Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Quadracopter – OMG!

OMG I knew these were cool but I had no idea just how cool the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Quadracopter really was!

Seriously if you can get your hands on one of these do it! I’ve driven and flown other RC models before and helicopters are the hardest to learn to fly but this thing takes all the hard work out of it and makes it easy to learn and become quite proficient quickly and with very little damage.

Did I say very little damage?

Yep this thing is built like a tank, well almost! It’s airframe is made of graphite composite surrounded by a dense polystyrene outer safety cell and comes with a full ring type polystyrene indoor hull that protects the 4 properller blades from damage. Speaking of the blades these are also quite sturdy and flexable and after a few hours flight time mine have a few nicks and scrapes but overall are intact. I’ve crashed my drone at least 2 dozen times complete with a couple of high speed flips and burrows and I’ve only managed to crack the outer indoor hull once which I repaired with epoxy glue and tape.

This thing hovers automatically. If you take your hands off the controls it immediately stops in its tracks and goes into auto hover mode which is great if you get into trouble. Just let go and it stops even at high speed with a sudden correction in the opposite direction and just stops mid-air! It’s unbelievable at the smarts this thing has which is helped by an array of sensors built into the electronics. Did I mention this has 2 cameras on board? The forward facing camera is a 720p HD camera and there is a SD camera in the belly you can use for arial recon and the brains uses the belly camera to lock onto targets to hover over. There is also an ultrasonic transmitter and receiver as well which tells it how far it is off the ground up to 3 meters. Top this off with a full gyro and some other neat stuff and some very smart software this is quite a powerful piece of kit and yet at under $350 retail is a bargain for what it can do compared to many more expensive RC helicopters and even quadracopters!

I’ve gotten about 3.5 hours total flight time on my drone so far. Battery life is on average about 10-12 minutes but if you start doing some funky spins and flips (yes I said flips!!!) or your flying in high winds the battery life drains considerably. You can get aftermarket batteries which can almost double the flight time. Suffice to say it pays to pick up a few spare batteries and chargers. Batteries retail for about $50 and chargers about $40 and it’s a good idea to buy one charger per battery as these packs take up to 90 minutes per charge and it pays to at least have a 2-1 battery to charger ratio so you always have a pack ready to go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ok getting back to flips. Yes this drone can flip itself left or right or front or back completely in a 360 degree flip and recover mid-air and keep flying. You need to be at least 1 to 2 meters off the ground to do this especially in high winds otherwise the drone tends to bump the ground when it comes out of the flip but usually can keep flying. All you need to do a flip is get it up high enough off the ground and activate the flip command in whatever direction you want and away it goes! The controlling apps you can get for the AR Drone can be programmed to do other stunts as well but the flip is especially built into the firmware as Parrot have obviously spent a lot of time and parts working out how to get this drone to do this!

Speaking of the controlling apps, this drone is controlled using your iPhone or iPad or Android phone using either the factory Parrot apps or many aftermarket apps which have more features including a dance app that allows you to sequence many preprogrammed dance moves into a sequence to control 1 or more drones in a dance routine. Quite cool to watch! The app connects to the drone using 802.11n WiFi networkin using an adhoc network and range depends on the device you use, channel, and other interference around but I found I could easily fly 30-50 meters without getting out of range. You can also use a WiFi range extender/repeater to help extend the control range.

But what happens if you get out of range you ask? Well Parrot thought of this too and whenever the drone loses its control signal will immediately halt and hover. If it is above safe hover height (3 meters due to ultrasonice range) then it will slowly lower itself down until it detects something underneath and will then continue to hover until you come back into range or it runs out of battery at which point it will auto land when it gets down to an emergency level. This also works when in range if you get down to below 5% battery it will immediately land before it runs out of enough power to safely control itself in a landing.

