This palm-sized 'selfie drone' fits in your pocket and has foldable blades
Drones are the new hotness in the gadget world and no one makes better drones than DJI. But while DJI's Phantom 4 is both super smart and easy to control, it's nowhere near as easy to carry around as the Dobby selfie drone.
Created by Chinese drone maker ZeroTech, the Dobby is a super small and compact drone that's barely larger than the palm of your hand and weighs just under half a pound.
The most notable thing about the drone is its foldable propeller blades. All four of them tuck into pill-shaped body for easy storage.
You May Also Like
The drone is controlled with a smartphone app and it can take off in various ways. According to a company promotional video, the Dobby can take off from your hand when you use a voice command and when you pat it. Yes, pat the drone. Furthermore, you can control the drone using hand gestures.
The Dobby is suitable for both indoor and outdoor flight; there are blade bumpers that can be attached for safety.
And like the Hover Camera, the Dobby can hover in place and record video in up to full HD 1080p resolution from its 13-megapixel camera. It can also take 4K-resolution still photos with burst mode. Photos and videos can then be shared to social networks via the smartphone app.
It's got object and face-tracking capabilities so it can automatically follow you around while recording video.
It's also got object and face-tracking capabilities so it can automatically follow you around while recording video.
Another fun feature: It can carry small objects. Our guess is the payload needs to be lighter than the drone itself. Parrot's toy-like Airborne Cargo drone can also carry small objects like little toy figurines.
Battery life is reportedly only about nine minutes. That said, the Hover Camera only flies for eight minutes on a battery. Additional batteries will be a must.
The Dobby selfie drone sounds like a cool toy and could be a serious challenger to the Hover Drone. You can pick one up from Alibaba's Taobao for RMB 1,899 (about $290).
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
Raymond Wong is Mashable's Senior Tech Correspondent. He reviews gadgets and tech toys and analyzes the tech industry. Raymond's also a bit of a camera geek, gamer, and fine chocolate lover. Before arriving at Mashable, he was the Deputy Editor of NBC Universal's tech publication DVICE. His writing has appeared on G4TV, BGR, Yahoo and Ubergizmo, to name a few. You can follow Raymond on Twitter @raywongy or Instagram @sourlemons.
