The best non-Apple smartwatch has long been Samsung’s Galaxy Watch series, thanks to its comprehensive health and fitness tracking, intuitive interface and comfortable, pleasant design. For a product that’s so mature, it’s hard to imagine what else Samsung can improve upon, which might explain why the Galaxy Watch 5 is very similar to its predecessor. It even costs the same $280 to start.

Most of the changes here aren’t immediately visible, like a more durable build, an inactive temperature sensor and better battery life. Samsung also introduced a new Pro model for $450 that comes in a 45mm titanium case, uses a stronger screen and has a large 590mAh battery, promising a runtime of up to 80 hours. Still, the fact that the tweaks are small doesn’t mean the Galaxy Watch 5 can’t still be the best smartwatch around for Android users.

Design

Like I said, the Galaxy Watch 5 looks just like its predecessor, and comes in the same 40mm and 44mm sizes as before. Both are a few grams (or less than a quarter ounce) heavier than the previous generation, but it’s barely noticeable. The lack of change isn’t a bad thing — the Galaxy Watch’s round face and minimalist design make it look more like a conventional timepiece than the Apple Watch.

My 40mm review unit has a silver case, though black and pink gold are also available, while the 44mm model is available in silver, black or sapphire. I also received a comfortable silicon purple strap, which is more inoffensive than lust-inducingly pretty. If you want something nicer, you can easily swap out the bands.

It’s not immediately obvious, but Samsung used a more durable Sapphire Crystal glass for the Watch 5’s screen. I have yet to destroy a smartwatch even during my wilder gym sessions, but I was grateful for the reinforced materials during a workout recently. I had forgotten about the Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro on my wrists, and flipped a pair of 26-pound kettlebell onto the back of my arms. Thankfully, neither device was scratched, and I continued to rack the weights as I powered through two more sets. To be fair, I’ve also done this same exercise with the Apple Watch and haven’t damaged it either.

Like its predecessors, the Watch 5 is also rated IP68, 5 ATM and MIL-STD-810H for durability (water, dust and pressure resistance). I wore it swimming recently, and though it wasn’t as accurate as the Apple Watch at tracking laps, it at least survived. Those who liked Samsung’s bezel-based navigation will appreciate the touch-sensitive ring framing the screen that you can use to scroll through the Wear OS interface, as well as the mild haptic feedback as you whizz past apps. I still prefer a physical rotating bezel, but I get that not everyone wants the added bulk.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

One of the main differences Samsung brought to the Watch 5 is the refined curvature of its underside. This is meant to keep the watch in contact with more of your wrist so its sensors can deliver more reliable readings. Unfortunately, I found this kind of uncomfortable. Both the Galaxy Watch 5 and Watch 5 Pro would leave round indentation marks on my wrist after I removed them, no matter how much I adjusted the fit.

This was only mildly annoying, and I put up with it because I thought I was getting more reliable scans in return. But I realized that the Galaxy Watch 5 was consistently giving me almost exactly the same readings as the Apple Watch Series 7 that I wore on my other wrist, and the latter never felt as tight. Another reviewer I spoke to said they found the Watch 5 very comfortable, though, so this might be a matter of personal preference.

Sleep-tracking and coaching

This also applies to wearing a watch to bed — some people don’t mind it, others hate it. I belong in the latter camp, but still wore the Galaxy Watch and Apple Watch to bed to compare their sleep-tracking tools. As I’ve said before, Apple’s system is atrocious. You have to either set a bedtime or enable your Sleep focus before the device can tell you’re asleep. Even then, it doesn’t really actually know if you’re awake or passed out. Samsung can figure it out all on its own.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

One night, I wore both watches to bed, making sure to note the time right before I flipped over and closed my eyes. The Galaxy Watch 5 accurately noted that I fell asleep around 1:30am and woke up at 4am, while Apple simply told me I got a full night’s rest from 11pm to 9am.

I could go on about how infuriating it is that Apple can’t figure out something that Fitbit and Samsung managed to years ago, but this isn’t a watchOS review. The Galaxy Watch 5, like Fitbit’s watches, will also use your heart rate information to gauge what sleep zones you hit and tell you how much time you’ve spent in REM, Deep or Light sleep. Meanwhile, that feature is slated to arrive with the upcoming watchOS 9.

