Chinese drone maker DJI has launched a new update to their Phantom line of drones, the Phantom 3, that offers live streaming along with a number of other new features.

The Phantom 3 is being offered in two models, the Professional and the Advanced that are priced at $1,250 and $999 respectively.

Both drones for the first time support live streaming, with users being able to stream their drone flights live to YouTube.

The body on the Phantom 3 is said to have changed little from the Phantom 2 before it, but under the hood there’s also a range of news features to make your drone flying experience more pleasurable.

The new drone offers a downward-facing camera that is said to give it a visual positioning system, without a GPS signal, making it easier to navigate when flying indoors.

The Phantom 3’s positioning system has also added support for Russia’s GLONASS, an alternative system to GPS, giving the drone the ability to more reliably, and in practice quickly, find a satellite signal to assist it to understand its location.

For those who like their drone footage crisp and rich, the Professional model offers 4k video, while the Advanced model offers 1080p.

Is it any good?

Without having a model to test it’s hard to say indicatively that the Phantom 3 is a great drone offering, but the specs for the model will make it highly appealing to drone fans.

Battery life is also out to 24 minutes flying time, a slight improvement on the previous model, and certainly a competitive number in the consumer grade drone market.

Officially the range on the new drone is 1.2 miles, and DJI’s Lightbridge technology, previously a $1,400 add-on option with the Phantom 2, comes built in as standard, offering what the company says in an immersive, live HD view of everything below.

There’s no official date for launch, but the company has said that the Phantom 3 will start shipping in the coming weeks.