Insta360 announces Flow gimbal

Insta360 has announced a brand new pocket size 3-axis smart gimbal for your phone with a few clever tricks.

The Insta360 Flow is a new gimbal designed for use with smartphones, and it has some clever tricks up its sleeve (literally). With a lot of phones now containing excellent built-in stabilisation, you may question why a gimbal is even needed now. But, the Insta360 Flow offers more than just basic stabilisation.

Let's begin with the size. It will fit easily into a coat or jacket pocket when folded up into its transport configuration. Unfold it and it will automatically turn on and you have the usual follow, pan follow, and FPV modes, as well as an auto mode. The Flow can be operated in landscape or portrait orientations, or in forward facing and selfie modes.

Full Bluetooth control is offered, so you don't need to touch the phone screen to begin recording or to switch shooting modes such as between video and photo. The Insta360 app can be used to access smart functionality. Drag your fingers over any object, person, or animal, and the app will control the gimbal to keep it in frame no matter where you position the device. There are also different picture profiles, such as film emulation and to enhance portraits etc.

The Insta360 Flow features a built in selfie stick. Image: Insta360.

Clever design

But, it's the clever design of the gimbal that sets it apart from the competition. The gimbal stage is attached to a concealed selfie stick, so the whole assembly can be extended outwards to gain more distance between the camera and, for example, a selfie subject. The angle of the handle can be adjusted for maximum comfort, and the base of the handle itself also extends to give more area to grip onto. Hidden within the base of the handle is a mini tripod that can be used to stand the gimbal on a surface. For Vloggers this could be a very useful function to have, because if you combine this with smart tracking it is perfectly viable to present to camera while the device keeps you perfectly in frame. Deep Track 3.0 has been designed to cope even if the subject moves out of frame briefly.

Compact enough to put in a pocket. Image: Insta360.

This tripod is also useful for other functionality contained within the Insta360 app. Users can set a beginning and end point to create Timelapse's with camera motion, as well as panoramic and 360 photos. Hyperlapses can also be created easily within the app.

The built in 2900 mAh battery is designed to last up to 12 hours, but can also be used to charge your phone on the go. There's a built in cold shoe, so microphones can be attached to the device without the need for extra rigging, and a clip on USB powered video light is also provided in the package.

A magnetic clamp attaches to the phone, allowing fast removal of it from the gimbal. Image: Insta360.

Other smart features include a hands off record stop/start. This can be activated by simply holding your palm up to the camera for a couple of seconds, and the app will give you a countdown before filming begins. Hold your palm up to the camera again and the device will stop recording. A specialised basket ball mode will automatically track the ball and hoop, and then save a highlight clip when a point is scored. Niche, yes, but also very clever.

We've been putting the Flow through its paces, so look out for our review dropping soon. The Flow is available now for $159.99.