Geniusidea Follow - Selfie drone with 4K video function

Geniusidea Follow - 4K Selfie Drone

Design and batteries

With dimensions of just 160mm x 160mm x 50mm and a weight of 273g, the Geniusidea Follow is one of the more compact 4K camera drones. In contrast to many competing models, the propeller arms are not retractable. The propellers themselves are also fixed and use a patented design, which makes them even lighter, quieter and easier to change. The top of the Geniusidea Follow is kept in a striking yellow. A special surface texture ensures lower air resistance and improved flight behavior. A passive cooling element is located below the upper cover, which is intended to cool the circuit board below particularly well. Two 18650 batteries can be inserted via the removable underside, which matches the color of the top. This means that you do not have to rely on a special battery from the manufacturer and you can purchase replacement batteries at very low cost. The disadvantage of such 18650 batteries is the slightly increased weight, which has a negative impact on the flight time.

Snapdragon 801 processor and sensors

As a platform, the Geniusidea Follow uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage. The same processor was already in the ZEROTECH Dobby which offers similar functions and specifications. Video or image recordings can be saved directly to the internal memory. In addition, the internal memory can be expanded by a further 64GB with a microSD card. The sensors of the Geniusidea selfie drone are impressive. The flight navigation takes place via GPS and GLONASS. The drone has several distance sensors (optical flow and sonar) on the underside for environmental orientation. The accuracy of the satellite navigation is +/- 0.5 meters, that of the distance sensors +/- 0.1 meters.

Sony image sensor and 4K video recording

The built-in image sensor is a Sony IMX214, which has a resolution of 13 megapixels. In the meantime, the image sensor has gotten a bit old, but has been used in numerous well-known smartphones, such as the OnePlus One or the Oppo Find 7. The Geniusidea Follow drone records videos in 1080p at 60 frames per second or at 2K and 4K with 30 frames per second. Electronic image stabilization (EIS) can only be activated at a resolution of 1080p. The camera's field of view is 117 °. The aperture is an f / 2.2 aperture. The camera's angle of view can be adjusted manually by 0 ° / -20 ° / -45 ° / -90 °. The ISO and the exposure can also be set individually. Pictures are recorded in JPG format, videos in MP4. Videos are compressed according to the MPEG-4 AVC / H.264 standard.

Control and flight modes

The Geniusidea Follow is controlled with a smartphone or tablet using the so-called “G-IDEA” app. Android and iOS devices are compatible. On the one hand, the app is used to configure the drone, you can have a live image output in 720p and the drone can be controlled in the respective direction using virtual joysticks or tilting movements of the smartphone. The connection is via WiFi. For this purpose, the Follow drone is equipped with an 802.11n 2x2 MIMO WiFi module.

The functions are versatile and the operation is also suitable for beginners. In the so-called "Route Planning" mode, the Geniusidea Follow flies to predefined flight points fully automatically and orientates itself using GPS / GLONASS. In “Visual Follow” mode, the drone flies fully automatically after a specified object. In “Orbit” mode, objects or people can be orbited. If the drone's battery becomes too weak during the flight, a landing is automatically initiated. Recorded images can be accessed directly via the “G-IDEA” app and shared on social media.