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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Hands-on: Parrot AR Drone 2.0 packs new features and better hardware – New Tech Gadgets & Electronic Devices | Geek.com

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Hands-on: Parrot AR Drone 2.0 packs new features and better hardware

Jan. 10, 2012 (3:13 pm) By: Russell Holly

In many ways, you could attribute the current rush of ~~toys~~ accessories powered by our smartphones to the Parrot AR Drone. The ability to fly a really cool looking quad-copter through the office with your smartphone was enough to excite any geek, and Parrot made that happen. The eventual growth to include both iOS and Android software to control the drone meant a massive market of people to enjoy the device. Now, as other smartphone-controlled gadgetry, like Sphero, is hitting the market, Parrot felt the need to refresh the AR Drone and give it some new bragging rights with the Drone 2.0.

New and Improved Hardware

The original AR Drone is still incredibly fun to operate, but the first thing anyone does with one is crash it into something. Unfortunately, for some, that's the last time your AR Drone 1.0 is intact. Parrot redesigned the hulls for the Drone 2.0 to handle much more stress. When using it indoors, the foam composite hull that goes around the blades has been improved, without being any heavier. In the demonstration, the AR Drone 2.0 rammed the wall of the convention center as fast as it could go, and bounced off without a scratch.

When you take the Drone 2.0 outside, you remove that outer hull and let the new aerodynamically engineered EPP hull protect the quad-copter without risking it being blown away. EPP is a damage resistant plastic commonly used in car bumpers. The Parrot guys weren't quite as willing to crash the AR Drone 2.0 with the foam core off of it, since your blades are exposed in that configuration.

The camera on the AR Drone 2.0 took a big boost as well, offering a 720p view of the world from your controller. The camera records at 30 fps, and allows you to upload the videos to YouTube as soon as you are finished recording them. Since your only rage limitation is how far your point to point WiFi connection with the Drone 2.0, the end result is a high definition aerial view that you have complete control over.

All New Software

Read More...
http://www.geek.com/articles/gadgets/parrot-ar-drone-2-0-pack-new-features-and-better-hardware-20120110/

I have a Buddy who would really love this little "Toy"!:) I think that I would really like trying one out too. That On Board Camera would be allot of furn and could be useful too. But, at $300... I'm not looking at getting one next week!:O

Don