NEWS: DJI Phantom 4 Announced

The new Phantom 4 quadcopter has been revealed by DJI. The unveiling took place in New York on March 1st and overall it seems to live up to all of the predictions of industry pundits. Capture.png

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Price £1229. Delivery from 1st April 2016. Call 0191 296 1024 to get the latest information.

The big announcement is that the Phantom has an obstacle sense and avoid system, provided you're flying forwards. It's the first technology like it on a consumer quadcopter. DJI's own Matrice, designed for commercial clients, has an all round collision avoidance system as an optional extra. If the Phantom detects an obstacle it will try to fly over or around it. If neither of those is an option, it will stop and hover. The vision positioning system from the P3 has been improved too. Then there's target tracking and TapFly. If you want to follow something or someone all you have to do is draw around the outline on the tablet screen and the Phantom will keep your camera shot centred on your chosen subject. If you fancy flying straight to a location you can tap on the screen and send the Phantom flying straight to it. Performance has been improved too.  There's a new Sports mode that can be selected on the controller which allows you to push the Phantom 4 nearer its limits once you've gained some experience and confidence. It is capable of reaching 45 mph, which is the same sort of speed as the bigger Inspire 1. Battery life has been increased too. Instead of 23 minutes maximum flight time, the Phantom 4 now boasts 28. The battery capacity has increased - up from 4480 mAh to 5350 mAh. From a safety point of view DJI have introduced a dual compass and IMUs (Inertial Measurement Units). This introduces a level of redundancy and also allows the Phantom to better handle potential errors. There are improvements on the camera too. Although it's very similar to the Phantom 3 Professional, the camera on the 4 has 56% less chromatic aberration. That's the annoying coloured fringing you can get on the border between bright and dark areas of pictures. There's also a claimed 36% reduction in lens distortion even though the field of view is still 94 degrees. The video slo-mo has also been improved. In 1080 HD the camera will shoot at 120 fps meaning you'll be able to play back at a quarter of normal speed. The camera gimbal appears to be sturdier, with a U-shaped mount supporting the camera. The props are easier to attach and more likely to stay attached. They use the same mechanism employed on the latest Inspire - just push the prop into place and turn a locking catch.

DJI Phantom 4 Features Summary

• Cost £1,229

• Delivery stated by DJI as April 1st in UK

• One choice, no more multi-tier versions like the Phantom 3

• Obstacle Sensing System, ability to fly by itself and, if it can't work out which way to go, it will just hover

• Safer Return To Home function - it will avoid obstacles

• Two front facing cameras in the landing gear, helps Phantom 4 make decision on obstacles and track video subjects

• Improved camera lens

• Sports mode, 45 miles per hour or 20 metres per second

• Upgraded Follow Mode, tap any object on the screen and it will follow it

• Use 'TapFly' to fly to any location you choose

• Upgraded battery, can't use Phantom 2 or 3 styles

• Improved flight time of 28 minutes (5 mins more than Phantom 3)

• Safer - secondary compass and inertial measurement unit (IMU)

Phantom 4 in pictures

Capture1.png Phantom 4 camera and collision avoidance cameras at top of legs Capture2.png Phantom 4 LEDs

Phantom-4-Still-15-1100.jpg

Phantom-4-Still-17-1100.jpg The Phantom 4's vision positioning system Phantom-4-Still-14-1100.jpg Micro SD and USB Phantom-4-kit-1100.jpg What you get in the box

DJI Phantom 4 videos

Here is what The Verge released ahead of the official DJI video:

Specifications

When compared to the Phantom 3

AIRCRAFT

OBSTACLE SENSING SYSTEM

CAMERA

CHARGER