The Teal drone isn’t just any normal drone. It’s a quadcopter that can not only fly at speeds of up to 85mph, but it’s also set to have its own app store that means users can download new modes and games to play with it.
Teal as invented by 18-year-old George Matus who started building drones when he was just 11 years old.
Out of the box, the drone will have three in-built modes: follow me, that will enable it to follow you or whatever you decide to lock it onto, such as a car or another person, racing mode that means you’ll be able to put that speed to the test against other drones and basic mode, which isn’t as ‘basic’ as it sounds.
There’s a camera onboard Teal that can record video at 4k resolution, stream footage at 720p or take photos at 13-megapixels – pretty standard for photography drones at the moment.
Batteries last 10 minutes each, which isn’t surprising considering it can fly at such speeds, but they are interchangeable, so you won’t have to wait for the drone to charge before you can use it again, as long as you buy more than one whe you snap up the drne itself.
You’d think all this would come with an enormous price tag, but at just $1299 (£985), Teal could be one of the most fully-featured, impressive drones we’ve seen to date, that is affordable with a little saving.
Matus told Techcrunch he’s hoping to take on some of the more professional drones, like the DJI M600. He wants to build a developer community around his masterpiece, so anyone can build applications that he can then sell or give away on the Teal Store.
“Companies in the consumer drone space are focusing on a specific use-case,” Matus told Wired. “DJI has about 70 percent market share, and they’re focusing on aerial photography. Then there’s the Lily, the follow-me drone. A few out-of-the-box racers are good for FPV. But nothing that combines all those use cases.”
