This selfie-snapping camera drone lives on your phone
The tiny 8-megapixel Selfly is ready to fly in seconds and cleverly folds to fit in a phone case.
- More than two decades experience writing about PCs and accessories, and 15 years writing about cameras of all kinds.
The Selfly is an 8-megapixel camera that works as an extension of your phone's camera. And by "extension" I mean it flies.
Designed primarily for aerial self-portraits, it's a small folding quadcopter that tucks into the back of a specially designed phone case. Controlled with your phone via Wi-Fi, the copter captures high-res photos and full HD video at 30fps and sends them to your device for sharing. It isn't the first tiny camera quad packed into a phone case I've seen (that was the AirSelfie), but its clever folding design and its low price make it very attractive.
The fully funded Kickstarter project promises to ship this June. At the moment, an early bird pledge of $89, or about £70 or AU$115 converted, gets you the flying camera and a phone case. Once those are sold out, a Selfly will set you back $99 until the end of the campaign on March 10. After the Kickstarter ends, the Selfly will sell for $139.
The case and drone together are expected to weigh 70 gm (2.5 oz) and measure 9 mm (0.4 in) thick, which isn't slim, but still compact enough to put in a pocket. The company will have specific cases for the iPhone 6/6 Plus, iPhone 7,/7 Plus, Galaxy S6/S6 Edge, Galaxy 7/7 Edge and Nexus 6. There will also be a universal folio phone case for all 4-to-6 inch phones.
Like any good selfie drone, the Selfly is piloted with your phone. According to founder and CEO Dr. Hagay Klein, the app will have onscreen control sticks as well as automatic piloting options to get specific shots. The plan is to make it an open source platform, too, so others can develop for it.
The Selfly is stored in a phone case.
Tiny quads like this tend to be noisy, and the Selfly is no exception. It's not something you're going to launch in a restaurant or during a wedding. Also, battery life is a scant 5 minutes and the battery is built in, so no swapping to keep flying, you'll have to stop and charge it via Micro-USB.
Klein said the challenges heading into production are low because the quad has been designed using available technologies and the processing power of your phone. Still, delays happen and I've yet to see a crowdfunded drone ship exactly on time. Regardless, you have until March 10 to decide if you want in on the Selfly Camera early.
Editor's note: CNET's reporting on crowdfunding campaigns is not an endorsement of the project or its creators. Contributing to a crowdfunded project comes with risk. Before contributing to any campaign, read the crowdfunding site's policies, such as those for Kickstarter and Indiegogo, to find out your rights (and refund policies, or the lack thereof) before and after a campaign ends.