The HERO5 touts new EIS software that helps reduce the small jitter or shake you’re used to seeing from typical GoPro footage. Basically the camera knows where it is in space at all times while you’re recording. It’ll use those tiny location changes to warp, rotate, and reposition the footage to keep a steady horizon. You will lose about 10% of field of view from the wide setting (because it needs to rotate/slide the image around), which is actually pretty minimal compared to other action cameras out there. GoPro optimized the amount of shake it would reduce vs the loss in field of view. If you switch into the medium FOV, combined with EIS, you’ll see a considerable improvement in the stabilization effects since it has that much more FOV to rotate/crop/adjust the original image.
I’d like a Hero 5 and if I order a drone, it’ll be GoPro’s and the Hero5 + Gimbal will come with it. The iPhone 7 has optical image stabilization. My TomTom bandit is more ergonomic on my motorcycle helmet and has a longer battery life as well as being water proof out of the box.
I think the Hero 5 is a generation I’ll skip. I don’t see any advantages this go around over my Hero 4 black that are compelling enough.