There is nothing worse than getting a FedEx tracking number late on a Thursday, knowing full well that your package will not arrive until Monday. Even as an adult, Ill still obsessively refresh tracking information, even when I know something wont be delivered for days. Still, that didnt stop me from tracking the Parrot AR.Drone all weekend, or getting up and looking out the window when I even thought I might have heard the sound of tires on gravel in the distance all day today. Surely any self respecting geek knows the feeling as they anxiously await their newest techno-toy.
The AR.Drone arrived mere moments ago, and after carefully opening the packaging I was greeted with the wondrous quadricopter that weve been drooling over since we first caught wind of it back at CES in January. Since then weve had a brief hands-on and later discovered that it would sell for $299.99 available for preorder through Brookstone.
In the demos weve been given in the past, weve never actually been able to touch the unit, only fly it around for a few seconds inside of the controlled environment of the Parrot booth at conventions. My first impression as I took it out of the box was just how amazingly light and delicate the whole unit feels. I suppose it makes sense that its light because it has to fly, but it feels like nothing.
In the box with the unit is a brief quick start guide which explains to first charge the battery, how to install the battery, and the basics of getting the Parrot AR.Drone in the air. Like any impatient man child, I immediately installed the battery, and paired it to my iPhone which was as simple as downloading the free Parrot AR.Drone Free Flight app and connecting to the WiFi network it creates. After that, you launch the app, it connects to the quadricopter, and youre met with a screen that looks like this:
Unfortunately, since I skipped that whole "charge the battery first" step, the AR.Drone only flew for about 45 seconds before it ran out of juice. Im currently impatiently waiting the light on the charger to flip from red to green, and daylight is fading fast. I hope to have some extensive video of how the unit works, how it is assembled, and flying it in the not too distant future. All depending on how long it takes to charge of course.
Following that, Ill be doing a full review of the Parrot AR.Drone, so if you have any questions that youd like answered or anything you want me to do as I put it through its paces, post a comment on this story.
Some users on XDA-Developers are reporting that they are able to update the Samsung Galaxy S to Android 2.2 or FroYo through Samsungs KIES software.
