GoPro HERO5/Karma, what do we know so far?

It’s mid 2016, IFA is just around the corner and all tech enthusiast knows that in the Q3 and Q4 of the year big things happen and get released, this year we have the LG V20, the ultrahyped Nexii 2016 Marlin/Sailfish and of course, the latest and greatest Action camera from GoPro. But this year we will also be lucky to get our hands on the first ever drone made by the world’s most versatile camera/media company.

KARMA: GoPro’s first ever drone.

In May 2015 Nicholas Woodman (CEO, GoPro) made the first official announcement regarding a GoPro Drone in Code Conference.

Ever since people have been speculating on what the drone will look like, what will it do, how much will it cost and when will it be released.

GoPro delayed the drone from first half of 2016 to second half, leaving everyone wondering what could’ve happened.

GoPro then out of the blue released a product branded trailer for the animation film “Secret Life Of Pets” . At the 0:20 mark there is a drone hovering around with a GoPro camera on the front, speculation was that it was the 3DR Solo drone, or GoPro’s own Karma drone.

Up: Karma in GoPro video, down: Server leaked drone

On June 9, an image was posted on /r/GoPro, a GoPro forum I’m very active on. The image was a low resolution product picture of a drone never seen before. The title was something along the lines of “Leaked image of GoPro Karma”. After an exchange with the user who leaked it the image was on GoPro’s website.

I instantly knew that the image was a bit more legit than the other rumors. GoPro has a history of pushing unprotected material to their servers. I remember accessing software.gopro.com and got footage from employees testing unreleased equipment such as the 3D Rig for HERO3 cameras, or a 360 video, or the still unreleased GoPro Player app, I also got a glimpse of user’s passwords when GoPro released the HERO3 and the update page released zip files with user info and kept them via unique URLs.

I tweeted the picture and got Evan Blass to Retweet it getting it to around 100 likes and 60 RTs, then the media started the hype train.

Mashable did an article regarding the image and GoPro said that the picture “was not the Karma” (meaning its not a launch asset)

CNET and TechnoBuffalo also published articles regarding the leaked image.

So, what can we tell from the picture? assuming what GoPro said in regards to it (not a final asset) and that there will be no major changes we can expect the drone to be designed for racing, meaning not bulky and with the camera attachment at the front. It should also have a gimbal and be compatible with HERO4 and HERO5 (we will get to that later).

Analyzing the Karma:

We have an image with the HERO4 in for some reference. Lets see how big is the karma drone.

I used the HERO4 in the karma picture as a reference and got a measurement of 384 mm x 140 mm(aprox), so 38.4cm by 14.0cm (15.1 x 5.5 inches)Now let’s see how big is the drone compared to other drones.

The Karma is a bit smaller than the 3DR Solo, here is how they look in front of each other:

But, not everyone knows how big a 3DR Solo drone is, I’ll compare it to me in real life:

If you are interested in purchasing the Karma, you should use these measurements to make sure the Karma fits in your backpack/case…

GoPro posted a video of GoPro Karma in action:

This is all about GoPro Karma that is somehow not a rumor until now.

GoPro HERO5: The next world’s most versatile camera

I am a camera enthusiast, I keep up to date with all the news regarding camera releases and especifically GoPro cameras. I bought my first GoPro in 2012 and I hooked in since then.

I also like to code and make apps, so I made several apps and scripts to improve the GoPro camera. These cameras have had WiFi since the WiFI BacPac came out for HERO2, but what was missing was an API for developers to chime in. Since the cameras use WiFi and HTTP GET requests to communicate with the app some people dumped the communication in between the phone and GoPro. I then got everything in one place, added the missing commands and kept everything up to date with firmware releases on this GitHub repository.

The HERO4 Session changed the streaming protocol so I did the usual which is dump traffic from my phone to the GoPro but could not find any URL or UDP protocol call to start the stream, so I went to APKMirror, got the latest GoPro APK and started to dig in, for those unaware I downloaded the GoPro App file to my computer and unzipped it to see the source code, fortunately GoPro uses obsfucation to hide part of the code but I did find something else on the raw files (these are misc. files).

The GoPro App shows you a tutorial on how to connect to your GoPro Camera if you are stuck.

The image above shows a tutorial on the GoPro App on how to connect to the HERO4 Black camera. There is a video indicating how to turn on the camera and go to Setup.

In the latest revision of the GoPro App (com.gopro.smarty, version 2.15.2659) there was a 9 second video file named “add_camera_hero5.mp4” in the same directory as the other tutorial video files. Video shown below:

Video found in GoPro APK

On August 6 (4 days after I published the video) the patent filling for the GoPro HERO5 Black was published.

What do we know about the HERO5?

NOTE: GoPro declined to comment on the video according to The Verge.

Let’s start with the basics, according to the video found in the GoPro App the HERO5 might ditch the GoPro HERO Bus, meaning that accessories such as the Battery BacPac will not be compatible with GoPro’s next camera.

The HERO5 has a built in color touchscreen just like last year’s GoPro HERO4 Silver camera, but the HERO5 features a new UI with a settings shade that pulls from the top like Android OS. The HERO5 will also feature WiFi to connect to the GoPro App, GoPro Remote and GoPro “Sniper”, last one is a third connected device that works with HERO5, I don’t know what this might be but speculation says it might be a Live Remote. Time will tell.

According to The Verge the lack of HERO bus suggest the HERO5 to be waterproof. I have no evidence to support that.

GoPro HERO5 Black on FCC:

The FCC page outlines that the HERO5 Black measures 6cm (L) x 2.4cm (W) x 4.3cm (H) aprox. and weights 118 grams. The HERO5 battery will be 1220mAh, that is 60mAh more than the HERO4 battery.