Sleep-tracking isn’t new to the Galaxy Watch 5, but Samsung did add a sleep coaching tool that’s meant to guide you towards better rest. However, it requires 5 weeknights and 2 weekend nights of data before any tips are generated, and I haven’t logged that many hours yet. Plus, my data would be skewed anyway — any time I wear any accessory to bed, I sleep horribly. This might be an insightful feature, I just can’t tell you right now.

Another thing I can’t evaluate at the moment is whether the skin temperature sensor that Samsung introduced on the Galaxy Watch 5 will be useful, since it’s not currently doing anything. There are plenty of potentially useful applications for that data, though, so it’ll be interesting to see what the company is able to do with this.

Health and activity tracking

Samsung has also long been better than most Wear OS watches at monitoring your activity, and the Watch 5 is no different. When I was stuck at my desk for hours on end pounding out this review, it reminded me to get up and move. I have always appreciated that in addition to walking, Galaxy Watches would also suggest movements you could perform at your desk, like torso twists or stretches. Even better, the device would be able to detect exactly how many twists you’ve done — something the Apple Watch and other Wear OS devices don’t do.

In general, Samsung’s system is as proactive as ever. When I got up to walk around after the Watch 5 prompted me to, the device buzzed after I took about a dozen steps to congratulate me for moving. That’s a lot less than Apple’s demands, which can make me feel like I need to pace my room like I’m going mad.

Galaxy Watches are also quicker to recognize when you’ve been moving and will ask if you want to record your walk. The flip side of that is they’re also hyperactive at noticing when you’ve paused and will not only suspend tracking, but will buzz you to let you know it’s not counting the time while you’ve stopped. Chill, Samsung!

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Performance and in use

Besides the sleep coaching feature, not much is different between the Watch 4 and Watch 5 when it comes to software. You’ll still be able to get a body composition reading using the built-in body-impedance analysis (BIA) tool, take ECG scans, reply to messages, control music playback and more. The Watch 5 also uses the same 5nm Exynos processor as the older model, and for the most part was just as responsive. I only really had to wait when creating new watch faces or taking a body fat scan — otherwise, everything happened the instant I tapped the screen.

Speaking of, if you were wondering about the accuracy of the Watch 5's body composition measurements — it's surprisingly close to results from more sophisticated systems. I recently tried an InBody scan, which is a more advanced version of BIA like that on the Watch 5. Samsung's readings were just about two percent off on body fat percent and less than a pound under my skeletal muscle as calculated by the InBody version. 

I actually forgot that the Watch 5 is a Wear OS device, because the its software still feels so much like Tizen. Besides swiping up and down from the home screen to pull up all apps and settings, the majority of the side-swiping interface feels no different from Samsung’s original OS.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

One thing I wish Wear OS / Tizen did better was displaying workout information. Apple uses a large, bold font to show how long you’ve been working out, as well as your heart rate and calories burned. Samsung displays similar information, but using a font that’s a lot thinner and smaller. When my Watch 5’s screen was locked during my swim and I couldn’t tap it, I couldn’t see any info at all and had to unlock water mode mid-lap to bump up brightness to the max. Even then, it was only slightly better.

It’s also worth noting that because they’re typically secondary devices, a significant part of the smartwatch experience is interacting with its companion apps on your phone. In this case, you’ll need to install the Galaxy Wearable app to set up your Watch 5, and Samsung Health to see details about your workouts and sleep sessions. In general, these apps were easy to use and navigate and I found settings or health summaries quickly. Samsung also shows what cardio zones you were in during a workout or sleep session, and this information is only coming to watchOS 9 when it’s publicly available later this year.

Battery life and recharging

I wore the Apple Watch Series 7 and Galaxy Watch 5 on each wrist for a week and every day they delivered almost exactly the same runtime, though with one caveat. Both devices clocked slightly over a day before conking out, although enabling the Always On Display (AOD) caused the Watch 5 to drain noticeably faster. One night, the Samsung watch dropped to 4 percent by 7:21pm, while the Apple Watch was still holding strong at 38 percent despite also having AOD on.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

Both watches recharged quickly, so I never had to wait longer than 30 minutes to get enough juice for half a day’s wear. When I wore the watches overnight to test sleep tracking, the Apple Watch used less power than the Galaxy Watch, but the latter actually delivers better results, which seems like a worthwhile tradeoff.

The Pro difference

The Pro model of the Watch 5 typically lasted a few hours longer than the 40mm model with its Always On Display enabled, and I got close to a day more juice with the setting turned off. Though Samsung markets the Watch 5 Pro as having been designed “for the great outdoors,” there’s really little about it that makes it feel that way.

