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Some YouTube channels always have buttery smooth video, even when the person is walking around. Other people struggle to keep the camera steady even when sitting still. The difference between the two lies in a device called a gimbal—a tri-axis device that tilts and pans and pitches to compensate for movement of the camera, which helps keep footage stable and relatively free of jitters.
DJI's revamped Osmo Mobile 3 brings that buttery smooth video to your phone. Slide your phone to the tension tray, activate DJI's Mimo app and you have—depending on the video quality of your phone—nearly as good of a setup as Alfred Hitchcock used.
### Improvements
As the name suggests, the Osmo Mobile 3 is DJI's third take on this gimbal and it's very much an iteration on the previous model, fixing most of the pain points while adding some nice new features to the software.
While DJI is not the first phone gimbal to feature a folding design, it's the simplest I've used. Unlike some gimbals with lots of twists and latches, this is one piece. Extend it and you're ready to go. Fold it up—even with your device still attached—and it's ready to pack away. It's by far the simplest design I've tested.
The foldable design makes the Osmo Mobile incredibly compact. If you opt for the slightly more expensive bundle ($139), the handy carrying case fits easily in a bag. The gimbal itself weighs just over 14 ounces and fits any phone between 62-88 millimeters wide. I tested it with an Motorola x4, Sony Xperia 1, and an iPhone 8, all of which fit, though I had to remove the case on the X4.
Mounting your phone has also been simplified, there's no screws, just a spring-loaded tension grip. It's feel plenty secure and it can fit larger phones than the previous model, meaning those giant Galaxy S10's should do just fine. DJI says the new mount design decreases the chances of the mount pressing your phone's hardware buttons. I never had any trouble with this, but then I didn't using the previous model either.
The attached phone also retains easy access to its charging port and headphone jack (if it has one that is). That means you could add an external microphone to your setup for improved sound quality, something vloggers will be happy to hear.
The Osmo Mobile 3 brings back the front handle trigger mechanism which the first-gen model had, but which disappeared in the Mobile 2. The trigger is back and it now controls all sorts of things—locking the gimbal, re-centering, tracking, activating "sport" mode (more on that in a minute), and switching between front an back cameras.
There are two other buttons and a joystick under your thumb. Between these and the trigger the Osmo Mobile can be operated almost entirely with one hand. While there's plenty about DJI's Mimo mobile app that requires two hands, when actually filming I almost never needed to use a second hand.
DJI claims, and my testing backs up this claim, 15-hours of battery life. More useful though than the battery life, is a new full-size USB port that can charge devices from the Osmo. In my use I was happy to sacrifice hours of gimbal time, to keep my phone going since nothing drains your phone quite like shooting 4K video for hours. It's also worth nothing that the Osmo Mobile 3 support USB-C for fast-charging on devices that support it.
My least favorite new feature is the easy of switching between vertical and horizontal orientation. All you need to do is tap the lower button twice and your phone will rotate into vertical mode. But seriously, don't do that. The world does not need more vertical-oriented video.
### Software
While the gimbal hardware is impressive, most of what I like about the Osmo Mobile comes down to software in the DJI Mimo app. The intelligent filming features like ActiveTrack, Hyperlapse and Motionlapse all make it easier to get great video results, even from a phone.
ActiveTrack in particular works incredibly well. All you have to to is tap and drag a box over the object you want to track and the app will do the rest. In my testing it handled both in situations where you lock on a fixed object and move around it, and when you lock on a moving object and the gimbal tracks it with equal ease.
I was able to track most things with ActiveTrack, the exception being my kids running and cartwheeling across the room, which was too fast for ActiveTrack. To capture that I switched to Sport Mode by pressing the trigger twice and then holding it. That speeds up the gimbal, so you can manually pan much faster, but you do lose the ActiveTrack auto-follow feature. Still, after you've developed some skill with the gimbal, Sport Mode is a huge asset. Also worth a mention is Hyperlapse mode, which can create time-lapse videos while you're in motion.
The update app adds support for gesture control, especially useful when recording yourself. The Osmo Mobile bundle includes a small tripod, which means you can step out from behind the camera and use a hand gesture to take a photo or start recording video. The gimbal will then track your movement should move around.
The app has a couple of other new features, including Story Mode, which helps you create videos quickly using pre-set shooting templates with matching music, and a panoramic photo mode which takes multiple images and stitches them in camera to create either a 180 degrees image, or 330 degree image depending on what you want.
DJI has done more to bring what was once the sole province of professionals—especially the smooth-looking video only a gimbal can provide—to the masses than perhaps any other company and it continues to do so with the Osmo Mobile 3. My only real gripe is that currently shooting at 60 fps is limited to iPhones.
Compared to other offerings in this price range though, the Osmo Mobile is more compact, easier to use, and has more features, both in hardware and software.
You can buy the [Osmo Mobile 3 for $119 from DJI](https://store.dji.com/product/osmo-mobile-3?site=brandsite&from=buy_now_bar&vid=83691){: rel=nofollow} , [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RHJ7LWH/){: rel=nofollow}, [Best Buy](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dji-osmo-mobile-3-3-axis-gimbal-stabilizer-for-mobile-phones-gray/6362960.p?skuId=6362960){: rel=nofollow}, and [B & H Photo](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1497924-REG/dji_cp_os_00000022_01_osmo_mobile_3_smartphone.html){: rel=nofollow} . If you can afford it we suggest upgrading to the [Combo bundle for $139](https://store.dji.com/product/osmo-mobile-3?site=brandsite&from=buy_now_bar&vid=83721){: rel=nofollow}, which adds a nice case and small tripod. You can also get the Combo bundle at [Best Buy](https://www.bestbuy.com/site/dji-osmo-mobile-3-combo-3-axis-gimbal-stabilizer-for-mobile-phones-gray/6362961.p?skuId=6362961){: rel=nofollow}, or [B & H Photo](https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1497925-REG/dji_cp_os_00000040_01_osmo_mobile_3_smartphone.html){: rel=nofollow}.
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