Lily smiling drone

Most children of 80's and 90's dreamed about something like this. Now, watching Lily camera flying around feels like a cartoon came to life. As a matter of fact, my generation did its best to make cartoons come true, including drone that looks giant M&M candy with propellers. However, Lily electronic drone is not a spy tool, neither alien's secret weapon; it is a flying camera that enables you to make gorgeous photos, concentrating on shots, not commands.

We must admit that the design is smart and appealing – the disc with four propellers can easily fit into average backpack. Being 8 cm high and 26 cm square, it weighs only 1.3 kg, so you could easily carry it wherever you want. The cartoon magic begins when Lily takes off. No need to press any button; just toss it into the air, and the engines will automatically turn on, setting Lily drone to the sky. The whole device is waterproof, so it can fly in rainy and snowy conditions, and even under the water. 

Radio controller is also unconventional – instead of common switches and sticks, it looks like a puck and can be strapped to your arm. Thanks to combined visual subject tracking and GPS, the drone constantly registers your location, distance and speed, never letting you out of sight.

You can set camera in multiple ways – to keep position, hover in place or rotate; to to take adorable dronies or just to track you. Additionally, it is possible to set specific paths, change settings, edit and share your clips via mobile app. The camera comes with 12-Mp Sony sensor for photos and videos (1080p at 60 fps or 720p at 120 fps).

Along with video, you can take audio records from the ground. The flight range is relatively small; the height ranges from 1.75 to 15 m, and the distance from 1.5 m to 30 m. It can fly up to 40 km/h. There is 4GB of internal storage, that can be expanded by Micro SD card. The internal lithium-ion battery limits flight time to 20 minutes; two hours would be enough for a full recharge.