Hover Camera Review

Hover Camera is a drone-like camera that promises to help you capture new perspectives. The camera has not yet been released, but you can sign up for a waiting list to be among the first owners. Here’s our review.

What is Hover Camera?

Hover Camera is a camera that promises to let anyone capture photos and videos from unique perspectives.

Using Hover Camera is easy: you pick it up, turn it on, and then place it in the air at your desired angle. Or, throw it up in the air and let the camera track you. It can even hover behind you as you move.

You can leave it above your head, place it just above the ground, or put it anywhere in the air. Once you let go of the camera, it will hover in place to provide stable video from that angle.

Hover Camera is capable of taking 13MP photos and 4K video. It also uses electronic image stabilization to ensure your shots are always steady. In fact, there’s an advanced AI system built into the camera to ensure it gets the best possible shots.

How Does Hover Camera Work?

Hover Camera is a square-like object that has one large fan at each of the four corners. These fans push air downward, keeping Hover Camera hovering and stable.

On-board, the camera is outfitted with a lens capable of taking 13MP photographs and shooting 4K video. Electronic image stabilization ensures your footage is steady even if it’s a little windy or turbulent outside.

Powering all of this is an advanced artificial intelligence system. While filming, the camera will automatically stay stable using sophisticated algorithms. These algorithms are built into the small circuit board.

The circuit board used in the Hover Camera is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 2.3 GHz Quad-Core processor – which is the same processor found in many Android phones and tablets.

Why does a camera need all this processing power? Using its processor, Hover Camera can perform complex calculations locally without communicating with a remote server.

Another feature of the AI is that it allows anyone to operate it out-of-the-box with a minimal learning curve. You can pick up the camera and start using it almost immediately. As founder MQ Wang explains,

“It’s a revolutionary user experience that centers around hovering.”

The founder also explains that hovering is more difficult than flying – especially when you need to stay stable for photography. So how does Hover Camera stay stable? Hover Camera works by “running optical flow on its downward viewing camera”, as an introductory video explains. The camera also uses a front and rear camera to judge its speed and position.

Meanwhile, Hover Camera keeps its processor cool by pushing streams of air over top.

One of the core features of the Hover Camera is that it can follow your face and body as you move around. It does this without GPS. Instead, it uses real-time facial and body recognition.

That same introductory video shows the camera following someone around as they walk. And, there’s also footage of two people throwing the camera to one another through the air. Hover Camera remains stable along the way, helping you automatically capture great footage.

Whenever you’re done using the camera, you fold it up into a frame small enough to fit into a purse. The frame of the Hover Camera is made from carbon fiber that protects all of the important stuff within. That frame has gone through drop tests and twist tests, both of which can be seen in the introductory video.

Hover Camera Mobile App

You can control Hover Camera mostly with your hands. Just throw it into the air, move it wherever you want, and let the camera do its thing. However, you’ll also want to install the Hover Camera mobile app, which provides a live stream of the drone’s footage delivered directly to your mobile device.

The app also lets you take a 360 degree panorama or setup face and body tracking. To activate the tracking system, just toggle video recording mode in the app, then wait for the camera to lock onto you (you’ll see a bracket appear around you once it’s locked on). From there, just start recording

Hover Camera Features

Some of the key features of Hover Camera include:

• -13MP photos and 4K video
• -Throw and balance the camera anywhere in the air
• -Auto-follow (set the camera to automatically follow you)
• -Release and hover
• -Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS)
• -Portability (it folds up into the size of a book)
• -Carbon fiber enclosure
• -Single charge lasts for about eight minutes
• -Hover Camera mobile app (control pitch, yaw, altitude, and horizontal direction)
• -Top speed of 9 meters per second
• -MicroUSB 3.0 Type B cable port
• -32GB onboard memory
• -Live streaming via Hover Camera app
• -Capable of shooting a 360 degree panorama by spinning around in the air in one spot

Hover Camera Pricing and Release Date

Pricing details for Hover Camera have not yet been released. We also do not have a release date.

However, the rumor is that Hover Camera will be priced just below $600 and is preparing for release sometime in summer 2016.

Aside from that, all we really know about Hover Camera is that you can sign up for a waitlist on gethover.com, where you’ll find a simple email submission form. Enter your email into that form and you’ll be the first to know about pricing and release date information.

Who Makes Hover Camera?

Hover Camera is made by a company named ZeroZero, also named Zero Zero Robotics. That company was founded by MQ Wang along with co-founder Tony Zhang.

MQ and Tony are graduates from Stanford’s engineering PhD program. Together, the pair have built a company of 80 people from diverse backgrounds. They describe the team as “a team of passionate and experienced adventurers who share our vision.” They’re aiming to make robotics that change the world – and Hover Camera is just the beginning.

You can get in touch with the company by emailing service@gethover.com.