One of Europe's leading drone companies, Parrot, announced their latest drone today, dubbed the "Anafi" - but there's a twist.
Rather than needing to carry the full-sized drone around with you, the Anafi can fold up to a fraction of its ordinary size for secure storage in a small carrying case. To further improve portability, the Anafi is also ultra-lightweight at roughly 0.7 pounds or 320 grams.
The device's lightweight nature also serves to increase flight time. According to Parrot, the Anafi is capable of flying for a full 25 minutes on a single charge, courtesy of a "bio-inspired design combined with a smart battery," though it's not entirely clear what that means.
The Anafi's camera is also nothing to sneeze at. As is pretty much the standard for many modern high-end drones, the device features a 4K HDR camera with zoom functionality. The drone also has "3-axis stabilization" and a 180-degree "vertically rotating" camera.
It's worth noting, however, that taking full advantage of the Anafi's "lossless zoom" will result in a resolution drop. Specifically, increasing the zoom to 2.8x will reduce the image quality to 1080p.
The Anafi's flight control app, FreeFlight 6, can be used by directly connecting your smartphone to the drone's dedicated remote control.
Within the app, pilots will be able to activate two manual flight modes; Film and Sport. The latter allows the device to kick its speed up a notch to 33 mph, with the ability to withstand winds of up to 31 mph.
If you aren't an experienced drone pilot, FreeFlight 6 will come with a few automatic control modes, including SmartDronies, CineShots, and Follow Me.
According to Parrot, the Anafi will ship out on July 1, 2018, with a $699 price tag.
Image courtesy The Verge