A new pocket-sized consumer camera drone has launched on the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, where the team behind it seeks $125k in funding. Called Selfly, this drone is dubbed a ‘smart flying phone case camera' due to its unique storage design. When not in use, Selfly folds into a compact rectangular shape that can be attached to the back of an included smartphone case.
Selfly is a small autonomous camera drone that, when stored, folds into a 9mm phone case. When removed from the case, four rotors appear to automatically lift the drone into the air where it hovers by default. The related mobile app offers optional control modes, including ‘Stick Control,’ ‘Voice Control,’ and ‘Fly By Picture.’
The integrated camera features an 8MP sensor able to record video at 1080p/30fps; live video broadcasting is supported, though flight time tops out at only five minutes. The drone is compatible with all 4" to 6" smartphones via its Universal Flip Cover Case. Additionally, Selfly has dedicated phone cases for the iPhone 6/6 Plus/7/7 Plus, Galaxy S6/7 edge, Galaxy 7, and the Nexus 6.
Selfly is similar to the pocket-sized AirSelfie drone that launched on Kickstarter late last year. That drone’s campaign has ended after exceeding its funding goal; backers pledged more than €570,000.
570,000 euros backing for something that will never see the light of day. Are people really so dumb? This product isn't feasible in so many ways...let alone from a startup.
Has anybody seen a working prototype? They must have one, they are showing it in the video! I presume DPR have, seeings that they consider it serious enough to make the news on a slow Sunday [sarcasm]
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this will sell out soon[we must get more than 34million usd in preorders otherwise you may lose everything and we will go belly up]dont let this happen order often the more you play the more you wn
You'd have to be really stupid to invest in this. Crowd source simple engineering products, sure. But people don't realize how difficult it is to design stuff like this. They don't even know if it's feasible or just a dream. Stay away. Power, motors, control, cameras.
is it just me that finds the current obsession with selfies (visit the far east to see it at its most absurd level), to be incredibly narcissistic and arrogant. These people with their phones on the end of sticks, in between hitting other folks on the head with them, seem to want to insert themselves in front of any scene they are taking.
Not really. It's just a version of the same photo that has been taken by travelers since the beginning of photography where you don't have to (a) give you camera to someone else or (b) set your camera down, start the timer, and then sprint to be in the photo.
The selfie isn't new, it's just a new technique for taking the same picture.
Remember the last drone failure? All body, propellers too tiny to make it fly? This is an other one. The only way that thing would fly is to use tiny, synchro high-performance motors capable of ten thousand or more RPM and those things cost about $400/ea and are not light-weight.
It is true that smaller propellers, like the wings of a bee, have to turn disproportionate faster to generate proportional lift. I don't believe this thing exists as depicted in the video, I think it's CGI. Modern day snake oil.
It can fly... the are RC helicopters or quad-copters at very low prices, add a camera with some stabilization included in the module (that's what it looks it is) and a wi-fi module and there you go.... but software development costs too, so in order to work nice... well... i have my doubts, or maybe they'll just keep it simple and manual. Also at that size it will be mostly usable inside (or outside if totally zero winds) .. and a fly time of some 5 minutes, so you will carry it with you just to use is 2-3 times :)
Why are so many drones based on the battery inefficient multicopter-design, when an airplane-based design would offer so much smoother glide, less noise and longer battery time?
I am a camera drone operator for weddings and I can tell you that winged drones do have their advantages but requires a minimum speed to stay airborne. Quads can stay stationary and allows more flexible camera pans. Winged drones have both their advantages and disadvantages but quad drones still offer more.
Stationary is boring in my opinion. I would easily trade stationarity for flight time. Is there really so few people that prioritize like me or is it just the low availability of winged drones that forces people to choose multicopters in stead?
As a viewer, what do you think feels most natural: A view like a surveillance camera from the top of a flag pole, or like being a bird, moving your head to look around as you fly?
Why does Mavic and other drones have an orbit function if stationary view looks so good?
Do you understand what I mean by stationary boring now?
Have you seen the guitar solo scene in Guns n roses - November rain? Or Pink floyd - Learning to fly? How would those videos look with a stationary surveillance cam view?
But you realize that last option (stationary) is a large compromise to flight time?
That compromise is like comparing a set of good primes and 2x-3x zooms to a single 15x superzoom and concluding that the superzoom is the best lens because its a all-in-one. Jack of all trades - master of none.
Sure it might be best for some, but I just wonder why almost all drones play the versatility card.. To mee, multicopters are far overrated and winged drones far underappreciated.
Do you run around in circles when taking a video? Study a building by running around it? Suppose I put a spell on you and you could never stop running. Ever.
Ok , but what aircraft can simulate a camera boom, dolly, slider, and tripod all in one system... A multicopter ... When was the last time a wedding client, realestate agent, construction site inspecter asked to see footage of feeling like there flying like a bird... The airplane style drones do serve a great purpose for cinema, long range flights like crop dusting, information gathering and bombing...
I could see moderate but true success if they just marketed this as a Quadcopter that is portable and attaches to a smartphone case so that you can fly it whenever you want to. The product is basically that. It will never take good photos or videos.
