Pixy – The mini-drone signed Snap!

Meet Pixy, Snap’s little flying companion. Pixy is a mini drone that can act as a camera assistant when you can’t get someone to take your picture. It’s yellow, it’s cute and it will be available in the United States and France for 229.99 euros.

Pixy couldn’t be simpler

“Today we take the power and magic of the Snap device, spontaneity, joy and freedom, to new heights. A new camera to match the unlimited potential of your imagination. Meet Pixy, the world’s most user-friendly flying camera. It’s a free-flying pocket drone for big and small adventures. So said Snap CEO Evan Spiegel during the Snap Partner Summit keynote.

Pixy is no ordinary drone since there is no controller or SD card. It feels like the company has optimized the device to be easy to pick up and get started. There is a button to activate the device and a camera dial to select the flight mode.

There are four preconfigured flight paths. You can have Pixy float, spin around you, or follow you as you walk or run. You select the right mode, press the button and Pixy takes off from your hand.

How Pixy works

When you want to stop recording, you place your hand under the drone. Pixy will automatically land in the palm of your hand. And here’s what it looks like in action:

For those who like specs, here are some details. Pixy captures 2.7K videos and 12MP photos. It is very light as it weighs only 101 g with the replaceable battery. With a single charge, you can capture five to eight flights.

Once the drone has finished shooting a video, you can open Snapchat on your phone. Videos of your flights are automatically transferred wirelessly to your phone. By default, they are stored in your Snapchat memories.

Of course, you can then view these videos, edit them, send them and share them. If you are already familiar with Snapchat’s editing features, you will be able to use the same editing tools for your Pixy videos. You can also apply some effects to your videos, such as Hyperspeed, Bounce, Orbit 3D, and Jump Cut.

A really cool product

And that’s about it. It’s a nice little drone and it looks like the Snap team behind this project had a lot of fun developing it. It’s not going to change business results but it’s definitely cool.

There aren’t many use cases for Pixy though. In many places, drones cannot be used legally. For example, drones are prohibited in Paris. Not just in certain areas, but throughout the city of Paris. Likewise, you won’t be able to use it when you travel to Grand Canyon National Park; because drones are also prohibited there.

But if you think you absolutely need something like Pixy in your life, you should act fast. Snap hints that Pixy won’t be available forever. You can buy it while supplies last at Pixy.com.