DJI launched the new Mavic Air Drone today at its event. Well, DJI has had an amazing last year. It soared to heights with its drones from the past. The DJI Spark really proved to be of value to its customers. Additionally, the DJI Mavic Pro was a beast in its own sense.
DJI’s biggest competitor- GoPro had to shut down its Karma drone last year due to extremely low sales. Well, GoPro kind of earned that. Although, it doesn’t look like DJI is stopping anytime soon.
DJI is Flying!
Drones are gaining popularity over time taking into consideration the magical things they can do. Most YouTubers nowadays use drones to capture beautiful aerial shots. In fact, the initial usage of drones was introduced in the military, where drones have proved to save lives. Just recently, two surfers got caught in a riptide and were saved by a drone. Actually, the drone just dropped an inflatable boat from the air which inflated as soon as it touched the water, saving the lives of those surfers.
But, you’ll be indeed surprised to know that the new Mavic Air won’t be at least capable of saving lives, due to its size. Yes, its super compact and can easily fit in your pockets. In fact, DJI’s director of North America stuffed two of those pocket-sized units in his vest at the event today. I wonder how a drone so small could be of use to a consumer.
Anyways, I guess this drone may be aimed at people who film a lot of stuff- People like bloggers, filmmakers, drone racers (Yeah, that’s a thing), and also the general public who like to film most of their life.
Specs
What’s a drone without a camera? Fear not, this drone has one. Although, it sports a built-in camera that shoots in 4K along with beautiful 12 Megapixel stills. Speaking of panoramas, this little beast can capture 32 Megapixel panoramas. All of the cameras are mounted on a new, 3-axis stabilizing gimbal so that you can get shots as stable as the drone itself. It has automatic modes for capturing video in special ways, using impressive tricks.
The drone can stay air bound for 21 minutes, which is pretty impressive for a drone with a size so small that it’d easily fit in one’s pockets. Wondering how it keeps up with the signal from the remote control? It has its antennas embedded in its landing gear, giving it a flight range of 2.4 miles. Also, being small, it has a high-speed of 42 miles per hour.
The Mavic Air has numerous automatic flight modes, out of which most just require the pilot to tap one button on the controller. Moreover, gesture control makes it easier to control the flight. All you have to do is wave to the drone to make it fly. Isn’t this magical? Not yet, as you can also capture selfies just by forming a picture frame with your hands.
Additionally, the company says that the Mavic Air is uncrashable. It has improved sensors which makes any obstacle look as if it were a stream of air. Also, it won’t crash onto the wall, no matter how hard you try. The new software in this drone captures an image of the surroundings and then using artificial intelligence, plans its course around the obstacles beforehand.
The Mavic Air weighs in at just 15 ounces.
Pricing and Availability
DJI plans to roll out the drone to users on 28th of January for $799. With this costing, it lines up between the cheaper DJI Spark and the costlier Mavic Pro.
You may also watch a summed up launch event here:
Hopes are high this time. Have fun.
Source: Wired
