Tech Transformers

DJI Osmo Mobile: An 'ultimate' selfie stick for $299

DJI's Osmo Mobile can track moving objects to ensure a smooth shot. The Chinese drone maker showed this off with a dancer during a demo at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin.
Arjun Kharpal

Chinese drone-maker DJI has launched what could be the ultimate selfie stick.

The Osmo Mobile is a handheld device that users clip on to their smartphones. Using the company's DJI Go app, users can then carry out quite complex camera functions.

One feature is "active track" which allows a user to select a moving object and the device will automatically move to make sure that the point selected is always in focus, allowing smooth panning and other camera movements.

In a demo at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, DJI showed how the camera could track a dancer.

Arjun Kharpal

The selfie stick has a number of buttons and functions including a joystick that moves the arm that holds the smartphone, a "trigger" which allows you to stop Osmo Mobile from moving, and the ability to switch to selfie mode.

Active track also works when the smartphone is in front camera mode, so if you put the Osmo Mobile on a surface and begin moving around, it will track you.

Thanks to the advances in smartphone camera technology, DJI's product can also allow for time lapse functionality and long exposures, so you can capture the lights of a moving car.

DJI's Osmo Mobile also features support for livestreaming on Chinese social network Weibo and Google's YouTube.

But with a price tag of $299, DJI said bloggers, journalist and hobbyists are the target market.

The Osmo Mobile follows DJI's original Osmo, which had a similar arm but with a camera built in, rather than using a smartphone. DJI's Osmo Mobile is on sale from Thursday and is expected to ship in the next two weeks.

Clarification: The price of the Osmo Mobile has been updated following clarification from the company.