If it can produce similer iq to a high end smartphone it will be valuable to the selfie market ... The Camera Store YouTube channel had a jpeg shoot out with cameras in the $800-$2000 range and also threw in an iPhone and printed out the images .. the iPhone won in the landscape photo.. don't underestimate a small sensor in good light... Now indoors in bad lighting that's another story...
The problem is not putting in a decent sensor, the problem is the lack of a stabilizing gimbal. Still images might be OK, but video will be poor quality regardless of the lens and sensor.
Yes. The problem is no gimbal. This will have the same issues as the Onagofly has. I own one. It is comparable in size to the one pictured here, but it doesn't fold up. It does take video and stills, but without a gimbal, there is motion resulting from corrections to compensate for air turbulence plus corrections due to noise in the various navigation sensors.
At least the price isn't too bad, but drones in this price range are crappy for any kind of quality work. I doubt it's stable enough for use in anything but in a bright sunny day.
I can just imagine someone launching one of these things in a club, and a software glitch occurs. The next morning police find 800 bodies with their heads sliced open.
Yes, I think so; all these excessively chirpy happy, so happy, people passing their time playing with these 'toys'. Must be the week-end when 4 generations of the (same) family always get together for a picnic, or frisbee throwing or some other style of 1970ies entertainment and even Gran'ma knows how to operate the drone controls.
Who wanna bet it's going to end just like all those other "revolutionary" ambitious small camera drone kickstarters? That is, in failure and misuse of funding?
Designing a drone is not easy. Designing a camera drone is even harder. Designing a compact inexpensive camera drone that also has good software is a true engineering challenge. Even big and experienced companies mostly fail at that. Yet it seems random "designers" seem to think they can easily pull this off just because they can draw a nice drone in modelling software.
A rule of thumb here is very simple: unless there is a working prototype, don't support it. And even with the prototype, use some common sense.
PS: Also, gotta love that super stable broadcast-grade footage they show in their promos. Because, you know, that's totally achievable with current camera technology and gimbal-less video from a tiny sensor on a lightweight drone would totally NOT look like crappy jello-fest full of noise and compression artifacts.
Yup. Calling bull on this one as well. Amazing quality footage from an unstabilized camera on a drone? I also love the cute "helicopter" noises they added, rather than the really loud buzzing/whine of a small drone.
I know there were several cases of bad projects recently, but still this is Kickstarter - and there are also a ton of great ones.
1. If you read the project you will see its not claiming to be "revolutionary tech" - its made ONLY from existing components with existing tech, and their innovation is limited to packaging it in a smart phone case with a simple to use selfie app.
Sounds about right. After the Onagofly debacle, and the Lilly failure, can something like this be at all legit? Trusting what you see is foolish, the Crowdfunding Promotion business has been growing since crowdfunding started, many of the key players like Kickstarter are connected to the promotion side of the business, it's too much money not to be. This campaign's presentation is slick, and slick is not cheap.
I still like to look at these "projects" from a skeptical marketing view, see how unrealistic they look. This project though, when you look at their timeline, started about 20 months ago. If you trust what they show, they have built two stages of prototypes. I still don't believe any video came out of the actuals, but I think they have built the basic unit. What's odd is at this point they're seeking $125K, and have already reached about $105K with 40 days to go, they will easily reach their goal....but $125K? Where does that get anything going? Tooling, production, testing, paying themselves for the last 20 months...that figure makes no sense. Lily raised tens of millions, and still could not achieve production.
At best, it's a party toy. At that end, it could be a pretty fun party toy. At about $90, it's a cheap party toy. You're right, the video and stills will probably suck. But it could be a fun toy.
@David222, it being a $99 drone is exactly why it's not possible. Especially for a young company with no well-established large-scale production partners. 400 bucks? Ehh, maybe, if they had experienced engineers and a proper business plan (which is unlikely in its own right). For $99 bucks you can barely build a proper toy drone with no smart features. Yet they see no problem in showing amazing quality video footage and promising lots of cool stuff.
People seem to fall for these projects with sky-high promises at lowest possible (actually not possible) prices again and again, even after being shown multiple times that miracles don't happen.
I just watched the video again and that drone sure looks like a good CG job. I do NOT think that was a real prototype. As an IT guy with an electronics and development background, I wouldn't give them a dime .... other than maybe to make a nice video for me 🤔‼️
Yes, the drone is real and flying and not a CG job, however it is moving like a drunken bee. Resulting in blurry pictures (probably also caused by a crappy camera). Forget about video. The shown footage in the "promotional video" is most definately not taken by the drone. The idea is nice but it is a gadget.
In short: It wont handle ANY wind. it has to be 100% free of wind. It wont be very stable either. I have never supporteded a crowdfunding project & so happy I never have & never will. Its the new scam.
I actually have supported 4-5 crowdfunding projects and have been very happy with all of them, but you have to really know what you are supporting and know who is providing it.
Change the word "is" to "will be after we get some money and develop this thing from scratch magically because we just thought it up over a beer and have no freaking idea if we can build it or not, and we'd rather start a kick starter campaign than find real jobs".
Bottom line on all these crowdsourced projects, do NOT believe videos. Unless you see the prototype in action at a trade show or otherwise, please don't send money.
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