Again in 2019, DJI launched the Mavic Mini, a small drone meant to behave as a straightforward entry level for budding pilots and videographers. It was an important various to the very best digicam telephones on the market since it may possibly do a number of issues a telephone can’t (like fly, clearly). Since then, there have been a number of iterations of the Mini line, with every being higher — and costlier — than the earlier mannequin. With prices and technical know-how growing over time, the unique concept of the Mini line has form of been misplaced.

Enter the model new DJI Neo, which the corporate simply launched at IFA 2024. This new drone is small and easy to the purpose that it makes the Mavic Mini seem to be an unlimited and complex beast by comparability. The Neo is so tiny that it may possibly relaxation in your palm.

To get began with the Neo, you don’t even have to study to fly it. Simply hit the “Mode” button on the drone to pick out from quite a lot of pictures — together with the basic Dronie — and it’ll take off out of your palm, movie or {photograph} your exercise, after which land again in your palm when it’s performed. It will also be managed via voice instructions given to your related smartphone if you wish to get a bit extra within the reeds however nonetheless don’t wish to contact a controller.

After all, in case you do wish to management the drone manually, that’s doable. You should purchase a {hardware} controller from DJI, or you too can management it with the DJI Fly app in your smartphone. In case you’re actually bold, you may even use the FPV controller and a set of DJI goggles. These choices make the little DJI Neo fairly versatile.

Stills shot by the Neo can be captured with the 12MP 1/2-inch sensor. If you wish to movie with the drone, you may stand up to 40 minutes of 4K/60FPS footage saved to its 22GB inside storage.

Sadly, you received’t be capable of get 40 minutes of footage all of sudden with the Neo as a result of its flight time is barely as much as 18 minutes. Nonetheless, that must be sufficient to seize a fast selfie and even movie a vlog. The Combo mannequin comes with two further batteries, growing your potential flight time to 54 minutes with no need to cost something.

While you’re capturing video footage, it must be pretty clean, though not practically as clean as you’d see with a Mini or different higher-end DJI drone. That’s as a result of the gimbal on the DJI Neo is a single-axis unit (up and down solely), whereas costlier drones have a six-axis gimbal, which supplies you much more stabilization. Fortunately, the digicam on the Neo has digital picture stabilization (EIS), which ought to assist clean issues out a bit extra.

Lastly, one of many coolest elements of the Neo is that it may possibly observe you. For instance, you could possibly launch it out of your palm, begin monitoring your again, after which it’s going to movie you as you stroll, trip your bike, go for a run, and so on. You can too have it observe your face so you may movie a vlog in a walk-and-talk model. In case you join your DJI Mic 2 to your telephone, an algorithm will truly digitally combine down the noise the drone makes, permitting you get first rate audio even with the drone filming you just a few ft away.