Below is a short 5 minute video I compiled with my first few hours of flight including some spectacular crashes and stunts:

So after a few hours of flight I have to tell you I am totally addicted. I plan on getting some spares soon especially a new hull and props just in case but I plan on putting this drone through its paces over the next couple of weeks including some outdoor flying on an oval around the corner from my home. There is an extensive modding community for the AR Drone complete with aftermarket parts, software and other mod ideas to make it more fun to fly.

I totally recommend anyone who is into flying or RC models to check the Parrot AR Drone 2.0 out. Stay tuned over coming days as I post other articles and ideas on the AR Drone as I get more into this addiction err i mean hobby 🙂

Tablet Wars 2011 Motorola, Samsung, RIM, HP and Apple

Posted: April 12, 2011 by mrinternet  on Melbourne News Knũt

Some Content Courtesy of Redmond Pie
For Jenny (no comment)
By Loren

Apple iPad2 vs. Samsung Galaxy 10.1 vs Motorola Xoom vs RIM Blackberry Playbook vs HP TouchPad

I have had a few folks asking me about a Tablet preferences of iPad vs this or that. But it is not that easy. For now as of 12 April 2011, there are 4 tablets worth really considering, and a few more soon.

I made a conscious descion a while ago to avoid the Android Google world. But with new versions out I am being tempted more than ever.

I ditched my iPhone some months ago and I must admit I do miss it often as I have an iPad.

This is relevant as I have not seen a good phone, that plays well with another manufacturer tablet operating system, and having 2 inventories of apps to keep up with is a pain. In this day and age where our pc, mobile phone, and tablet are all part of our lives having them not play well togethermakes life hard.

I realised this when my windows phone 7 phone, did not do much, an idea I kind of liked, but now feel very inhibited.
But the apple iPhones are feeling rather dated as well.

So I have a new Google Motorola ATRIX, arriving soon, the latest mobile not out in Australia yet and an android.
This might mean I also cosider ditching my iPad in favour of an android tablet, we will see.

I hear the Andoid store is a mess as there are so many versions of android, that you cannot tell when you purchase an app if it will work with your device or not. That is silly, I will see in my next review how good or bad the andoid app library is.

The other thing to consider is iTunes. I hate iTunes as much as I love my iPad. But you need it really to manage the iPad.

So It Really is Google vs Apple

Again this is relevant because I think keeping to one platform  for phone and tablet might be the best way to go.

• If you own an iPhone and plan to keep it, I would stay with iPad.
• If you are considering seriously getting a tablet other than an iPad (as I am now), then you seriously might want to consider a phone form the same operation system, if you have or are considering an Android phone, you have more choice available on the tablet from but I think the Motorola XOOM is one to watch.

All the tablets have their own merits and flaws, here is a view of all 4.

The Reviews
Some Content Courtesy of Redmond Pie

Well, it’s finally here. Apple recently launched the anticipated 2nd-generation iPad. With Google’s Android, RIM’s BlackBerry powered PlayBook, and HP’s webOS getting fancy new tablets either recently or in the future, buyers are going to be spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting a new slate device.

We thought we’d take a closer look at the iPad 2′s four main competitors in the tablet space: Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Zoom, HP/Palm’s TouchPad and BlackBerry PlayBook.

Apple iPad 2

First up we’ve got the new kid on the block, Apple’s iPad 2. Announced by Steve Jobs to be powered by a dual-core CPU that’s supposedly twice as fast as the current iPad. The new graphics chips are ’9x faster’ too. Impressive, at least on paper. In typical Apple fashion, we don’t have actual figures other than the usual dimensions. Thickness? 8.8mm. That’s one third thinner than the current model.

Interestingly, the new iPad 2 features two cameras, one rear and one front facing and the most interesting specification of them all is the availability of the new white iPad. Apple couldn’t get a white iPhone 4 out the door but no such issues with the iPad 2.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Samsung showed off its new Galaxy Tab 10.1 at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, with the new tablet hoping to build on the success of its smaller sibling.

Sporting a new 10.1-inch 1280×800 display (hence the name), the new Tab boasts some impressive specifications. Powering that new screen is a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 CPU with both front and rear facing cameras providing the video input. The Tab’s rear camera is capable of HD video recording and has the now obligatory in-built flash.

