Xiaomi’s Lei Jun revealed the Mi Drone yesterday via the Mi Live app.
The drone was made by the Mi arm of the company with CEO Cai Wei having 7 years of experience in dealing with drones. The design of their drone was inspired by the dragonfly.
Xiaomi decided to enter the field as they saw an opportunity where most people think of a drone as nothing but an expensive toy. They hope to bring innovation in this field and offer features that makes the Mi Drones a worthwhile purchase.
The Mi drone comes in two variants, one with a 1080p camera and the other with a 4k camera. They will cost $380 (approx. Rs. 39,000) for the 1080p version and $456 (approx. Rs. 46,500) for the 4k version.
The drone has a feature where if the drone is nearby a no-fly zone, it will automatically stop near the zone and will not enter the space. It can be tracked in real time, and will return automatically if the remote is disconnected. It uses PCB antennas which help extend the range to about 2 km. You can plan a route and using the remote control, set the drone to fly according to the route. It can also go to a point on a map assigned by you or circle around a set target.
The battery can be monitored and when its low, it’ll flash a warning on your phone’s screen. It has a 17.4V, 5100 mAh battery which Xiaomi claims can give 27 minutes of non stop flight.
The remote control is simplistic in design and has several useful features built-in. Auto take-off and landing, capturing photos and videos, point flying, planned route flying and auto hover are all controlled by the remote control.
The camera contains a 12.4MP Sony made sensor, Ambarella sports image processor and 104 degree wide-angle lens. It supports shooting in RAW format as well and also supports live video at 720p with low ping at a distance of upto 2 kilometers. The camera is attached to a 3-axis highly sensitive gimbal, which stabilizes upto 2000 vibrations per second.
One of the best features of this drone is that it is modular, and is easy to assemble and disassemble, allowing you to carry it in a bag and assemble it where you need it within minutes. This is one of the features that most other drones lack and will prove to be an advantage in favor of Xiaomi.
Image and news source: MIUI forums
