones Innovations
Lance Ulanoff was Chief Correspondent and Editor-at-Large of Mashable. Lance acted as a senior member of the editing team, with a focus on defining internal and curated opinion content. He also helped develop staff-wide alternative story-telling skills and implementation of social media tools during live events. Prior to joining Mashable in September 2011 Lance Ulanoff served as Editor in Chief of PCMag.com and Senior Vice President of Content for the Ziff Davis, Inc. While there, he guided the brand to a 100% digital existence and oversaw content strategy for all of Ziff Davis’ Web sites. His long-running column on PCMag.com earned him a Bronze award from the ASBPE. Winmag.com, HomePC.com and PCMag.com were all been honored under Lance’s guidance.He makes frequent appearances on national, international, and local news programs including Fox News, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Kelly and Michael, CNBC, CNN and the BBC.He has also offered commentary on National Public Radio and been interviewed by newspapers and radio stations around the country. Lance has been an invited guest speaker at numerous technology conferences including SXSW, Think Mobile, CEA Line Shows, Digital Life, RoboBusiness, RoboNexus, Business Foresight and Digital Media Wire’s Games and Mobile Forum.
