What functions should an entry-level drone have? iDol drone review -part 5

Samples and videos taken with the iDol drone can be viewed and downloaded to the phone in the App Gallery. There are three flight routes in the app, such as skyrocketing, gradual distance, 360 degrees ringing, etc. At the same time, this is also the three classic drone shooting techniques. For novice users, you can select any of the three modes for video recording after turning on the camera recording. Basically, the effect of “big movie” comes out.

Hover & Endurance

The hovering of the portable cheap drone has always been a problem. The measured iDol drone will have a certain unstable hovering situation in the case of wind, but if it is in a small or windless room, its hover effect will be still decent. Due to the limited size and weight of the portable small drone, the hover effect is naturally better than the medium and large drones, which is normal.

In terms of battery life, the official life of the iDol drone is 10 minutes. In actual use, it can achieve a life of about 10 minutes. In several flights, the author can maintain a lifetime of 9 to 11 minutes. The 10-minute battery life does not seem long, but considering that this is a portable small cheap drone, in fact, this level of battery life is actually in the upper-middle level when compared with similar products. When the power is less than 10%, iDol will prompt the user to be in a low battery condition, reminding the user to prepare to return.

Sum up

As the title of this article says, what kind of functionality does an entry-level drone have? The intelligent follow-up, gesture control, streamer positioning & ultrasonic positioning, 10-minute flight life, 1080P video capture, these are the answers given by the iDol drone. In actual use, the iDol drone has no obvious shortboard, and its performance is very balanced in all aspects. Compared with similar products, it has a stronger configuration and more functions, but the price is lower. For this portable small drone with a price of only 999 yuan, I feel surprised.

What functions should an entry-level drone have? iDol drone review -part 4

Shooting experience

For drones, shooting is naturally an important part. In fact, the author is not the first to contact this portable small drone. Some portable drones that have been in contact with it often had poor image transmission effects. This is not only reflected in the long-distance situation. Even at close distances, there will be such problems. The measured iDol drone can also have a smooth, non-mosaic image transmission effect at a distance of about 30 meters, but if the distance is increased, their image transmission will be somewhat difficult. But since it is such an entry level cheap drone, this is understandable and reasonable.

The picture transmission is indeed a very difficult problem for portable small drones. It is necessary to ensure the volume and weight of the portable, the price cannot be too high, and also want to have a powerful image transmission effect, which is currently unmanned. It is impossible to do in the machine industry. For the iDol drone, the author believes that it can meet the user needs of such portable drone products at a distance of 30 meters or so, and if the user has higher requirements for image transmission and aerial photography. Users should not consider such drones, but instead turn to medium and large drone products.

In terms of photography, the iDol drone supports 1080P resolution picture capture and 1080P video recording. The overall effect is OK, there is not much noise, and there is a certain degree of tolerance, which is a normal level. Because the iDol drone adopts the design of the single-axis pan/tilt, this design can prevent the jelly phenomenon and the image jitter caused by the wind to a certain extent, but since the iDol drone itself is not equipped with optical anti-shake, if it encounters strong winds In the case, the shooting experience will be reduced.

What functions should an entry-level drone have? iDol drone review -part 3

At the same time, there are two speed modes: fast speed and slow speed. If you are a novice user who uses the drone for the first time, I recommend using slow mode to learn. The American hand and the Japanese hand are two virtual remote control methods. The American hand controls the throttle with the left hand, while the Japanese hand controls the throttle with the right hand. The electronic fence function is to set the flight range of the drone to fly in the designated area.

Smart Follow & Gesture Control

Although the price is only 999 yuan, this cheap drone is equipped with smart follow-up and gesture control.

Smart follow

After the smart follow function is enabled, the virtual joystick of the mobile phone will disappear, and the user can directly select the person or object that needs to be intelligently followed on the screen. When the object moves, the drone will also fly with it. However, it is worth noting that due to the limited speed of the portable small drone, if the following person/object moves too fast, then the drone may be "followed", which is normal.

Gesture control

In addition to the "smart follow" big move, iDol also supports gesture control. After the gesture control is turned on, the user can still control the drone through the virtual joystick. At this time, the camera needs to be turned to the gesture that needs to be recognized, and the gesture of the palm of the user can control the landing of the drone, and the user makes V. Gestures (the index finger and the middle finger are V-shaped and the "Yeah" posture), you can achieve automatic shooting, which is especially suitable for occasions that require self-timer, multi-person self-timer, gesture by hovering over the drone control also makes drone self-timer easier and simpler.

What functions should an entry-level drone have? iDol drone review -part 2

Experience

The iDol drone is not equipped with a physical remote control. By downloading the FUNSNAP App, it acts as a remote control for the drone through the mobile phone. Currently, such portable drone products on the market basically adopt this mobile phone & remote control solution.

For a drone, introductory teaching is a must-have program, especially for many users who first contact the cheap drone, when they first use the drone, they still need to spend some thoughts. In the iDol drone app, click on the newcomer guide, the user can view the teaching video inside, from the simplest battery installation, charging, switching machine to camera, video and other functions are equipped with video teaching, convenient for new users to get started. Before using, you need to enter the settings to calibrate the sensor.

The main operation interface of the app is the image of the UAV. The default is the American hand stick mode. The left joystick is up, down, left-handed, right-handed, and the right stick is forward, backward, left pan, right pan. The top bar is some basic flight parameters: altitude, distance, speed, power, capacity space, GPS signal.

The left button is a button to take off and land, and the top is a button to return. Further up is the virtual key that controls the camera to rotate up and down. The right column has a smart mode, flight settings, shooting/recording keys, and gallery.

Some flight configurations of the iDol drone can be set up at the flight settings at the top right. Gravity mode is to control the flight of the aircraft by the tilt angle of the mobile phone through the gravity sensor of the mobile phone. The headless mode controls the direction of the drone with the initial takeoff point coordinates, so as to prevent the novice user from controlling the drone to be unable to misjudge the flight direction.

What functions should an entry-level drone have? iDol drone review -part 1

In May 2018, iDol drones officially launched the Xiaomi crowdfunding, and the ultra-low price of 999 yuan of this drone became the focus of everyone's attention. Although the price is low, from the functional point of view, the drone supports 1080P video recording, not only equipped with UAV positioning technology such as streamer positioning, ultrasonic positioning but also supports advanced functions such as gesture recognition and intelligent follow-up. Although the iDol drone is not expensive and compact, it seems to be fully functional, what is its actual performance?

Exterior

As a consumer-grade portable cheap drone, the iDol drone does not have a complicated assembly process. Immediately after unpacking, it is a complete machine that removes the battery. There are not many accessories, except for batteries and chargers, as well as a spare propeller.

The iDol drone is a folding design with four-rotating propellers. The left and right wings can be manually rotated by the gears at the main shaft for easy storage. The maximum angle of rotation of the two wings is 90 degrees.

The battery of the iDol drone is located at the main shaft of the fuselage, and the propeller is wrapped around the rack in a left-right distribution. The rubber pad protruding from the bottom of the fuselage is to protect the drone fuselage when landing. The ultrasonic positioning device and the streamer positioning device can be clearly seen. The main color of the fuselage is gray, and the whole drone is made of high-strength engineering plastic.

Camera

The camera of the iDol drone is located at the front end of the main shaft of the fuselage. The camera can rotate up and down two axes and has a viewing angle of 120 degrees. The only button (power button) provided in the body is located at the end of the spindle.

Still thinking purchase a drone or not?

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