Software-wise, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will run the latest and greatest from Google’s Android stable, namely 3.0 Honeycomb.

Motorola Xoom

Another Honeycomb-endowed offering is Motorola’s Xoom. Recently released in the United States, the Xoom has been very well received by the gadget press. Arguably a very similar machine to the Galaxy Tab 10.1 – at least spec-wise – the Xoom’s party piece is its LTE capability. The downside here is the wait. Early-adopters will need to send their unit away for a hardware upgrade in order to take advantage of LTE speeds. Fortunately a quick turnaround is promised by Motorola, with 6 days the expected wait.

With the Xoom being powered by Google’s Android OS in its latest Honeycomb guise, there is little to differentiate it from the Galaxy Tab 10.1 when it comes to software. The main difference? The Xoom is in stores now!

HP TouchPad

Originally expected to go under the Palm name, the TouchPad will run on a new version of webOS. Now at version 3.0, webOS is promising to be a truly tablet-optimized experience. Even during the Pre’s death-throws, many believed the OS was the phone’s best attribute and a tablet was always the logical home for a future updated version.

HP isn’t scrimping on the hardware front either. A 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core CPU is the heart of the machine, with 1GB of RAM keeping the CPU busy. An iPad-like 9.7-inch 1024×768 screen is used, along with all the usual radios we’ve come to expect, including a 4G one. The TouchPad does sport a front-facing camera, though there’s nothing around the back.

BlackBerry PlayBook

With PlayBook, Research In Motion (RIM) is the fourth major platform (in no particular order) after Android, iOS and webOS to enter the Tablet Wars. PlayBook features 1Ghz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 1080p HD video playback and HDMI output.

Powered by BlackBerry Tablet OS with UI designed by QNX, RIM’s PlayBook is expected to hit retail shelves in April this year.

Which device you ultimately stump up for very much depends what you want from a tablet device. Apple’s iPad 2 has the massive advantage of being tied into the largest App Store on the planet, though many would also consider that to be its biggest weakness. If you’re the tinkering type, and prefer the more gritty approach of Android then the Xoom or Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be right up your street. The Android Market is constantly growing though the quality of apps perhaps isn’t quite there just yet, and Honeycomb promises a new raft of software specifically designed for tablets. HP’s offering is a real unknown at this point. A new OS, with new hardware from a company that hasn’t done well with mobile devices in the recent-past could prove disastrous though we doubt it. What we’ve already seen of the TouchPad looks mighty impressive, and the thought of webOS on a 9.7-inch screen excites us. Same goes for RIM’s BlackBerry powered PlayBook. Will there be enough apps for HP’s new tablet or RIM’s PlayBook? That’s the real question.

Ultimately the decision as to which tablet is right for you is a personal one. Many will plump for the safety and security of iOS while others want the power of Android. A few will even want to take a chance on the TouchPad or PlayBook, and who could blame them? We’re not sure where our money will be going, but today’s iPad 2 announcement sure makes for an interesting few months ahead.

Is 2011 the year of the tablet? You betcha!

Your Current Xperia Phone Won’t Be Getting Froyo. Ever.

By Nick Broughall on January 25, 2011 at 1:30 PM on Gizmodo

2010 was a huge year for Android, but one problem kept recurring – getting an update to the latest version of the operating system was far from guaranteed, regardless of manufacturer, or mobile carrier. What is guaranteed is that current Sony Ericsson Xperia owners will never be moving beyond Android version 2.1, with the company confirming that Froyo is definitely not an option for future upgrades.

Sony Ericsson’s official statement below explains that they believe their proprietary enhancements to the Eclair version of Android is competitive enough make the upgrade more effort than it’s worth. They still plan on rolling out smaller updates over the coming months – including adding multitouch – but the core OS will remain as version 2.1 for all current Xperia phones.

