New Pilot Tablet Question

pukeleeland · May 22, 2017

I just purchased a new Mavic from my local Best Buy and need to go pick it up. I also need to get a tablet for the remote while I am at Best Buy. I think I am going to stick with an Apple product and I have looked at the list of required devices on the Mavic website. Does the tablet have to have a minimum requirement of ios 9 or newer? I thought I read somewhere in my hours of research that you could have ios 8 as well. Can anyone clarify this for me? Thanks.

msinger · May 22, 2017

Yes, you must have iOS 9.0 or later.

Nervemanna · May 22, 2017

I have a similar question. I have had my Mavic for several weeks now. I have been flying with an iPhone 7 (Non Plus version). I am considering purchasing an iPad mini 4 but I have heard two conflicting rumors from the interwebs...

1) The iPad mini 5 is going to be released at any moment, and
2) Apple is discontinuing iPad minis altogether.

Does anybody have any secret knowledge about this?

pukeleeland · May 22, 2017

What about the new iPad 9.7" with A9 chip? Will that work with the Mavic?

Nervemanna · May 22, 2017

pukeleeland said:
What about the new iPad 9.7" with A9 chip? Will that work with the Mavic?

I have an older full size iPad that is too old to run DJI Go 4. I tried it in the controller for size and it just seems too big. The mini seems to be the right balance between size and functionality.

pukeleeland · May 22, 2017

The new iPad 9.7" has ios10. I believe the older iPads were roughly 12", so the new 9.7" might fit the controller better. If it doesn't fit better, I will go with the mini. The mini is $100 more though. Hopefully, Best Buy will let me take the controller out of the box and try a couple of different tablets on for size.

mike2276 · May 23, 2017

9.7" is to big, I -pad mini is the biggest you can use unless you want to use a bulky bracket of some kind like they use for the Phantom.

JoostGT3 · May 23, 2017

Nervemanna said:
I have a similar question. I have had my Mavic for several weeks now. I have been flying with an iPhone 7 (Non Plus version). I am considering purchasing an iPad mini 4 but I have heard two conflicting rumors from the interwebs...

1) The iPad mini 5 is going to be released at any moment, and
2) Apple is discontinuing iPad minis altogether.

Does anybody have any secret knowledge about this?

I heard #2. The reason being that the trend for phones is to grow so big that it doesn't make sens to have a product in between phone/phablet and full-size tablet. However, nothing is sure in this world, so don't put all your money on this.

pukeleeland · May 23, 2017

Wouldn't you be able to use the 9.7" ipad turned up-and-down (portrait) in the controller and have it fit as well as the mini turned sideways (landscape)?

WEOTN · May 23, 2017

Nervemanna said:
I have a similar question. I have had my Mavic for several weeks now. I have been flying with an iPhone 7 (Non Plus version). I am considering purchasing an iPad mini 4 but I have heard two conflicting rumors from the interwebs...

1) The iPad mini 5 is going to be released at any moment, and
2) Apple is discontinuing iPad minis altogether.

Does anybody have any secret knowledge about this?

Not a secret, but if you want it, go get it while you can. That's probably the best council that one can give.

pukeleeland · May 26, 2017

I am picking up my new Mavic tomorrow and need to get a tablet for the remote. Is anyone using the 9.7" iPad in the remote device? Everyone seems to be using the iPad mini 4. The regular iPad is 6.67" wide and the iPad mini is 8" long, so the regular iPad should fit without an adapter.

WEOTN · May 26, 2017

From what I understand, larger tablets will require a separate mount of sorts. I have a mount but just yesterday picked up a Samsung Galaxy S2 (for cheap, luckily) but haven't tried flying it yet, not certain when/if as my Mini4 is working so well (with sun shade) and has such a good rep here

The mini4's corners in landscape barely fit in the slots in the controllers mount arms. You'd have to have your 9.7" iPad in portrait mode, and I'm uncertain the Go app rotates, maybe someone else will chip in that has one. You can get a mount for less than $20 on Amazon for instance, maybe less if you use vipon.

Happy Flying!

PS - Read and reread the manual. Fly a bit and read some more. Learn it in steps, cautiously, and enjoy!

pukeleeland · May 26, 2017

That's interesting that you mention the Go app might not work in portrait mode of the iPad. I had not thought of that and I don't remember ever reading that anywhere. I guess I will wait to hear something from someone. If not, I am going with the mini 4 because I know it will work.

pukeleeland · May 26, 2017

I did a little bit more sniffing around with this issue. Come to find out, the Go app has to be used in landscape mode but there is another app (Rotation Control) that allows you to use your full sized tablet in portrait mode.