The Pro is noticeably bulkier, too. I have fairly petite wrists, so the 45mm titanium case felt overwhelming. It also has a chunky frame around the screen where a rotating bezel might sit, although there is no mechanical spinner here. While the D-buckle closure makes the Pro fit more securely, it adds to the general heft.

That might not be a bad thing if you don’t mind oversized watches, and the bonus is that the Watch 5 Pro feels strong enough to withstand being smashed against boulders. I had it higher up my forearm when racking kettlebells like I mentioned earlier, so the weights actually landed on its screen. Despite being smacked by 26 pounds of metal, the Watch 5 Pro survived without a scratch, and I continued to run through my reps without much concern. The stronger Sapphire Crystal glass that Samsung uses here definitely held up, at least during my testing.

The other feature differentiating the Pro from the regular Watch 5 is its support for the GPX route format for workouts like hiking and cycling. You’ll have to go into the Samsung Health app on your phone to pick a previous route and export it as a GPX file, go into Hiking or Cycling and import that information. Then, from the Watch 5 Pro, you can select one of the routes you loaded under one of those exercises to start the same journey, and the device will show you turn by turn directions.

Cherlynn Low / Engadget

It’s a little tricky to set up, but potentially helpful for those who are in a new place and want to try out a local route by downloading GPX files from databases. Samsung also added a Track Back feature that will take you home the way you came and it’s only available for hiking or cycling for now.

Wrap-up

Even though most of the changes Samsung brought to the Watch 5 line are minimal, the fact remains that for Android users, this is the best smartwatch around. I might not like the refined curvature of the underside, but it does make for more reliable sensor readings. The Watch 5 Pro is also a little bulky for my taste and the only real improvement it offers over the regular model (aside from size and durability) is a bit more battery life.

Still, thanks to its well-rounded and capable health and fitness tracking tools, the Watch 5 is one of the best smartwatches around.

This year’s RoboCup symposium held in Bangkok, Thailand marks the 25th anniversary of the event, an international competition dedicated to the advancement of robotic and artificial intelligence technologies. The original goal of the event was to get the state of robotics in robust enough shape that one might field a team of robotic soccer players capable of beating a World Cup champion (human) team by 2050 – but a lot has changed since 1997.

RoboCup

Both the event and its mechanical entrants have evolved by leaps and bounds in the intervening years. The number of teams participating has ballooned tenfold since the inaugural event, from 38 to more than 300, with competitors now coming from more than 40 nations worldwide. And rather than fall down stairs, today’s cutting-edge humanoid constructs are backflipping off them.

“We think of [the competition] as a grand challenge akin to the Apollo missions that sought to land a person on the moon,” Dr. Peter Stone, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Texas at Austin and Executive Director of Sony AI America, told Engadget via email. “In both cases, one might reasonably ask, why is it worthwhile to try to achieve such a goal? What do we gain by landing a person on the moon? What do we gain by creating superhuman soccer playing robots?”

“In the case of the Apollo mission, there were several spin-off technologies in areas such as remote telemetry, body monitoring, breathing apparatuses, fabric structures, communications, and food packaging,” he continued. ”In the case of RoboCup, there have been several start-up companies founded by RoboCup participants using RoboCup technologies, most prominently Kiva Systems which became Amazon Robotics.”

“This vision inspired my early research on AI planning and machine learning in multiagent systems,” Stone wrote in a 2021 Sony AI blog, “and has continued to inspire my research and that of my students on these areas and robot learning throughout the years.”

The ideas that led to the RoboCup — can you use a soccer competition to promote robotics and AI research — had been percolating in the academic space since the early 1990s, according to RoboCup, though it wasn't until 1995’s International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence that the official groundwork for a RoboCup competition was laid. Following a requisite two-year gap for teams to sort funding and training, Nagoya, Japan hosted the first event with more than 5,000 spectators in attendance.

Today, teams can compete in both simulated and physical soccer matches using an array of humanoid robots — sorted into divisions by size, capability, and pedalness — as well as pit their robotic first responders against the Cup’s hazard-strewn disaster courses, best one another at robo-buttling in the @Home competition, and devise the most efficient warehouse floor operation in Industry. There’s even a dedicated league for junior roboticists that spans the fields of soccer, search and rescue, and on-stage performance.

“One of the most important scientific contributions of RoboCup has been to demonstrate how competitions can drive research and also provide a way of objectively benchmarking different technologies,” Dr. Claude Sammut, Head of the Artificial Intelligence Research Group at the University of New South Wales and Deputy Director of the iCinema Centre for Interactive Cinema Research, told Engadget.

