You might remember Lily camera drone if you helped fund the promising-looking project and never received the drone in your hand. You might know how the company Lily Robotics received around 60,000 pre-orders – generating them a huge pre-sale revenue of $34 million. The company – which started in the basement of a Berkeley robotics lab, however, failed to deliver a single drone.
The Lily drone project which was presumed dead since 2015 and officially canceled in January 2017, appears to be back. Well, kind of.
Facing a lawsuit and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in March, the company sold its branding rights to Mota Group for $300,000. Now Mota Group is relaunching the Lily project and is calling it Lily Next-Gen.
The company says that Lily Next-Gen is based on the same principals original Lily was based on: Simplicity, Function, and Making a Difference.
The new Lily Next-Gen drone looks similar to the original with a cute black and chrome finish and a smiling face around the camera. What’s missing, however, is the ability to launch the drone by tossing it in the air. The drone isn’t waterproof and the wrist mounted controller is also missing.
Mota’s new Lily drone carries features like 4K video and one-button takeoff. Other features include a 13MP camera instead of a 12MP camera in the original. A comparison on their website also shows features like Smart Hower, Geo Fencing, quick charge to name a few – which the original Lily lacked.
With a regular price tag of $799 and a $300 discount for early buyers, Lily Next-Gen is still priced higher than other drones like DJI Spark.
Lily Next-Gen camera drone can be pre-ordered from the newly re-launched Lily website and it will ship within 30 days.
With thousands of unsatisfied customers – most of them who are yet to receive their Lily camera drone refund – the Lily brand doesn’t hold much credibility. Time will tell whether Mota Group is able to benefit from the Lily brand name.
Also read: How to Claim Your Lily Camera Drone Refund
