DJI slims down and simplifies its smartphone gimbal

As we noted last month, DJI's camera stabilizer line began life as an offshoot of the company's drone offerings. Since then, however, it's grown into a pretty massive portfolio in its own right, spanning from SLR to standalone pocket offerings.

For obvious reasons, the Osmo Mobile has been one of the more popular models. Designed for smartphone users, the product is among the most accessible DJI offerings, with out of the box operation for both iOS and Android users.

The company says it "went back to the drawing board" for the latest version of the handheld gimbal, but the Osmo Mobile 3 is really more of an evolution. The company took some customer feedback to heart and provided a handful of key changes. The new device is smaller and foldable, so users can much more easily toss it in a backpack. A DJI rep I spoke with suggested that it might fit in a pocket, but that's a bit ambitious.

The other big piece of the puzzle is that DJI has made it a lot easier to operate the system with one hand. Most of the functions are executed using the back trigger or a combination of the front thumb buttons. There's a new Quick Roll feature, which switches between landscape and portrait with the click of a button, while triple-clicking the trigger flips it into selfie mode. The trigger is also used to recenter the camera or lock into place.

There's a bunch of software features borrowed from the company's drones and the higher-end Ronin line, including Story Mode, Gesture Control, ActiveTrack, TimeLapse and HyperLapse. I didn't really get much hands-on time with those, but we'll be getting a review unit into the hands of our video team soon.

All in all, it looks like a nice little update. It's also a bit cheaper, starting at $119 for the standard version and $139 for a bundle that includes a tripod. The Osmo Mobile 3 is available starting today.