Smartphone stabilizers are more pocketable alternatives to tripods, but one company is taking pocketable to the extreme. The Fancy Stabilizer is an electronic smartphone gimbal but it actually takes up less space than that smartphone.
The Fancy Stabilizer comes from Wewow, a China-based company with five gimbals currently on the market ranging from GoPro to DSLR stabilizers. Launching on Indiegogo on Friday, the Fancy Stabilizer is the smallest and lightest smartphone gimbal on the market, according to Wewow.
When not in use, Fancy is just 1.7 inches wide, about 4.4 inches tall and less than an inch thick. That compact body still holds an electronic stabilization system and an adjustable phone clip that pulls out to adapt to any smartphone, Wewow says. The Fancy weighs in at just over six ounces. While the body of the stabilizer can be used handheld, a standard tripod screw allows the stabilizer to be used with a selfie stick for a better grip.
Fancy also includes a built-in LED to add light to the shots, though that is positioned underneath the smartphone on the front of the gimbal and not above the lens like a traditional camera flash.
The built-in battery can power the stabilization for up to eight hours, or charge your smartphone in a pinch.
Wewow aims to help Fancy live up to its name in style too — the stabilizer comes in five different colors with a metallic finish. For the selfie lovers, there is a small mirror on the back.
Wewow says the stabilizer is fully developed and tested, with the crowdfunding campaign raising the manufacturing costs. The company aims to raise $5,000 and is already nearly a third of the way there. If the Indiegogo campaign and manufacturing process is successful, the earliest backers can pick up the Fancy Stabilizer for $89. The company expects the retail price to sit at $128.