Parrot parrots its AR.Drone - with swish new 2.0 model

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Monday, 09 January 2012 19:14

Your IT - Home IT

What gadget will be better, more fun, and likely as big a hit at CES and with consumers as Parrot's AR.Drone? The upcoming new high-def and vastly improved AR.Drone 2.0 to be unleashed at CES 2012, of course!

French mobile device technology company Parrot has revealed its AR.Drone 2.0 quadricopter with a suite of next-gen, must-have improvements, instantly making the still very popular AR.Drone 1.0 a clear 1st-gen device.

According to Parrot's media release, the list of improvements include an HD camera, video recording, flight data sharing, a new piloting mode, the promise of increased stability and, as you might have expected from any follow-on model, a 'brand-new look'.

Due sometime in 2012, hopefully sooner rather than later, the price is still being teasingly kept secret, but its new features certainly aren't.

Working with the iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch and selected Android devices, AR.Drone 2.0's front camera is now HD equipped with a resolution of 1280x720, delivering live HD video from the 2.0 quadricopter to your device's screen, with Parrot promising 'smooth and unbelievably clear images' for a new level of experience, almost as if 'on board', with the camera also working in gaming mode to 'recognise specific shapes and colours to show augmented-reality elements on the smartphone's screen'.

A new AR.FreeFlight.20 App, free on Apple's App Store and the Android Market for compatible devices, offers a new 'Absolute Flight' piloting system that is described is a 'revolutionary ultra-intuitive flight mode', (more on this on page two), along with several other features.

The app also lets you 'record flights, take HD videos or photos, and save them' on your compatible smart device, with 'all the flight data (altitude, speed, duration and place)' able to 'be saved, checked by the pilot and shared with the community'.

There's also plenty of other flight videos to view, whether your own or that of others, access to AR.Drone 2.0 software updates, geolocation information, and an AR.Games section that lets you presumably buy new games to play with your AR.Drone 2.0.

The AR.FreeFlight app connects via Wi-Fi, whereupon your screen becomes the cockpit, replete with the necessary instruments, getting you ready for that 'Absolute Flight' mode.

Parrot have also added a 'travelling' feature designed to let you 'film HD video sequences like a professional'.

You do this by selecting 'the direction of travel (forward, back, sideways) and the duration', with the AR.Drone 2 automatically able to do the rest.

Absolute Flight, Absolute Control and Relative Flight modes are on page two, please read on!