At some point our society moved from one that revered objects billed as the world's largest and became obsessed with tiny things. I blame Steve Jobs for this. So it's no surprise that Axis Drones has brought the Aerius to market—a $35 quadcopter the company claims is the smallest in the world. It's about the size of a quarter, which easily makes it the smallest aircraft I've seen. It's a fun toy—certainly safer and less expensive than buying a real drone—and at this price it's an easy recommendation for anyone who wants to give it a try.

Design and Use
The Aerius itself is small—that's its selling point. The remote control that you use to fly it is larger, but can still fit into a pocket, and doubles as a storage case for the quadcopter. The aircraft itself has an internal battery that's charged via an included USB cable, while the remote uses two AAA batteries. Don't mistake this for a drone—there's no GPS or automated flight capability, so it doesn't qualify as one.

There's a small power switch on the Aerius; you'll know it's on when you see its bright blue and red LED lights glow—they also blink rapidly when the battery gets low. Don't lose the charging cable, as the connection to charge the quadcopter is proprietary. The Aerius is available in black, blue, green, or orange.

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The controller is meant to emulate remotes that you'll find paired with serious drones like the DJI Phantom 3 Professional. But gamers are going to see it as a scaled-down PS4 or Xbox One controller. It's white with orange control sticks and buttons. The left stick controls altitude and yaw—the left-right yaw control snaps back to the center when not held in a direction, but the up/down control that powers the motors to adjust altitude remains in the position you've set it. The right stick moves the drone forward, backward, left, and right.

Flying is fairly intuitive in theory, but tricky in practice. I found it tough to keep the Aerius hovering in place. It would either fall to the ground or hit the ceiling, thankfully to no ill effect in either case. The stated battery life is five to seven minutes (with 15 minutes required for a full recharge). I got about 15 minutes of use out of it in a typical session, but a good portion of that time was spent crawling behind furniture while the engines were turned off.

Outdoor flight on a calm day gives you a bit more freedom to fly, but it's best to stay inside on windy days. There are two d-pads—the one below the right stick helps to correct for drift if the Aerius is pulling in one direction. The left one doesn't seem to do anything at all. You can perform some tricks as well. Pressing the left stick in switches to a special mode that allows you to flip or roll the copter using the right stick. But don't try to do this in a tight space. 

I banged into walls, ceilings, floors, and shelves while playing with the Aerius, with no harm done. If you do break a propeller, know that a full set of spares is included. That said, I almost lost the Aerius a few times in a small apartment—thankfully its bright lights led me to it when it fell behind my TV. If you're flying outdoors on a bright day the lights won't do you much good, so be prepared to scour your lawn if you lose track of the aircraft after a crash.

Conclusions
The Axis Drones Aerius is an entertaining toy. It should appeal to drone enthusiasts, as well as aspiring pilots who don't have any intention of spending a thousand dollars on a more serious quadcopter. For $35, this is a no-brainer purchase if you're looking for a tiny remote control aircraft. Just be prepared to get down on your hands and knees and move some furniture to retrieve it from hard-to-reach places.