Manna for the droning narcissist: a phone with a flying selfie camera
The painfully extended arm and forcibly pleased expressions seemed bad enough before selfie-sticks replaced those as the sine quo non of unabashed self-obsession. Now even those are set to be dethroned as the narcissist’s must-have gadget is a tiny, camera-equipped drone that pops from a smartphone to take aerial me-me-me photos.
Chinese smartphone manufacturer Vivio has filed a patent with the World Intellectual Property Organization for the mini phone drone, which Dutch website LetsGoDigital obtained and reported this week. The basics involve what appears to be a regular smartphone containing a cache on the top edge, from which a small quadcopter can be ejected. The mini-craft is equipped with at least two cameras and collision avoidance sensors, and is presumably piloted using the phone as a controller. All that will remain will be the shout of “cheese” for the world to be inundated with even more photos only one person will ever bother looking at.
Though not a household name like Apple or Samsung, Vivio has been active in developing new, sophisticated smartphone designs and functions, with a particular emphasis on cutting-edge photography. For now there is no drone phone information on the BKK Electronics affiliate’s web page – not surprising with the project just through the patenting stage. The development path should prove fairly challenging, however. And the pricing and marketing steps may be rather tricky as well (including ensuring people don’t get the wrong idea of what a phone designed for droning will make them sound like during calls).
