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Review: Zerotech DOBBY Pocket Drone

Zerotech is probably not the company that springs to mind when you talk about drones. The company is a fairly new entrant in the regional drone market. However, that isn’t stopping the company from being innovative. The company recently launched its new DOBBY pocket drone during GITEX Technology Week 2016. We met up with the guys to learn more about the device and came away with our very own selfie drone for a review.

Weighing in at just 199-gms, the DOBBY can fold up to fit into your pocket. Even though the DOBBY is tiny and light-weight, it features a 3-axis electronic image stabilization system, gesture control, and target tracking. DOBBY also uses the Camera Vector (CV) technology instead of GPS to enhance precision within a short reaction time.

Contents in the box.

Contents in the box.

Inside the box, you get the DOBBY pocket drone, along with a bunch of accessories. These include the micro USB cable for charging the drone, a power adapter, a USB Type-C to micro USB dongle, the battery charger tray, a 970 mAh battery and some paperwork that includes the quick start guide.

The DOBBY pocket drone uses Qualcomm’s older but still powerful Snapdragon 801 chipset, the same SoC used in many popular flagship smartphones. In order to use the DOBBY, you need to install the Do.Fun app from Zerotech, which is available for both Android and iOS devices. We were able to setup the DOBBY in less than 15 minutes using the app.

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The user interface of the app is quite good, though it could be better. Using the app, you will be able to utilize features such as palm take-off and landing, voice-enabled control and dual satellite positioning. The DOBBY is designed for indoor and outdoor use. The DOBBY features a 13-megapixel camera that comes with a field of view of 75°.

The camera can record videos at 1080p full HD, while images are captured at 4K resolution. The app also allows the DOBBY to stream live video via Wi-fi to your smartphone. We were surprised to find that the DOBBY was able to take some really stabilised videos and images.

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There are a couple of ways you can control the DOBBY through your smartphone. You can use traditional flight controls on the touch screen as well as a sliding control that allows you to control the drone’s motion through sliding your finger on the screen.

You can also use the speech control option to tell the drone to takeoff, land, and take photos. We used a Huawei Mate 9 and the Apple iPhone 7 to control the DOBBY and we came away happy with the kind of response we received from the drone.

The overall quality of the images and videos shot using the DOBBY was quite good. You will need a few tries to actually get used to how the DOBBY works. But once you get a hang of how to maneuver the DOBBY using the app, you will be pleasantly surprised at how smooth the whole experience is.

The DOBBY is an interesting little pocket drone. The build quality and stability is very good. However, the battery life is too short, but that is a problem of all smaller drones. The price tag of AED 1599 is definitely on the higher side. However, the Zerotech DOBBY was able to justify its pricing by delivering what it promised on paper. The DOBBY is truly one of its kind, when it comes to drones we have reviewed recently.

Price: AED 1599

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