Skip to main content

You can now raise your arm to start and stop recording video on DJI's Spark drone

You can now raise your arm to start and stop recording video on DJI's Spark drone

Share this story

Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge

DJI's Spark drone is designed to fit in the palm of a user's hand, and it can be controlled by gestures. You can maneuver the drone in any direction, call it home by making a big Y above your head, or have it follow you at a distance. Now, the drone is getting additional functionality. DJI is issuing a software update today that'll let users start and stop recording video by raising their arm out to the side at a 45-degree angle to the ground.

The China-based company is also expanding what users can do with QuickShot, which lets users perform popular drone tricks quickly while recording. Users can now control which direction the drone flies in its Circle and Helix QuickShot modes. DJI also included a new 180-mode in this update, which stitches 21 photos together to create a 180-degree panoramic image. The photo resolution in ActiveTrack and Gesture Modes has improved, too, and can now capture images at a 12-megapixel resolution of 3968 x 2976 pixels.

These are small updates that show DJI isn't forgetting about its new gesture control technology. Although, at a certain point, it might be hard to remember all these movements you can make, so I assume there's a limit to how much DJI can update its gestures without overwhelming users.