Snapchat is known for its creative and innovative products. One popular feature that easily comes to mind is Stories—a feature that has now been copied by virtually every social media company out there. On Thursday, the company launched a new product—a camera drone called Pixy.
Pixy is a camera drone that sits comfortably on the palm of your hand. Pixy is Snapchat’s first camera drone, and comes equipped with a camera that can capture 12MP images and video clips, according to 9to5google.
Pixy is available for purchase in the US and France starting at $229, and can capture 2.7K video at up to 30fps. Snapchat’s Pixy is designed to fly without the need for a controller—it follows four specific flight paths.
The drone follows you as the subject for up to 60 seconds from 2-3 meters. There is an “Orbit” path has the drone launch from your hand and circle around you. “Hover” leaves the drone in place for up to 60 seconds, tracking your movement from one location. While “Reveal” will see the drone fly back to you from a set distance away. You can also create custom flight paths in the Snapchat app, as well as force the drone to manually land.
Once content is captured, it can be transferred to your phone wirelessly [or through wired] through the Snapchat app. Snap says there are 16GB of onboard storage that can store 100 videos or 1000 photos. You have the choice to either export the clips to your phone storage or use in any app or use it on Snapchat.
The battery capacity can last enough for 5-8 flights, and can recharge 80 percent of its capacity in 20 minutes. Snapchat’s Pixy uses a lithium-ion battery that can be charged using a USB-C port on the drone.
A couple of weeks ago, Snapchat integrated YouTube sharing into its app on iOS and Android. This makes it easier to share to YouTube videos within your snap or story. It brings to and end the stress of copying and pasting a video as a link.
To share a video, all you need to do is navigate to the YouTube video you want to share, hit the “share” button, and then select “Snapchat.” Snapchat will open, and the video will automatically appear in your camera as its own sticker. Anyone who views your snap or story can click on the link and view the video within the YouTube app on in the web browser.
