CES 2018

Chinese drone manufacturer, DJI just released two new products right before the start of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this year. The first is the redesigned Osmo Mobile 2 for smartphones, which will initially be exclusively for sale at the Apple store online. The second is the all-new Ronin S stabilizer for mirrorless and DSLR cameras.

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Workhorse’s Surefly personal helicopter drone was first shown to the public during the Paris Air Show in June of 2017. Now we have learned that Workhorse has received an Experimental Airworthiness Certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly their personal drone during the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas next week.

The Surefly is a hybrid octocopter that can carry two passengers. The aerial vehicle can be flown manually with a joystick. Something that should be as easy as flying a DJI drone, according to Workhorse. Or it can be flown in a fully autonomous (drone) mode using sense-and-avoid technology to bring its passengers safely to their destination. A 4-cylinder gasoline engine charges the batteries, which in turn power the electric motors for the eight propellers. The personal helicopter has a range of 70 miles and can lift 400 lbs. The rotor arms can be folded as shown in the photos below.

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If flying is not your thing but you have always been interested in underwater exploration, then this may be the drone for you. It is called the Geneinno Poseidon 1 underwater drone and it will be displayed at CES this year.

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GoPro, the company that we know from the Karma drone and action cameras, is laying off between 200 to 300 people this week, mostly from its drone division. The company had sent its workers a letter earlier this week informing them of the layoffs. According to GoPro, the job cuts are part of a larger restructuring “to better align our resources with business requirements”.

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We already published our wishlists for the DJI Mavic Pro and the DJI Spark. Here is our wishlist with desired specifications for the Phantom 5. This list is a little different. With both the Spark and the Mavic Pro portability is key. Those drones need to be small, light and capable. With DJI Phantom quality is the main concern. Quality in the photos and the video footage. Let’s get started.

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Two days ago we published our wishlist for the DJI Mavic Pro. Today we will cover the DJI Spark 2. What would we like to see in the next generation of our favorite drone (see our review here) and 9to5Toys product of the year 2017? Will a new version of the DJI Spark be launched anytime soon? We don’t know. However, here is our wishlist with the specifications we would like to see added or changed to our favorite mini-drone.

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If you are going to CES2018 and have been wanting to try out drone flying than this may be your chance. DJI will set up a special booth where you can safely try out and fly their drones. Expect to be able to fly the Spark, Mavic Pro, and Phantom drones. Not sure if they will have an Inspire for you to try out. Probably not.

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At some point, DJI will come out with the next generation of the DJI Mavic Pro drone. That may happen as soon as next week at the CES 2018 event in Las Vegas or it may happen much later in 2018. We honestly have no idea. What we do know though is the list of improvements, we’d like to see realized in the DJI Mavic Pro 2.
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Ahead of the CES 2018 event in Las Vegas, the rumor mills start speeding up. Today, we learned that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certified the DJI OSMO Mobile 2 on December 11, 2017. Does this mean that DJI will unveil a new OSMO 2 at the largest consumer electronics show? Maybe, but not necessarily. In the same FCC filing, you can see that the photos are embargoed until January 25, so the OSMO Mobile 2 may also be released at a later point in time.

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DJI will be at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, NV this year. The DJI booth will be at the Las Vegas Convention Center South Hall #26002 where you can experience their entire product portfolio of camera drones and image stabilization systems.

There’s no definitive word on likely new Drones from DJI, but anticipation is high that CES 2018 is the perfect venue for a launch pad. We’re keeping our eyes peeled for information and if we find out anything in the next week, we will post it here on DroneDJ.

*** Update 1/7/18: DJI reveals Osmo Mobile 2 and Ronin S ***

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SolarDrone is a startup company that was established from the laboratory of National Taiwan University in partnership with specialists from photovoltaic and UAV technologies to overcome the limited flight time of most drones. The unmanned aerial vehicles with solar panels will be showcased at CES 2018.

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