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Snap launches its first drone

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131–140 of 420 posts

Re: Snap launches its first drone

#131

This is one of those moments where the thing itself as it exists now doesn't excite me, but you can already tell the next several iterations (maybe by a different company) could start to get really exciting. Having a little, quiet drone following you that can record things or communicate information to you via voice commands or beam live video to your phone might be really useful. No more getting lost! Just head up a…

This won't happen until there's serious advancements in battery or anti-gravity technology. This snap drone's batteries are rated for flight times in the single digit minutes.

Re: Snap launches its first drone

#132
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Destruction of light/sound pollution sources in places otherwise free of such pollution is totally morally justified IMO. I was in Vegas a few weeks ago at a pool club. The bouncer was checking everyone's bags; not for guns, drugs, or alcohol, but for bluetooth speakers.

> Destruction of light/sound pollution sources in places otherwise free of such pollution is totally morally justified IMO. What do you mean by "destruction"? If you mean actually breaking someone's speaker, then you're wrong and fundamentally don't understand externalities. If you read the original Pigouvian and Coasian theory behind externalities, you'll realize that inherent to the nature of an externality is each…

1. Silence is the default mode, Bluetooth speakers require a much more active effort so that's not really a fair comparison.

2. Birds like any animal or creature acts on instinct; there's not an active decision on their part to disrupt the environment with sound, again not a fair comparison.

3. The idea of requiring a maximum dB doesn't really work in the sound doesn't just instantly drop off like that so the physics aren't really going to work out.

Re: Snap launches its first drone

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

wobbly: https://videos.ctfassets.net/svn43w404u4n/4oG6RAF5QALMWEBdlX...

not just wobbly but what small drone enthusiasts call "jello", significantly lower video quality than like a $399 dji mini 2 it is cheap and non gimbal stabilized, so can't expect much more

Are there no better digital stabilization algorithms? This seems like it could be fixed in post processing on your phone/cloud.

Re: Snap launches its first drone

#134

Would like something like this where I didn’t have to use Snapchat. (I didn’t scour the site, but the few minutes I looked at it did not lead me to believe this would work without Snapchat. Interesting how much they seem to hate text.)

A DJI Mini SE[0] would give you 2.7k video, longer range, better performance, gimbal stabilized video, longer flight time, and GPS stabilized flight for about $50 more. The Mini 2 upgrades the camera to 4k but is a little pricier.

[0] https://store.dji.com/product/dji-mini-se-tm?vid=105351

Re: Snap launches its first drone

#136
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, 5-8 minutes max of flight time per battery…sigh. Even assuming 60-sec is the “default” flight time.

The video appears to imply that 30 seconds is the default flight time. So I'd estimate 2.5 - 4 minutes of flight time per battery.

So almost 1/10th of the Mini 2 flight time, for 6/10ths the price, and like 2/10ths the featureset and quality of capture.

Do people really love Snapchat that much that they’d choose such a trade off for app integration alone? Seems like a tough sell.

Re: Snap launches its first drone

#137
post #36

Refreshingly honest about the video quality you should expect in the main promo video. Typical problems like dynamic range, color profile, light bleed and tracking problems with the top of the head being cut off at one point. Pretty typical unless you spend more money on your drone or camera equipment. There are so many companies that fake the footage or pick much easier shooting locations.

That is nice, but there is still intentionally misleading marketing fluff like this:

>Each rechargeable battery allows you to capture content for 5-8 flights, depending on the flight mode(s) selected. Rechargeable batteries can be swapped for easy use...

Why phrase it like that? That gives zero impression of what the actual battery life is because I have no idea what a "flight" means as a unit of measurement. Just tell us how much time it lasts.

Re: Snap launches its first drone

#138
post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not just wobbly but what small drone enthusiasts call "jello", significantly lower video quality than like a $399 dji mini 2 it is cheap and non gimbal stabilized, so can't expect much more

Are there no better digital stabilization algorithms? This seems like it could be fixed in post processing on your phone/cloud.

there absolutely are, without a gimbal, by using a somewhat large sensor and movement/orientation/inertia sensor ICs to perform a software crop and stabilization as the video is recorded.

such as the hypersmooth 2.0 or hypersmooth 3.0 on a gopro hero9 black/hero10 etc. but those are considerably more expensive cameras.

search youtube for gopro hypersmooth 3.0 and you'll see some examples of the same gopro with and without hypersmooth turned on.

Re: Snap launches its first drone

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see how there are 'sides' to this. Blasting a BT speaker with your music, which the majority of people aren't likely to enjoy because of the huge variety of peoples taste in music, is a uniquely selfish thing to do. I don't know about you, but blasting my Spotify likes on a BT speaker in a crowded, and particularly an enclosed environment, would not be an enjoyable experience. I can imagine it's only enjoyabl…

Yeah, because you defined a line where the vast majority of people would agree. But you can slide the line over to a point where people would be more split on the issue. E.g. say you're alone on a public beach playing your music, and one other person walks up to also enjoy the beach and who doesn't want to hear your music. Should you turn off the music? Is there a db level that's acceptable? Should the other person b…

Use headphones.
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