The Ill-fated Lily Drone has returned from the grave courtesy of Mota Group, a company that acquired the Lily Drone assets after its original company, Lily Robotics, announced back in January that it was shutting down and then promptly got sued.
The new version of Lily drone sports a different design and several new features versus the original model, including quick charging, 4K video recording, support for geo-fences, and the ability to 'smart hover. '
Lily drone's initial launch under startup Lily Robotics had caught consumer attention due to its autonomous technology, which supposedly enabled it to follow its operator while recording video after being thrown into the air. Though that type of feature is no longer atypical among camera drones (the autonomous following, that is), it was enough of a novelty at the time that it earned the company millions in investment dollars and pre-order sales.
By the time Lily Robotics closed up shop earlier this year, it was being sued by the San Francisco district attorney over claims that it had faked its promotional video for the drone. The company's assets were sold off at auction and ultimately acquired by Mota Group for $750,000.
That brings us up to today and the launch of 'Lily Next-Gen,' an updated version of the Lily Drone that increases the original's 1080p recording resolution to 4K, its still picture resolution from 12MP to 13MP, and trims its weight down from more than a kilogram to 385 grams/0. 8lbs.
Some sacrifices were made to the drone, at least in comparison to what the original was purported to offer. It is no longer waterproof, and its flight time is now 18 minutes instead of 20 minutes. However, Lily Next-Gen supports an external battery, making it possible to increase that time to 36 minutes and content is stored on an included 16GB memory card.
Mota Group is currently offering two different bundles for its Lily drone via its online store: the Standard Package for $500 USD and the Fully Loaded Package for $800 USD. Shipping is available globally.
. dpreview.com2017-9-2 19:23