The second-generation mannequin boasts of an even bigger battery, a touchscreen, higher construct high quality, and RAW picture help, to call just a few options. These enhancements additionally end in a a lot increased price ticket, practically double of what the primary model offered for, however nonetheless so much lower than GoPro’s most affordable offering. We’ve been utilizing it for just a few weeks, and right here’s what we consider it.
Noise Play 2 design and options
The Noise Play 2 ships in a a lot smaller field than its predecessor did, and that’s primarily since you don’t get any of the equipment with it. Within the field, you get solely a charging cable, guide, guarantee card, and the battery. The equipment are offered individually and you may select between numerous combos on the Noise web site. We additionally obtained the ‘Accent Field’ from Noise, which sells for Rs. 2,500 and contains an assortment of add-ons reminiscent of a motorcycle mount, adhesive mounts, tripod mount, and a water-resistant housing, in a compact case.
The construct high quality of the Play 2 is improved in comparison with its predecessor. The physique continues to be made from plastic however the end and high quality are a lot better. The plastic can be stiffer so it doesn’t flex when pressed. Sadly, there nonetheless isn’t any safety for the ports so that you’ll should watch out when utilizing this machine with out the waterproof housing. We’re not anticipating an IP-rated enclosure at this worth however a easy rubber flap on the very least can be good.
The Play 2 helps microSD playing cards (as much as UHS-1 class) of as much as 128GB. There’s additionally a Micro-HDMI port and a proprietary knowledge port which the corporate describes as Mini-USB, however doesn’t work with normal Mini-USB cables. The latter is a little bit of bizarre alternative, contemplating that just about each firm now makes use of normal Micro-USB or the newer USB Sort-C.
The digital camera has solely two buttons now, for the reason that rear 2-inch show helps contact enter. The draw back to that is which you could’t work together with the menus when the digital camera is inside its housing. The buttons have good tactile response. There’s a provision for a tripod mount on the underside, which we like. You get three purple LEDs, that are positioned across the digital camera, nonetheless the one above the show isn’t very vivid and is hard to see in daylight.
The Noise Play 2 boasts of a 16-megapixel sensor with an f/2.8 aperture wide-angle lens. There’s a detachable 1200mAh battery, which is barely bigger than the one provided earlier than. The Noise Play isn’t waterproof, so that you’ll want to make use of the elective housing which helps you to take it to depths of 30m. It helps 4K video recording at as much as 30fps in NTSC mode. There’s additionally burst taking pictures, WDR (large dynamic vary) for movies, gradual movement, and the power to manually set numerous publicity parameters reminiscent of sharpness, white stability, metering, color, distinction, and so forth.
The Play 2 has in-built Wi-Fi, which helps you to sync it with a companion app that’s solely accessible for Android in the meanwhile. Nevertheless, when Wi-Fi is on, you may’t file video or work together with any of the menus, like you may with GoPros. The Android app isn’t the prettiest when it comes to design however is useful and allows you to evaluation your recorded footage, change settings, and function the Noise 2 remotely.
Noise Play 2 efficiency and battery life
The menu system is less complicated to navigate now, because of the touchscreen. Swiping downwards brings up toggles for Wi-Fi, show lock, publicity lock, stabilisation, and energy. You possibly can swap between video and picture modes by swiping from proper to left on the viewfinder. The contact response is respectable more often than not, however we did encounter some intermittent glitches when it merely refused to register enter appropriately. The touchscreen attracts fingerprints simply and washes out below daylight.
Video high quality has gotten barely higher, when in comparison with the earlier mannequin. Gentle metering continues to be a bit hit-or-miss, and vivid skies proceed to look overexposed when taking pictures in daylight. Objects which might be appropriately uncovered exhibit good colors. At 1080p 60fps, the framerate is stable and the footage seems superb. We discovered the stabilisation to work decently nicely too. Movies photographs at 4K nonetheless seem grainy, and the stabilisation introduces some ‘shimmery’ anomalies within the footage. One of many predominant causes for the poor low-light efficiency is the lens, which has a a lot narrower f/2.8 aperture in comparison with the f/2.2 aperture of the earlier model.
The extent of element is nice, supplied there’s ample pure gentle round. You get numerous resolutions to play with, starting from 4K to QHD, full-HD, and even VGA. The Noise Play 2 can shoot 120fps video at 720p. In order for you an excellent increased 240fps framerate, then you definately’ll must drop the decision to 640×480.
Faucet to see full-sized Noise Play 2 digital camera samples
Further video modes embody zooming; looping, which helps you to use the digital camera as a dash-cam in your automobile; timelapse with a alternative of various intervals; and bike mode, which merely allows stabilisation. There’s a ‘Movement Detect’ toggle that mechanically begins recording when movement is detected, which might turn out to be useful for surveillance.
The digital camera isn’t superb with nonetheless photographs. Within the take a look at photographs we took, we seen quite a lot of barrel distortion, grainy particulars, and subdued colors even when taking pictures in daylight. You possibly can change the decision and facet ratio however there’s no technique to regulate the sphere of view. Burst mode permits you to seize 10 photographs per second, which isn’t unhealthy. You possibly can even mess around with the shutter velocity to get higher low-light photographs. Talking of low gentle, the Noise 2 defaults to a slower shutter to try to seize higher particulars, attributable to which it takes a second or two earlier than every picture is definitely saved. Regardless of this, the top outcome seems noisy and there isn’t superb dynamic vary.
The Play 2 runs barely scorching, particularly when used with its waterproof housing. The 1200mAh battery managed to final for 1 hour, 51 minutes when taking pictures 4K video which is nice. The battery takes about two hours to cost totally, when utilizing a high-wattage energy adapter.
Verdict
The Noise Play 2 improves upon its predecessor in sure areas reminiscent of construct high quality and battery life. It additionally will get a touchscreen and a number of the video high quality problems with the earlier model have been addressed. Nevertheless, it additionally takes just a few steps backwards. The slender aperture isn’t of a lot use in low gentle. The choice to go along with a proprietary USB port as a substitute of Micro-USB and even Sort-C is unusual, and implies that you should be very cautious with the included cable. We’re additionally not massive followers of the uncovered ports and slot. On high of all that, the bundle can be fairly sparse now.
Regardless of this, the Noise Play 2 is priced significantly decrease than essentially the most reasonably priced GoPro with a touchscreen, which is the brand new GoPro Hero. In order for you an motion digital camera for informal use, the Noise Play II gives loads of options.
Worth (MRP): Rs. 9,999
Execs
- Improved construct high quality
- Touchscreen
- Good battery life
- Good particulars in daylight movies
Cons
- Low-quality nonetheless photographs
- Mediocre low-light efficiency
- Uncovered ports
- Proprietary USB connector
Scores (Out of 5)
- Design: 3
- Efficiency: 3.5
- Worth for cash: 3.5
- Total: 3.5