You really have to hand it to those Far Eastern designers. No sooner have they developed affordable – and yes we mean cheap – small radio controlled helicopters, than they start to up the ante by introducing all sorts of clever to the genre. The past few months saw the arrival of helicopters which you controlled using your smartphone, and then there were ones which carried cameras. And now…?
Well a Real Time Video Helicopter of course. As if flying these things wasn’t hard enough already, and trust us, it’s hard, the developers have now added a small cradle into which you slot your iPhone or Android handset to grab a real time video view of what you’re flying over. It’s very cool, and makes you almost as effective as a law enforcement agent with his multi-million dollar drone.
The kit comes with everything you need to make spying leisure flying fun and safe. The helicopter has gyroscopic stabilizers, as well as a wireless range of up to 20 meters, and not only can you see in real time where you are flying with your phone, but you can also control the thing with the same handset. Win-win!
Don’t expect high definition video though, since the resolution is at a mere VGA level, and since the video is beamed to the phone via WiFi expect flight time available from the rechargeable batteries on board the craft to be pretty short. But did we mention it was cool?
The remote control takes 6 AA batteries, there are free apps for both phone platforms on their app stores, and the product will cost you $79.00. Oh and you can record the video for future blackmail enjoyment. Boggle!
Right, I'll be putting my phone on a plastic helicopter with a 70 foot remote control range. Why not just have a camera onboard and keep the phone with you to watch.
Er…the phone stays on the r/c controller, safe in your hands. The helicopter contains the camera which beams the video back to your phone. Does that help? :)