Read more.The quadcopter drone is stowed in the top of the phone, which otherwise looks like a regular slab.
Read more.The quadcopter drone is stowed in the top of the phone, which otherwise looks like a regular slab.
*awaits Saracen and Le Cat Cinq to join in on the obvious privacy flaws*
Old puter - still good enuff till I save some pennies!
Me, the 13th duke of wimborne, here, in the field next to the local naturist beach with my new smartphone mini drone cam? Ding dong...
on the upside, given the small size of the thing, most birds will be able to take it down, and finding the thing if it loses signal will be a nightmare. It's bad enough finding a regular drone (so I'm told) but this thing will be like hunting for a golf ball in the scrub. Be useful in alton towers though to see the length of the queues. Or scribble a post it and fly it over the crowd to the barman to get your order in. There are some building surveys etc where being able to see the roof might help (but those folk tend to have proper drones anyway by now). Where else could this reasonably be used? Is this a solution to a problem that isn't really there?
Great , kids could have fun firing catapaults at swarms of these little buggers buzzing about. Could see this becoming a public nuisance if it takes off ( excuse the pun. lol ).
For indoor use maybe, but outside, anything stronger than a sneeze is going to blow it all over the place..
it's a gimmick, a drone needs a certain weight to make it stable, in anything but still air it's going to be impossible to control
This is just a speculative patent. I doubt vivo have any plans to actual make the damn thing. It just stops someone else doing it (without having to pay at least) plus it increases the companies patent portfolio which helps valuations.
Yep, looks like patent squatting/trolling/good-business-sense depending on which side of that debate you fall down on
I do like pocket drones, and have built/bought a few miniture ones...but as cptwhite_uk says they will be useless outdoors in most cases, unless it's perfectly still.
My smallest is 10x10cm with props (still bigger than the ones you'd have in a phone), and I won't fly that outside unless the conditions are perfectly still - the slightest breeze takes it away.
Even my Mavic Mini, which is 24x29cm unfolded (ish) struggles with any wind, although the flight computer does a good job of fighting it.
A tiny drone like that just won't work outside, sadly!
April 1st hasn't snuck around early, has it? No?
Okay, treating that design as serious for a sec ....
My first thoughts aren't so much the privacy issues but the fact that, at least in the UK (and most westernised countries) legislation will not allow that design, unless the user is prepared to do basic drone courses and tests (A2CofC), and even then, it will be way to heavy to fly except in very limited locations.
Take a look at the changes in current rules. The old rules regime ended at the start of the year and we're currently in transition. That ends at start of 2023 and then, anything weighing more than 250g (and what smartphone doesn't?) is going to fall outside the "fly almost anywhere" class and be very retsricted in use.
Which is why Spud's Mavic Mini and my Mini 2 are damned good buys. Even the bigger Mavic's, let alone smartphone-drones, unless the CAA issue restrospective Class certificates, are going to be damned near unusable outside of private land a good distance from people, cars (and other vehicles) and (off the top of my head) "residential, commercial, industrial or recreational" areas, and a goodly distance from any people.
A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".
Which, in the UK at least, would be criminal damage if you get caught. At least. Bear in mind one of the users of such devices is the police.
Any responsible user is considerate in use, and indeed up to a point is required to be. But also bear in mind that depending on the class of drone, a legit user can fly them anywhere, unless specifically prohibited from doing so on eiher a temporary or permanent basis, and even property owners do not have rights over airspace over their own property. That doesn't mean that one can be flown low down over your garden, or outside a window, and it doesn't mean it can be used to invade your privacy or harass, but it does mean that the CAA controls the airspace over your property and anyone with the requisite traing and CAA approval (like me) can fly over private property, just like a 747 or the police helicopters can.
Besides which, you're not likely to find me flying low down over your property. I do take off and land over mine, but not before talking to the neighbours, telling them what I'm doing and getting their approval .... not that I actually need it, but it's simple neighbourly good manners and a touch of consideration beforehand usually avoids arguments or problems afterwards.
I remember visiting a neighbour about 25 years ago and asking if they were experiencing any issues from my new radio gear. "Well, yes, " they said, and on prompting explained "We didn't like to say, but we're getting this interference pattern pretty regularly". When I asked what it looked like, they pointed at the TV and told me it's doing it now.
"Ummmm", I said, and pointed out the obvious .... as I was sitting on their sofa, and they were welcome to come next door with me and check that my radios were turned off, it probably wasn't my radios causing their problem.
On checking their antenna lead, they found dodgy shielding and a partially broken connector, changed the cable for about £2, and guess what? Yup, no more problem.
A lesson learned from PeterB about dignity in adversity, so Peter, In Memorium, "Onwards and Upwards".
/me let out a 80 db sigh.
Hmmm... Phoney Drones sound cool for about 2 seconds and you think through the consequences of every chav wanting one (as I recall the stupid laser-pointer incident during England's penalty in last night's Euro match).
Last edited by KultiVator; 08-07-2021 at 02:08 PM.
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