Snapchat has unveiled its own drone, Pixycapable of recording videos or capturing photographs in selfie format in the simplest way. Just take it out of your pocket, extend your hand, let it fly and it will place itself in front of the user.
Pixy is a drone capable of recording the user by following him and returning to his hand automatically
Pixy is a square drone, of a compact size, made of plastic of striking yellow color, with its four propellers protected to avoid accidents, with a front camera and another located at the bottom, while in its upper part it has a selection wheel for preset programs of flight patterns.
It marks a second step by the social network into the world of hardware after its Spectacles smart glasseslaunched in 2016but this time replacing the revolutionary selfie sticks with a drone capable of capturing images from a greater distance, autonomously and without requiring outside help. Pixy is also able to follow the user, take photos or videos and return docilely to the palm of the user’s hand, where it will land softly.
The Pixy camera has a 12-megapixel resolution sensor and can take 100 videos or 1,000 photos that are stored internally in its 16 Gb memory capacity. The captured material can later be synchronized with the Memories section of the Snapchat app, from where they can be edited Pixy lacks a microphonetherefore, the videos will require the subsequent addition of the audio track, selecting it from those available in the application itself or recording it by the author himself.
This photographic drone has six pre-programmed flight patterns accessible from a dial built into the top. By simply selecting one of them, Pixy takes flight, captures images and returns to the user’s hand, so no controller or remote control is required, and it is not even operated from the Snapchat app.
Thanks to a ventral arrangement camera Pixy is able to detect the surface over which it flies, and thanks to its front camera detects the user’s positionthe user must hold his palm out in front of him, with the camera focused on him, so that the drone will be able to detect and follow him if he moves.
It is compact in size and light in weight (only 101 grams), and can be stored in the back pocket of a pair of pants. The weight, precisely, is something to take into consideration if it is used outdoors since with a strong wind there could be a problem.
For the moment Pixy can only be purchased online in the U.S. and France for a price of $230. It has interchangeable batteries (additional batteries cost $20), each of which is capable of providing five to eight flights of between 10 and 20 seconds duration.
