Home iPhonia iPhone Accessories ,,,,, Yi Technology is certainly not new to the panorama of action cameras or connected accessories, as it is now also an expert in the field of portable gimbals. We have already tested the gimbal optimized for action cameras, while in this article we tried Yi Gimbal for smartphones, a real competitor of Osmo 2. Here's how it went.
Aesthetics and materials
First of all, the aesthetics. If you exclude the hook designed to hold the smartphone, gimbal is particularly similar to the model for action cameras, if not identical in the materials used, in the shape and keys, to the gimbal for action cameras. It is well built, absolutely firm, free from creaking: in the hand it feels like a resistant and robust gimbal. Same feeling for the arm that holds the smartphone, much more full-bodied and robust than the action camera version.
The arm offers a particularly tight grip, which holds smartphones firmly, which during shooting are perfectly seated, absolutely stable and free of any unwanted movement. The arm offers different adjustments, and it will be good to calibrate it before use, by moving the various weights present, depending on the smartphone in use.
The initial calibration operation is nothing short of fundamental. After placing your smartphone in the correct position, it will be sufficient to slightly lengthen or shorten the horizontal arm, to balance the weight of the device: when the smartphone remains almost stable in a horizontal position with the gimbal off then you will have a perfect calibration.
Made mostly of matte black plastic, it grips particularly well, offering the control stick at the top of the handle, right where you'd expect to find it, and right where your thumb goes.
Naturally, the gimbal is equipped with a bluetooth connection to interface with the various smartphones, so as to take advantage of the control keypad present in the stick to manage the various modes. A first pairing with the camera is sufficient to permanently combine the gimbal and action cam: the pairing, therefore, does not have to be carried out every time it is switched on: after the first pairing it will be sufficient, at the start of the app, to press the gimbal present in the menu for quick pairing.
Three recording modes
Like the action cam gimbal, this one for smartphones also offers three main recording modes, which are joined by other different advanced shooting topilogies, such as the tracking mode, or the panorama function which we will discuss later.
There are three main recording modes: pan, tilt and Lock. When turned on, by default the gimbal is activated in Pan mode, i.e. the camera remains locked in a horizontal position and perfectly perpendicular to the plane and the gimbal ignores all up and down movements (Tilt), while following any rotations handle left and right (Pan).
To perform a fast Pan, simply turn your wrist and follow the movement of the gimbal horizontally. Obviously, it will not be possible to perform a very fast Pan, because the movements of the gimbal are always mediated by the motors, which serve precisely to obtain a soft recovery: in short, those who need to immediately move the camera from left to right, and vice versa, will not be able to to do it.
With a single click on the small button with the letter M, you will enter Lock mode, which fixes a desired point and maintains the shot regardless of the user's movement. In this mode the gimbal will lock the camera and ignore any movement of the handle.
With a third click of the joystick, however, the gimbal will automatically switch to Tilt mode. In this case, the action camera lens will follow all the movements of the handle, which are perceived by the gimbal as a variation of the shot. It seems the most difficult mode at first, yet it is the one that probably offers the possibility of the most versatile shooting: simply move the stick to any position to make the smartphone lens turn accordingly.
Track mode
Let's now move on to the secondary modes. Secondary not least, of course. Better, then, to identify them as advanced modalities. The first is the one called track mode. To enable it, you need to open the Yi Gimbal app, pairing with your smartphone, and draw a square on the screen on the subject to follow. We tested this mode on both Android and iPhone, with good results. Of course it is necessary that the subject to be framed moves slowly: during our tests the smartphone camera followed the subject moving horizontally on foot, thus performing movements that were not particularly abrupt or fast.
Panorama mode
Lovers of panoramic photos will particularly appreciate this mode, to always be recalled using the Yi Gimbal app. By activating the panorama mode, the gimbal takes a series of photos in Pan mode, to create an ultra wide panorama photo. Also in this case the result seemed incredibly good, even if the final photo lacked detail.
Compatibility
The Gimbal Yi is compatible with all Android and iPhone smartphones from 54 to 86 mm wide, therefore also compatible with the Plus models. It is difficult to find a smartphone that is not compatible with this gimbal, if there are any. Important, we repeat, it is a perfect initial calibration, to balance the weight of the device that is housed on the gimbal. An incorrect calibration would lead to a malfunction of the gimbal, therefore shooting unstable, with the risk of forcing the motors of the gimbal itself.
Shooting quality
Obviously, the quality of the video footage depends on the smartphone that is housed on the Gimbal. In general we have noticed better results with iPhone, and in case you use an Android terminal, the advice is to prefer a top of the range. A good camera is the fundamental requirement for obtaining excellent shots with any gimbal.
And then, not being able to concentrate on the quality of the videos in the strict sense (because this depends on the camera of the smartphone in use), it is good to say a few words on the quality of the stabilization.
Yi Gimbal, from this point of view, is absolutely valid, in line with other products, even more expensive. We have already reported on the solidity of the product, with the very solid smartphone hook, which keeps it perfectly in place. This results in smooth footage, without the slightest jolt – the gimbal does what it promises. The motors always run flawlessly, keeping the smartphone as still as possible. We leave the reader to judge by proposing a video recorded using the gimbal in question. The shots were taken with an iPhone 7 and a OnePlus 5T, so that you can also appreciate the difference between a Google and an Apple terminal.
Technical notes
And now some technical features. The gimbal measures 296 x 121 x 52 millimeters, for a weight of approximately 420 grams. The possible movements are 320 degrees for the tilt, 320 degrees for the vertical roll and 360 degrees for the vertical pan.
It has an internal 850 mAh battery, which ensures excellent longevity, of about 6 hours: certainly higher than that of any smartphone in recording. On the lower part it offers a universal 1/4 ″ thread, so you can install the stabilizer on other devices and accessories, such as a bike mount, a tripod, or a car.
Application
It is probably the most criticizable part, but fortunately the one that will benefit from free updates. The pairing with the gimbal did not give us any problems, neither with iPhone nor with Android terminals. However, some small bugs are present, partly already corrected by the development team. A first update in the App Store has in fact solved the problem of the language, which was initially in Chinese: now the app is correctly localized in English.
However, we did notice some problems. on Android, for example, every time we try to export a panoramic photo the app crashes. The problem is solved by sharing the same photo from the terminal gallery. We are not sure if this bug affects all Android devices, and fragmentation of Google terminals does not help to solve these problems quickly.
To tell the truth, on the net there are many users who report disconnections between smartphones and Gimbal. We have not recognized any, at least with the two terminals we tested and mentioned above. Probably, even in this case, the fragmentation of Android terminals makes it more difficult to identify bugs that could only occur with certain device models.
The iOS app can be downloaded at this address, while the Android app can be downloaded from here.
Conclusions
Yi Gimbal for smartphones is a great buy, even if the application needs improvement. Well built, very solid and robust, it offers stabilization worthy of the best gimbals. Considering the sale price of 139 euros, it is a more than advisable purchase. It works well, lighter than other competitors, offers excellent autonomy. We put it under pressure by not paying too much attention to the movements of our arm, which were still cushioned as best as possible. It costs 139 euros on Amazon, and you can buy it directly at this address. PRO
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