AR Drone 2: the new quadcopter for iPhone tested by one of our readers (video)

One of our readers, David, received his
AR Drone 2ce
weekend. Instead of having non-stop fun with his new toy, he took
time toshare his first impressions of the second
versionofthis very pretty toy which we
we talked last week.

Before even thanking him, I invite you to read the following for yourself
make your own idea of the beast. Small bonus, David even made a
little in-flight video to discover just after:

Remember that we are talking about a phone accessory, which is not
other thana quadcopter connected via wifi to our
iDevice. Apparently listening to its customers,
Parrot has revised its copy by making improvements and not changes.
lesserwhile maintaining a selling price
identical!

These improvements concern, among other things,the solidity of
the device, stability during flight and the addition of a front camera
HD! It is available in three somewhat showy colors, but
practical if you lose it. It comes with two hulls called hulls, one
for the exterior and second for the interior, but also with a
battery, a home charger and the user manual.

Huge surprise when opening the box, there's nothing to do! Indeed
the drone is already assembled, ready for use. All you have to do is put in place
load it battery, there is enough for 1h30… A little annoying when you
learns thatthe optimum flight duration will be 12 minutes. That
gives you time to read the manual, download applications
allowing control of the device and admiring its look which is rather
successful.

Let’s talk about applications! The first to acquire is the
AR.FreeFlightwhich allows you to do lots of things and above all offers
new possibilities. Above all, we learn how to pilot our drone with
different control modes depending on your preferences . A mode
called "absolute" allows very intuitive piloting for novices. Then we
we have a photo/video mode which is the big new thing highlighting
by Parrot. It is true that it is nice to be able to save photos
or videos during a flight but also to be able to send ses
exploits via YouTube, Picassa or even by email and this again in complete
simplicity. You can configure flight options, such as the altitude limit
of flight up to 50m, sensitivity of movement,
etc…

Other applications exist on the store and are dedicated to drivers
perhaps more experienced wanting to play slalom, fight
aerial worthy of a top gun. It has now been 1h30 since the battery
is charging and the little green light tells us that we can switch to
action! Pairing is accessible in the iPod settings,
the iPhone or even the iPad, but we are used to it, it is recognized immediately,
it's just enough now open the application and click on
pilotage!

The takeoff and landing phases are simplified by a
push of a button! Two buttons are superimposed on the image that
returns the camera from drone. The device reacts well and it is true that the
"absolute" mode is very appreciable when you are not used to operating this
type of machine. The conditions will be optimal in a space well
clear and windless!

Photo and video recording modes are easily accessible
so the change of view, there is the choice of front and top view. This
last is incidental, because VGA quality. On this point, moreover
It’s a shame, we would have liked more! Little bonus the Flip! Funny and
always having its little effect, this is the duplicate possibility
clicking on the screen to do a barrel roll with this quadcopter. This gives you
fera pass for an ace pilot!

To summarizeParrot has succeeded in bringing real advantages to its
AR Drone remaining at an unchanged price. Driving enthusiasts
will be delighted to have fun and immortalize their moments of
vol.

Many thanks to David for his test🙂

The AR.Drone 2 is available here at Fnac for the launch
at a price of 299.90 euros.

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