Sammut notes RoboCup Rescue as one valuable benchmarking example. The competition is supported, in part, by the US National Institute for Standard and Technology (NIST). “The arena uses the test methods developed by NIST to measure the performance of robots for disaster recovery and ordnance disposal. Each year, the test methods are updated to reflect real-world experience, so teams are encouraged to extend the capabilities of their robots to handle increasingly complex tasks.”

Training robots to play soccer “is a great problem to work on because it needs progress across most areas of AI and robotics (and it’s fun and motivating for students),” Sammut said, but learning that game won’t teach robots all they need to know about navigating in the wider world. The Cup’s Rescue course requires the robot to overcome unknown terrain to extract victims while @Home demands robust human-robot interaction and planning skills. “Humans working with robots is an important goal, so introducing domestic service robots pushes us in that direction,” he said.

That skill development has kept apace with the field’s steady stream of hardware advancements. Sammut points to “the massive increases in performance of low cost, low power CPUs and GPUs” to handle a greater degree of processing onboard, as well as the precipitous price drop of sensory equipment. “The first depth camera we bought for our rescue robots in 2006 cost €10,000. Now you can buy much better ones for a few hundred dollars and your iPhone and iPad have them built in.”

That said, even with a quarter century of technological advancements, today’s RoboCup competitors more closely resemble old Asimo than they do Sonny. Matches aren’t so much fast moving spectacles of mechanical might and sport prowess as they are watching a pair of toddering automatons shuffle after a ball while their developers trail behind them, ready to intervene in the event of a misstep or stumble.

“Motors and batteries have improved somewhat but they need further development to be able to get better speed, agility and lifetime,” Sammut conceded. “Soft, light but strong materials would also make the robots safer to be around. I wouldn't want to be on the field with the current large humanoid robots because a tackle would really hurt!”

It was revealed back in June that helicopters and gliders are coming to Microsoft Flight Simulator, but they'll arrive earlier than expected. Developer Asobo Studio previously said it would add them on November 22nd, but it will introduce both types of aircraft on November 11th instead.

That's the release date for the game's 40th Anniversary Edition, which will be available as a free update for anyone who has bought Microsoft Flight Simulator. Xbox Game Pass members will get access at no extra cost. On the same date, Asobo Studio will add another aircraft that has been widely requested by the community — a true-to-life airliner. Nearly every button in the Airbus A-310 will work as expected, as Microsoft Flight Simulator head Jorg Neumann noted on the Xbox blog.

Some famous historical aircraft will also join the game, including the 1947 Hughes H-4 Hercules (aka the Spruce Goose), which is the largest seaplane and wooden plane ever built. In addition, the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane Charles Lindbergh flew in the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in May 1927, will be available.

In all, Asobo will add 12 aircraft, four classic commercial airports (including Meigs Field in Chicago), 10 glider airports, 14 heliports and 20 missions from previous games on November 11th. Meanwhile, the studio has just released Microsoft Flight Simulator's first city update, with photogrammetry improvements for the German locales of Hanover, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Bonn and Cologne. The update coincides with Gamescom, which is taking place in Cologne this week.

Meta is finally addressing a problem that’s long vexed users: its lack of customer support. Bloombergreports that Meta is now planning to build a customer support division, which will be able to help users “who have had posts or accounts removed unexpectedly.”

Meta’s plans are apparently still in “early stages,” so it’s not yet clear when the new services will be available. According to Bloomberg, Meta’s plans were at least partially driven by insight from its Oversight Board, which handles requests from users to appeal the company’s content decisions. The board has repeatedly said that Meta should be more transparent in the way it communicates with users about its decisions.

The addition of customer service representatives who are able to actually speak with users could solve a long-running headache for many. Currently, users who lose access to their accounts — either through hackings or wrongful suspensions — have few options available to get them back. The company has an appeals process, as well as automated tools, but both can be difficult to navigate. The tools are so confusing, and often ineffective, that desperate users sometimes resort to other means, like hiring legal services or even hackers to try and get their accounts back. They often plead with executives and journalists on social media to help them regain their accounts.

But with actual customer support, frustrated Facebook and Instagram users would finally have a Meta-sanctioned resource to turn to. The company didn’t share specifics on how the customer service division would operate or would be eligible for help.