We’re planning another upgrade to bring new features (such as multi-touch for Xperia™ X10) to the current family of Xperia™ smartphones in early Q1 (ie: very shortly), however we will not be upgrading the current Xperia™ range beyond Android 2.1. We believe that with the current hardware platform an overhaul of the underlying core OS wouldn’t drastically improve the user experience. Android OS 2.1 coupled with Sony Ericsson’s proprietary upgrades and superior entertainment hardware (8.1 mp camera and HD video recording) delivers a user experience that is on par with, and in many cases better than, a vanilla installation of Android 2.2. Obviously in an ideal world we would keep producing new updates for existing phones forever. However, replacing the base Android version again on the 2010 phones in our view simply doesn’t improve the user experience enough to make it viable.

Our priority right now is to keep enhancing the user experience of the existing products through coming updates and to deliver a fantastic range of smartphones in 2011 that are all on the latest possible version of Android – that is a target we are determined to hit!

Given that one of the reasons it took so long to move from Android 1.6 to 2.1 was the proprietary software running on top of the OS, we’ll have to wait and see whether anyone picking up the Gingerbread-running Xperia Arc will be subjected to the same delayed upgrade path. According to TechRadar, it hopefully won’t be as big a problem, with a Senior Sony Ericsson executive confessing that they weren’t able to “uncouple” the Timescape UI with Android on the X10, but have managed to do it with the upcoming Arc.

The question now is whether or not this move from Sony Ericsson will sway potential customers away from future Xperia handsets?

LG Optimus Black Coming To Australia In May

By Seamus Byrne on January 7, 2011 at 2:45 PM on Gizmodo

LG’s Optimus Black is their hero handset for 2011. It’s sleek, it’s bright, and it’s expected to land in Australia around May.

The LG Optimus Black is seen as the hero handset for LG’s fresh push for 2011. It’s a sleek 9.2mm at its thickest point, running Froyo, and features a screen LG is calling NOVA. Yep, everyone has a name for their screens these days.

The killer feature for NOVA is its daylight mode that pumps up the brightness to 700 nits, far beyond most handsets and into a brightness level that makes it genuinely usable in daylight. Compare that with its indoor brightness of 280 nits. But it’s also smart with its screen’s power usage, running about 40% more efficient than other screens. And where AMOLED screens would draw 530mA power while viewing a bright white screen like the Google search page, the NOVA screen draws a standard 160mA power whether it is viewing black or white screens.

LG sees this power saving as a major battery win, with expected life between charges pushing out to two days where many current smartphones run a day or a day and a half before they dry up.

LG expects the Optimus Black to launch in Australia around May. While they are still in discussions with carriers, they feel this is likely to launch with more than one carrier and it will launch in either the $79 or $49 cap range.

 

The US Army Wants To Give Smartphones To Every Soldier

By Adrian Covert on December 14, 2010 at 6:00 PM on Gizmodo

With the billions of dollars the US Army spends in state-of-the-art technology, they’re now looking for a battlefield advantage from a more common device: the smartphone. And they want to give one to every soldier enlisted. It’s like extreme Oprah.

Though it’s still in the early stages of planning, USA Today says the Army would like to give an iPhone or an Android-based handset to every soldier, plus pay for the bill. They believe the versitile nature of these devices – with their ability to display maps, intelligence, translate and allow battlefield communication – will make troops more effective in action. They’d even like phones to collect biometric data from enemies.

But it doesn’t stop there: they’d also like to incorporate such devices as iPads, Kindles, Nooks and other “connected” mobile devices of the like.

Currently, they’re distributing smartphones to soldiers in specialised training programs and plan to begin field testing with smartphones in February. Besides the gathering and distribution of these devices, other challenges include ruggedising the devices and providing secure networks for soldiers to use. But if all goes well, widespread use of these phones could happen as early as next year. [USA Today]

Photo Credit: Annie Gammell, Army Times

Nexus One too ambitious says Google’s Andy Rubin

Even the head of Google described their launching of the Nexus One was that the company “bit off a little more than we could chew.”  Google never launched the phone in stores, but only allowed buyers to purchase on the Web.  Rubin discussed some of the reasons on what the sales issues with the Nexus One:  scale.  For every operator the phone worked with, they had to set up phone numbers and perform credit checks.  There are over 150 carriers worldwide, so it ended up being a much larger process than anticipated.

