191–200 of 452 posts
I always look at these and think I want one but also can't think of what i'd actually use it for. I just picture it sitting in a closet next to my GoPro and Oculus after about 3 days of messing around. Anyone own one? What do you use it for?
Because they're tools for filming. I don't think people need to buy these as a toy.
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Autel drones tend to fall around a generation behind DJI's in terms of capability, and they don't have geofencing. Unfortunately, they are much more expensive like-for-like and if you are also concerned about China, they share the same China-problems. There are no US or European drones that really come close, unfortunately. Parrot are 2-3+ generations behind DJI in terms of capability: wireless link, camera, and even…
I think it's also worth pointing out that DJI's first-party app isn't required to operate many of their drones. Most of their drones, apart from all but the most recent (i.e. the one this announcement is about probably won't have support for a while, but the previous gen will) has support through apps like Litchi and Dronelink via the developer API, which have additional features and don't have the exact same permiss…
I've had the original Mini since it came out. Other than damaging a prop from it hitting a blade of grass on landing it is in perfect shape. Yes, they are so fragile I landed very smoothly in the grass and soft grass is enough to damage the props! I don't fly it as much as I used to. These new ones are certainly an engineering marvel with how much they have added and still kept it under 249g. The big one to me though…
It's a good thing the new ones have collision avoidance, it could likely have saved mine back then. I'll someday get one of the newer ones, it was pretty fun and an impressive piece of engineering. Sometimes I think to myself "this would be a really great shot with the drone", or wish I had it to scout some terrain ahead when hiking or exploring. It's a pretty cool gadget!
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But yet it exists on the Apple App store where I am sure Apple has inspected it. I guess the Android version could be a lot different, but why?
I'm not sure if you're joking. Apple's business depends on them bending the rules for China.
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I don’t have any of these, but is the software some apk you download, and at that point can’t that be inspected?
Who inspects APKs? The Play Store has all kind of automated and manual processes to detect malware and vulnerabilities. It's why I don't enable side-loading on my phone.
The Play Store is notorious for allowing absolute garbage apps in, regardless of the "risks" of sideloading.
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I'd like to find a good competitor too, and not just because of the geofencing. DJI has been identified as a national security threat by the US DOD, essentially because there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/270608...
That release is about using DJI drones in government and military installations. There is not a suggestion that DJI is being used to do wide spread civilian spying. Meanwhile in the US...
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I had the same thought seeing the hero videos on this page displaying beautiful mountain scapes and vistas - I wouldn't want to be the person disturbing this space with an intrusive drone.
Are the hikers considered intrusive, or just the drones?
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> there's no way to be sure that every second of GPS-tagged video shot by a DJI drone isn't going into a giant server farm owned by the Chinese intelligence service. I checked your source and it didn’t back up this claim. I’m not a networking specialist but isn’t it possible to detect if something is transmitting a massive amount of data (such as video) to an undetermined destination? seems like this type of blatant…
You do not need to transmit the video first. But coordinate or interested person. Even a sport watch can be a security threat as demo by some exercise army personnel. They just know who and when and where these places are. For the transfer part it is much harder as said and easier to detect in peace time. But then what happen in war or proxy-war time. You have to know how many senior Russians are killed by using a ph…
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I think there's plenty of room to criticize the degree of regulation, while accepting the need for baseline rules. See the other reply upthread with respect to line of sight ("You're not allowed to use binoculars.") If true, that's stupid and unnecessary.
Why is it stupid and unnecessary? Binoculars give you a very narrow view, limiting situational awareness; the whole point of the line-of-sight rule is so you know what obstacles are near it. Same reason sniper teams like to have someone on overwatch who isn’t zoomed into a target.
In reality, rules this stupid simply get ignored with impunity. Which is fine by me.