this Hover Air X1 May have popularized easy-to-use selfie drones, but this is something new from DJI We’ve been testing products that look like they’ll dominate sales. It’s available globally today and has almost everything the $350 X1 does and more.
Like the X1, DJI’s new Neo is a drone that you buy primarily to record what you’re doing on social media. It flies on its own, without the need for a controller—you just press buttons on the drone to cycle through a series of predefined flights, such as following, hovering, orbiting overhead, and zooming in and out. It fires in seconds, starts recording, and returns to the palm of your hand, no previous flying experience required.
The Neo may crash if you fly it close to an obstacle, but like the X1, its flexible frame can withstand the impact.
Unlike the X1, the Neo has a return-to-home function and can fly further if a controller is added because it has dual antennas (one transmitter, two receivers) with a maximum video transmission distance of 10 kilometers (six miles) . It can be used with DJI’s $129 RC-N3 remote to capture panoramas, confident that it will return when the battery gets low. It can also be used with DJI’s $499 Goggles 3 and the company’s latest motion controllers, or FPV controllers, to perform acrobatic stunts in an immersive first-person perspective. Just don’t expect the Neo to compete with DJI’s more powerful and powerful drones, which feature obstacle avoidance, better stability, and improved optics.
Over the past few weeks, my colleague Sean Hollister and I have been testing Neo in a variety of scenarios. While the foldable X1 is still easier to pocket, seems to lock onto subjects better, and generally has fewer glitches and is easier to use, the Neo has proven to be a very capable challenger to the world’s leading wireless What human machine manufacturers expect. It’s also easy to forgive the Neo’s shortcomings given its price, but we’ll make a final verdict when our review is published in the coming weeks.
One major drawback of the Neo as a selfie drone is the lack of a portrait video mode. When asked why the feature was omitted, DJI Europe spokesman Matt Bailey said the company “will consider user feedback on this.” Weird.
However, DJI’s Neo does shoot 4K at 30fps, something the X1 can’t do (but Newer, more expensive HoverAir drones can). Its half-inch sensor captures video in a 16:9 aspect ratio, with the option to record in 1080p mode at 60fps. It can also shoot 12-megapixel stills in 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratios, and has minimal single-axis mechanical gimbal stabilization as well as some software stabilization tricks. DJI says it will also shoot video in 4:3, but that option wasn’t available in the firmware we tested.
The Neo has 20GB of onboard storage and, like the X1, lacks any expansion options, but that doesn’t seem to pose any problems since 4K video typically only lasts between 10 and 30 seconds. The DJI has a longer battery life of up to 18 minutes, but this also makes it slightly heavier than the X1. Still, at 135 grams, it’s well below the all-important 250-gram threshold that would exempt it from the most onerous drone licensing requirements.
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The Neo is also sold in a very attractive $289 combo package that includes three batteries and a USB-C charging hub. When used with a 45W charger, the two-way charging hub can charge all three batteries simultaneously in about an hour. The Neo has a built-in USB-C port, and you can also use a 15W charger to charge its removable battery in about 50 minutes, although we’ve seen this stop working a few times in pre-release firmware.
The Neo doesn’t offer any gesture controls, but you can say “Hey! Fly!” It can also be controlled through the DJI Fly app on your phone via a direct Wi-Fi connection. Like the HoverAir X1, the Neo can be controlled from the phone’s built-in The microphone records audio, and DJI automatically overlays the audio onto the video you record without making any bee propeller sounds. When paired via Bluetooth, the Neo can also record audio via DJI’s Mic 2 ( 80MB to 200MB) can be quickly transferred to a phone via a direct Wi-Fi connection or to a laptop via a USB-C cable.
DJI’s Neo looks like a direct response to the HoverAir X1 that dominated social media last year—at least according to my own recommendation algorithm. Let’s see if Zero Zero Robotics lowers the price of its HoverAir in response. Anyway, in For better or worse, the Neo has the potential to turn selfie drones into mainstream devices.
In Europe, the DJI Neo is priced at £169/€199 including tax. There’s also the Neo Fly More bundle, priced at £299/€349, which bundles the Neo drone with DJI’s RC-N3 remote control, three batteries and a charging hub, and spare parts.
DJI does not bundle any controllers in the United States, and unfortunately the Neo is not compatible with DJI’s older FPV flight goggles or motion controllers, only the latest ones. For FPV flights this means DJI Avata Explorer Kit It’s currently a better deal; in Sean’s early testing, it also provided a more stable first-person flying experience than the Neo.
Photography: Thomas Ricker/The Verge