The Nexus One wasn’t a complete failure, however.  There was a lot of hype and since it was Google’s first phone for their Android OS, it brought more light to the OS.  It also brings Google’s next phone venture, the Nexus S, which will be released in the next few weeks with much anticipation.

Source:  Yahoo

Over 300,000 Android Phones Are Being Activated Each Day

By Kat Hannaford on December 9, 2010 at 9:40 PM on Gizmodo

This is a jump-up from the 200,000 sold each day which Eric Schmidt confirmed in August. Andy Rubin, Android’s creator, took to Twitter to make his proud boast – only the second time he’s ever tweeted. [@Arubin via @morrildl]

Sony Ericsson X10 And X10 Mini To Get Eclair Update This Year

By Nick Broughall on November 18, 2010 at 12:00 PM

Sony Ericsson X10 and X10 Mini owners have been long suffering using the crappy old 1.6 versions of Android, but Vodafone tweeted this morning that they are planning to roll out an update to 2.1 Eclair late in December. Of course, who knows whether it will actually happen or not, given the delays other Telcos have experienced with Android updates. Also – Why no Froyo, Voda? That’s just crappy! [Twitter via Lifehacker]

Wozniak: Android Will Dominate iOS [Updated]

By Josh MacDonald Nov. 18, 2010, 8:00am PDT at Gigaom

UPDATE: Woz now says he was misquoted by De Telegraaf, and offers direct clarification of his statements over at Engadget. He says he never meant to suggest that Android was better than iOS, just that it seemed to possibly be on track to overtake Apple’s OS in terms of market share “based on what [he’s] read.”

Steve Wozniak, Apple co-founder and worldwide technology celebrity, predicts that Android will dominate iOS before long. Wozniak, speaking to the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, shared his thoughts on various topics in his usual candid manner, but the Android/iOS war was front and center throughout.

First, Wozniak revealed that, as many speculated at the time, Apple was working on a phone product as early as 2004 (well before the iPhone’s 2007 release). The product, developed with the help of a popular Japanese electronics company, wasn’t game-changing enough for Apple’s high standards. According to Wozniak (in translation from TechCrunch):

Apple was satisfied with the quality of the smartphone but wanted something it could amaze the world with. When Apple releases products, they need to be groundbreaking. Companies should hold off on entering markets until they have a seriously compelling product to offer. Products like that need to be be [sic] developed in isolation from the rest of the company, and it requires developers to steer clear from paths already traveled.

Wozniak then moves on to discussing iPhone/iOS and Android in terms of user experience. He’s clearly still siding with the iPhone here, and says, “the iPhone has very few weak points. There are no serious complaints or issues. When it comes to quality, the iPhone leads the way. Apple has shown the world what direction we’re going.”

While Wozniak still feels the iPhone is the superior product on the market, he also acknowledges it’s not for everyone, due to the closed nature of the operating system and iTunes dependency. He appreciates the broader range of options that Android affords users.

Wozniak sees the relationship between iOS and Android as similar to that between Mac and Windows, respectively. In light of that comparison, Wozniak acknowledges the problems in consistency, quality, and user satisfaction that Android faces, but thinks they’ll be overcome to match and eventually dominate iOS as Windows did the computer market.

The faith Wozniak seems to have in Google being able remedy its shortcomings (and the inferred lack of faith in Apple to do the same) probably won’t be too well-received by Steve Jobs as the Google/Apple battle continues to heat up. But at least when the “wonderful wizard of Woz” speaks, he never disappoints.

Which smartphone grills best?

I saw this little ditty on Gizmodo and had to repost the video!

Which smartphone grills best? You’d be suprised actually!

Wonder if work will let me run this comparison? Muahahahahaha!