🎄HOVERAir X1: the smart automatic flying camera

Filming yourself with a smartphone is good. But with a drone, it’s better: you can take original shots, even if you’re alone. Small problem, however: drones are too bulky to fit in a pocket.

They sometimes prove complex to manage and are strictly regulated in Europe. Fortunately, there is HOVERAir X1, an original product to say the least, but not really cheap (from 449 euros).

HOVERAir X1 differs from a traditional drone by its flight automation taken to the extreme since it requires no piloting.

Flying camera

Moreover, it is more of a flying camera than a real drone. It thus escapes the very restrictive French legislation governing the category. We will still be careful to respect the law when using it (capture of people, private places, etc.).

Its dimensions and weight are reduced: 127 x 145 x 31 mm for 125 grams. Better yet, it folds up a bit like a book when not in use and measures 127 x 86 x 31 mm.

Its designers encased it in a parallelepiped fairing protecting its four propellers and people nearby in the event of an impact.

Take-off from the palm of the hand

The power supply is provided by a removable battery giving it around twelve minutes of autonomy. It’s not much, but more than enough to take a few shots to share on social networks.

Our test copy was given to us with three batteries as well as a fast charger. These accessories quickly prove essential for regular use.

Using the camera is disarmingly simple. After turning it on, you select the shooting mode by pressing a button. You then place it on the palm of your hand, flat, with the camera facing you and you press the take-off button.

A synthetic voice confirms the command then the HOVERAir X1 hovers a few tens of centimeters from the hand. To land it, simply place your hand about twenty centimeters under the device and it will land there as if by magic!

HOVERAir revolves around the subject), tracking and finally top view (vertical or spiral rise centered on the subject).

The designers of this amazing flying camera took care to develop a companion application. It allows the updating of internal software, the recovery of photos and videos and the adjustment of shooting parameters (choice of the distance between the camera and the subject being filmed, for example).

It also serves as a radio control to pilot the aircraft like a conventional drone using a touch interface or a Bluetooth controller (that of a games console, for example).

And the images produced in all this? Whether they are video sequences or still images (we then use the companion application to produce them), they prove satisfactory in broad daylight or in average lighting.

The three-axis stabilized camera films in Full HD 30 fps (HDR), Full HD 60 fps or finally 2704×1520 30 fps. Files are stored in the 32 GB onboard memory.

We had a lot of fun playing with the HOVERAir X1 during our tests last summer. The stabilization turns out to be reliable and followed us correctly during bike rides.

It should be kept in mind that the aircraft does not have an obstacle avoidance device. Its fairing was to avoid problems in the event of a crash… but it is not unbreakable!

Or…

The market for automatic flying cameras is still in its infancy. THE Pixy from Snapchat opened the way, but penalized by random flight performance and poor image quality to say the least, it didn’t really convince. Snapchat ceased marketing four months after its launch.

Less sophisticated than the HOVERAir X1 (but also significantly less expensive), the AIR NEO marketed by Airselfie may represent an acceptable entry point into the world of automatic flying cameras. You will still have to deal with relative stabilization and mediocre image quality.