When the GoPro hit the scene many moons ago, it made a huge splash quickly becoming synonymous with the connected sports movement. It was everywhere: billboards, commercials, movies — everyone either had one or wanted one. But that massive excitement growth trailed off. And while the brand and its products are still popular, they face some stiff competition with arguably better ideas.
The Frodo is a wrist-worn smart adventure camera that intelligently edits videos using one of five styles: Genius, Action, Calm, People, and 15 Second (for Instagram, of course.) The product’s aim is to help people enjoy their adventures versus being stuck editing a bunch of videos they don’t really want to and with full HD resolution, a boot-to-shoot speed of 0.7 seconds, video stabilization, and a modular design for extra battery packs,
Frodo is versatile. Unlike the GoPro, clunky mounts aren’t necessary, either, as the strap it uses to stay on your wrist can be used to secure it to a tree, a paddle, a forehead — pretty much whatever it can wrap around. A companion iOS/Android app allows users control over its intelligent editing functions along with the option to live stream and autosync photos to albums.
Each Frodo can record for about 1.5 hours — a little less than most GoPros — and is offered in 16, 32, and 64GB varieties. The 32GB Frodo goes for $199 and is expected to ship in November 2016. The Indiegogo campaign is looking for $50,000 by May 7th, 2016 to see success.
The team behind Frodo is on a grand adventure of their own, and going up against a company as entrenched as GoPro is almost like venturing into Mordor itself. Despite the challenge, the Frodo’s specs, inclusion of rugged materials, and activity tracker (of which no details are given) may convince some that it’s precious.