“Drone” – an unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond line of sight.
That’s one of an online dictionarys meaning of what a drone is, and going by that defintion the drones we see out in the market now haven’t really been drones; it still need to be navigate by a person on the controller. With the upcoming Phantom 4, DJI is really putting the meaning of “drone” back into its drones.
Being the world leader in camera drones, being based in Shenzhen, DJI unveiled some cracking new features into their Phantom 4:
- Fly with tap
- ActiveTrack
- Sport mode
- Extended flight time
With new sensors (two at the front, two on the bottom, and the main 4K camera) on the Phantom 4, it can automatically clear obstacles to avoid collision. It does this by creating a 3D model of the world around it using nifty software. Try and fly it into something and the Phantom 4 will stop in its tracks. Set it to fly to a different locations, and if it detects something in the way, it’ll decided whether to alter its trajectory, or stop to wait of its command. Definitely an extra piece of assurance as the Phantom 4 will retail for US$1399, more that the top of range of the previous version, so its not cheap. The new model also boasts 5x the hovering stability compared to the previous model, ensuring you can get super stable shots even in windy conditions. But wait, I said set it to fly to a different location, previously this could be done by setting waypoints, but now there’s Fly with Tap.
Fly with Tap
Eliminating the need to struggle with the controller, Fly with Tap is so easy even beginners can get smooth flight and video shots. Just take off, set a maximum distance, and then just tap on the live video feed to where you want the drone to go. Its as simple as that.
Couple this with the previously mentioned auto avoidance of collisions, this really does start to make the Phantom 4 a proper drone.
ActiveTrack
By far this is my favourite new feature. On the live video feed you can trace around an object, and that includes a moving one such as a person or vehicle, and the Phantom 4 will automatically track it. How about setting it to a rally car, or how about a skier, you’re really going to get some super great footage.
Sport mode
With improvements all round to the reactiveness and precision of controls, and adjust to the physical design of the Phantom 4 by moving the battery nearer the centre of the drone and raising the rotors slightly higher, you will experience higher speeds but still feel safe you will not crash it.
Extended flight time
With a larger battery capacity, the Phantom 4 now has an increased flight time of 28 minutes from 25 minutes, from 4480mAh to 5350mAh. I know, its still not very long really, but it is a fine balance of having a larger heavier battery vs the weight of it being carried by the drone. With a slightly slimmer model compared the previous model, the Phantom 4 actually now weighs slightly heavier by 100g.
Is this the best drone available? By a country mile. For the last few years DJI has been leading the market with their cutting edge ressearch and tecnologies. Yes, the new Phantom 4 is rather pricey, but its not really aimed at beginners. I sure want one though!
