The upgraded AirSelfie 2 drone takes to the skies to snap your pictures in a compact, convenient form

Smile! You're on drone-cam

You can buy some very good drones in all kinds of shapes and sizes, but few are as compact or as useful as the AirSelfie. The makers of the miniature drone have just unveiled a follow-up model to the original Kickstarter-funded device, which they're showing off in Las Vegas at CES 2018.

The improvements over the original model are plentiful: a 12MP camera instead of a 5MP one, a boost in the field of view to 85 degrees, and a 50 percent increase in battery life – so it'll now stay in the air for more than four minutes between charges. That should be plenty of time for you to get the perfect shot.

Like the first AirSelfie, the AirSelfie 2 is controlled via a phone app, and can hover in one spot, as well as operate in a variety of different flight modes depending on how much control you want to take over the flight. The drone can also smartly return to base all by itself when it needs to, or you can simply pluck it out of the air.

You don't need to worry about running out of room for your selfie shots either, because the on-board storage has been upgraded to 16GB from 4GB. The actual size hasn't changed though, staying at 3.72 x 2.65 x 0.42 inches (that's 9.4 x 6.7 x 1.1 cm).

If you're keen on picking up the AirSelfie 2 then it's going to retail for $300 (roughly £220) when it goes on sale in March, with a newly revamped choice of colours – silver, black, gold or rose gold. If it was the silver sheen of the original AirSelfie that put you off a purchase, now might be the time to snap one of these up.

The other specs you'll want to know are a range of around 60 feet or 18 metres, a weight of just over 2 ounces or 67 grams, and compatibility with Android and iOS phones. And if you need some help on choosing the right drone for you, we've got your back.

David Nield

Dave has over 20 years' experience in the tech journalism industry, covering hardware and software across mobile, computing, smart home, home entertainment, wearables, gaming and the web – you can find his writing online, in print, and even in the occasional scientific paper, across major tech titles like T3, TechRadar, Gizmodo and Wired. Outside of work, he enjoys long walks in the countryside, skiing down mountains, watching football matches (as long as his team is winning) and keeping up with the latest movies.