In the wake of Roe v. Wade being overturned, Google announced that it is making it easier to use its Maps and Search products to find medical providers that offer abortions. When someone searches for specific services and Google has confirmation that a location provides those services, it'll be clearly labeled in Search and Maps. For example, Google notes that it already does this when you search for EV charging stations or a specific COVID-19 vaccine brand, and now it'll do so for veterans hospitals and healthcare facilities that provide abortions. As you can see in the above image, searching for "abortion clinics near me" will bring up a list of locations that Google has confirmed provide abortion services.

While Google isn't coming right out and saying it, this seems to be an effort to avoid sending people who are searching for medical care to so-called "abortion crisis centers" or anti-abortion centers. For locations that Google doesn't have confirmation for, it'll instead say "might not provide abortions," which serves as a passive but still significant red flag for anyone looking for treatment. In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled that anti-abortion centers couldn't be forced to acknowledge abortion as an option, something that outsources that work to private companies like Google. 

Earlier this week, Yelp announced it would take a similar but more definitive step by adding warning labels to anti-abortion centers; these warnings note that such facilities "may not have licensed medical professionals on site." Google says its update has been in the works for months, but it comes at a time where employees have said the company needs to do more to project both users and its contract workers in a post-Roe world.

The fact that Google is getting confirmation from centers that provide abortions should make both Search and Maps results more useful. A Google spokesperson said that "we get confirmation that places provide a particular service in a number of ways, including regularly calling businesses directly and working with authoritative data sources." So users should be able to trust that medical centers that are labeled as providing abortions do in fact offer the service. Google is also making it easy to expand your search if you don't find relevant results nearby with a "search farther away" prompt, another tool that can help people looking for abortion services where clinics are rare. 

Google says these changes will start rolling out today, though they won't immediately be visible to all Google users until a bit later.

Anker's Soundcore brand has built a reputation for delivering audio devices with a solid blend of sound quality and features for a reasonable price. Its latest active noise canceling (ANC) headphones and earbuds may fit that ethos, though we haven't yet tried them to determine how good they sound.

The Space Q45 headphones cost $150 and include a four-microphone hybrid ANC system. Soundcore claims this can reduce noise by up to 98 percent. It says the headphones have an adaptive noise canceling feature that adjusts the ANC level based on ambient sound. There's a passthrough mode too.

Soundcore

The brand says the headphones have a battery life of a whopping 50 hours with ANC on and 65 hours with the feature turned off. Thanks to fast charging, you'll get up to four hours of playtime after just five minutes of charging. You'll also be able to connect the Q45 to two devices simultaneously. In addition, Soundcore says the headphones support high-resolution audio even in wireless mode. The Q45 is available in black today, while white and navy blue variants will arrive later this year.

Meanwhile, the Space A40 earbuds are also said to reduce noise by up to 98 percent. They have a one-touch transparency mode, adaptive noise cancellation and wireless high-res audio, according to Soundcore. A feature called Hear ID Sound is designed to analyze how you hear music to create a sound profile tuned for your ears.

The A40 is 25 percent smaller than Soundcore's previous-gen earbuds, though the brand still packed in 10mm drivers that deliver "pumping bass" along with "rich middle and crisp trebles." You'll get up to 10 hours of playtime on a single charge, Soundcore claims, with the charging case providing another 40 hours of playback. Charging for 10 minutes could get you up to four hours of playtime. Other features include the option to connect to two devices at once, IPX4 waterproofing and wireless charging. The Space A40 costs $100 and is available in black, white and navy blue starting today.

Soundcore

Sony revealed a few months back that a Netflix show based on Horizon Zero Dawnwas in development and now we have a few more details. Steve Blackman, the creator and showrunner of The Umbrella Academy, has re-upped his deal with Netflix and is working on the adaptation.

Blackman said the game's protagonist, Aloy, will be a main character in the show. This is also the first confirmation from Netflix that the series will be based on Horizon Zero Dawn, instead of a show that's set in the same universe. Rumors previously indicated it would be set in 2047, before the fall of humanity and nearly a thousand years before Aloy was born. Still, the show may still depict some of the events that led to animal-like robot organisms reigning over Earth.  

"Horizon Zero Dawn is an exceptionally well-crafted game with wonderful characters not often seen in the rank-and-file of the gaming world. Guerrilla Games has created an incredibly lush and vivid world of man and machine who find themselves on a collision course to oblivion," Blackman told Netflix's Tudum site. "Their salvation comes in the form of a young female warrior named Aloy, who has no idea she's the key to saving the world. My writing partner on this, Michelle Lovretta, and I are thrilled to be able to expand this remarkable IP into a series for all types of viewers."

