Move Over, Insta360: Dreame's Modular 8K30 AI Action Cam Launches This Month

If you've shopped for a robot vacuum in recent months, you're no doubt familiar with Dreame, which impressed us at last year's IFA show in Berlin with its stair-climbing Cyber X floor cleaner. This year, it's expanding its lineup beyond tools to keep your floors (or pool ) free of detritus—Dreame is getting into the expanding  action camera  market.

The Leaptic Cube: A Modular 8K Wearable Built to Challenge DJI and Insta360

Drame first teased the Leaptic Cube, a wearable action cam, at CES earlier this year. It's using IFA to provide more details on the Cube, which it is officially bringing to market in Germany this month, with the rest of the UK and US to follow in October.

The Cube is what I like to describe as a convertible action camera. It consists of two pieces: a tiny camera module that you can wear or mount onto a tripod, and the Cube, which includes a battery, controls, and a touch-screen display. It's a design that we've already seen from other action camera makers; you can see influences from the Insta360 Go series and DJI Nano in the Cube's design.

It may not be a true original, but the Cube's specs look competitive with established brands. The camera records video at up to 8K30 and uses an extremely wide 155-degree lens, a plus for content creators who want to shoot wide crop both widescreen and vertical frames for 4K output. Its slow-motion options look good, too; the camera records at up to 4K120 with sound, so you can slow down footage for quarter-speed playback on a 30fps timeline and speed ramp back to standard speed. It's ready for the water too, the Cube is IPX8 waterproof , so you can use it poolside and at snorkeling depths without worry.

I've not yet had a chance to try the Cube, but its specs are sound. It uses a Type 1/1.3 sensor, a size that's proven to deliver excellent video, supports HDR up to 4K60, and snaps stills up to 50MP. I'm curious to see how it compares with alternatives with similar sensors, like the DJI Osmo Action 6 , in low light. The Cube's F2.8 lens may put it behind the curve, though Dreame says that its 4nm AI processor gives nighttime cityscape footage a quality boost.

The Leaptic Cube will be sold in three configurations when it comes to the US in October. You'll be able to get it with 64GB of built-in storage for $449, 128GB for $479, or with 128GB and an accessory bundle for $579.

From Triple-Lenses to Hidden Gimbals: Dreame's Wildest IFA Concepts

The Cube looks like a solid debut, but it's not exactly exciting. Dreame is also showing off four concept cameras at IFA, and they're enough to make me raise an eyebrow. All four target vloggers with built-in gimbals, a type of physical stabilization that outdoes digital shake reduction for smooth, Steadicam-like video.

There are pretty obvious plays on the  DJI Osmo Pocket  series, the Dual-Camera Flip Screen Gimbal Camera, Triple-Camera Full-Screen Gimbal Camera, and Gimbal Cinema Camera, all of which put a camera on top of a tall, skinny handle, a design that's proven to be ideal for video. I'm sure Dreame will come up with cleverer names if any of these become real products.

These are variations on a theme, obviously, but I can see adding a third lens to a vlogging handheld as a useful upgrade—I'm hoping it's an ultra-wide—and the Cinema camera looks like it has a one large lens, which is indicative of a large image sensor, plus promises planned ProRes support.

The fourth, what Dreame is teasing as the Gimbal Mirrorless Camera, is unlike anything I've seen before. It takes the retractable gimbal concept from the Honor Robot Phone and applies it to a traditional point-and-shoot camera body. The ergonomics scream "stills-first" to me, and I love that the body design has tactile control dials and a shutter button.

Of course, there's a chance that none of these concepts will come to fruition. Dreame wouldn't be the first company to trot out some ideas at a trade show to garner attention for a new product. But I've got my fingers crossed that we'll see at least one turn into a real product, and while I think it's a long shot, I hope it's the Gimbal Mirrorless Camera.

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