The latest update on the Horizon Zero Dawn project came as Netflix renewed The Umbrella Academy for its fourth and final season. The other show Blackman is currently developing is an intriguing-sounding thriller called Orbital, which is set on the International Space Station.

"From a character- and world-building perspective, there's a clear throughline: I gravitate to characters who are grounded and relatable but exist on the fringe," Blackman said about his projects. "Outliers who struggle to find their place in a world of conformity and structure. All my stories strive to subvert expectation and find a new way of looking into the worlds we think we know." Aloy fits that description perfectly.

Netflix is working on the Horizon Zero Dawn series with PlayStation Productions, which has a ton of other shows and movies based on Sony's games in the pipeline. Among them are HBO's The Last of Us, a Gran Turismo film, a God of War series for Amazon Prime Video and the Peacock show Twisted Metal. Recent reports suggested that movies based on Days Gone and Gravity Rush are in development too.

The first fully hydrogen-powered passenger train service is now up and running. Coradia iLint trains built by Alstom are running on the line in Lower Saxony, Germany. The only emissions are steam and condensed water, and Alstom notes that the train operates with a low level of noise.

Five of the trains started running this week. Another nine will be added in the coming months to replace 15 diesel trains on the regional route. Alstom says the Coradia iLint has a range of 1,000 kilometers, meaning that it can run all day on the line using a single tank of hydrogen. A hydrogen filling station has been set up on the route between Cuxhaven, Bremerhaven, Bremervörde and Buxtehude.

Alstom, which started testing the trains in 2018, has agreements for Coradia iLint in other locales, including for 27 trains in the Frankfurt metropolitan area. The two other contracts are for regions in Italy and France.

The company notes that despite electrification efforts in some countries, much of Europe's rail network will rely on trains that are not electrified in the long term. It notes that there are more than 4,000 diesel-powered cars in Germany alone. In 2020, the country's national rail operator, Deutsche Bahn, said it was developing a hydrogen-powered train. While it will take some time to entirely switch the continent's rail network to green energy (assuming the full conversion happens at some point), bringing hydrogen-powered trains into service is a positive step forward.

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Lincoln being part of the Ford Motor Company, Lincoln reached back 100 years to the Model L as inspiration for its Model L100 concept. The large luxury sedan combines Lincoln's take on autonomous luxury and electric vehicles. 

Because the vehicle is so low to the ground Lincoln decided to create four-foot-long doors that move out and open and a roof that lifts up to make it easier for passengers to get in and out. It’s an insane idea that’ll never make it to production, but the inside of the vehicle is an impressive take on how the one percent will ride around in the future. 

DJI has launched a new cinematic drone called Avata, which was made to work with the new DJI Goggles 2 video headset. While it's in the same category as the brand's previous first-person view (FPV) cinematic model, it takes on a more usual "cinewhoop" form factor with prop guards protecting its quad propellers. Since it's a cinewhoop, the Avata was designed to have the speed and agility of racers but with the stabilization technology needed to be able to capture smooth and vivid footage. 

It can hover, accelerate like a racer and zoom in and out of tight spaces while shooting videos, and its battery can last for up to 18 minutes before needing a recharge. The Avata is equipped with a stabilized camera that has a 1/1.7-inch CMOS sensor with 48 million effective pixels, an f/2.8 aperture and an ultra wide-angle lens. That camera is capable of shooting 4K videos in 60fps and 2.7K videos in 50, 60, 100 or 120 fps. And users can shoot quite a bit of footage before worrying about space, since it has 20GB of internal storage.

While it can be controlled using the existing DJI FPV Remote Controller 2 and the DJI FPV Goggles V2, it was designed to be used with the company's newer models. DJI Goggles 2 is the brand's next-gen video headset with a clearer micro-OLED screen than its predecessor and an adjustable diopter, so that people who wear glasses wouldn't need them while using the device. It can wirelessly stream the drone's live footage from the user's phone or computer for an immersive first-person viewing experience. Meanwhile, the DJI Motion Controller gives pilots the power to perform complex flight maneuvers with one hand. 

The DJI Avata is available starting today from the company's website and various retailers. On its own, the drone costs €579, £499 or $629, while a set with the DJI Goggles 2 and a DJI Motion Controller costs €1,429, £1,229 or $1,388.

DJI