$49 Huawei Ascend XT2 aka Wunderphone = THE best Mavic screen EVER

[Wrinkle249]

Thank you again for the tip.

Got the phone and the drone yesterday. First time Flying the Mavic Pro today, fantastic of course, but the DJI Go 4 app crashed mid-flight a few times. Have only used the HUAWEI so I didn’t know if it was just a normal thing. Read above and now I guess I need to downgrade to 4.1.15? New to the whole thing...

So I need to install that just on the phone from the link above? What about the firmware on the Mavic itself? When I got out to the field I had to install new firmware because it didn’t match? Because I was tethered to my iPhone it took a bit (maybe 5 minutes I wanted to fly and it seemed like an hour) then all seemed to go ok until the app crashed. I was using the screen recorder on the phone (which seemed to record portrait even though it was landscape and lock rotation on the phone was off?) Perhaps that had something to do with it. Was able to restart app each time - wasn’t the fastest startup - but resumed just fine.

Any step-by-step help would be appreciated. Still stoked on the phone. Was like Christmas morning last night - although I didn’t start it up because of the storied I already read in this forum....

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Read above and now I guess I need to downgrade to 4.1.15? New to the whole thing...

So I need to install that just on the phone from the link above?

Yep. I haven't tried clicking the link on the phone itself; I downloaded .apk on a computer, copied to SD card, and opened it on the phone. Either way, I guess.

What about the firmware on the Mavic itself? When I got out to the field I had to install new firmware because it didn’t match? Because I was tethered to my iPhone it took a bit (maybe 5 minutes I wanted to fly and it seemed like an hour) then all seemed to go ok until the app crashed.

Never use a phone to do Mavic updates! Better to install DJI Assistant 2 on your computer, you'll need to connect and update Mavic and controller separately. If you have multiple batteries, you need to do updates with each battery installed.

I was using the screen recorder on the phone (which seemed to record portrait even though it was landscape and lock rotation on the phone was off?) Perhaps that had something to do with it.

Never a good idea to use any app/process alongside DJI Go. It's $1K at stake!

Still stoked on the phone.

Same here! It's like walking into Federal Reserve with a $50 bill, walking out with this:

The steal of the Millennium!

 

[Wrinkle249]

Ok I think I see the error of my ways. When I first did the update it took a while and now I remember after the first batt was dead it said it had to do another firmware update? That was probably for the second battery? I canceled it. I do have 3 batts and the battery hub so I can just connect the hub to the computer and use DJI Assistant 2? Sorry for the questions, I read the manual and usually just read in the forums that people updated their firmware before they went out so they didn’t get stuck waiting in the field for the update - so assumed it was all though a phone...

Thanks again for the help.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

I do have 3 batts and the battery hub so I can just connect the hub to the computer and use DJI Assistant 2?

No, battery needs to be on the Mavic, charger only charges it.

 

[Scobo]

It works with the P8 so I would think it'll work on the Ascend too.

 

[ricklaw]

i went to walmart and picked this up last night. got it all setup. i tried installing 4.1.15 from the website directly on the phone. it installed but when it first launches and tries to update or whatever, i kept getting an error that it can't connect to the dji server. tried for a few minutes. no luck. so i went and did 4.1.18 or whatever the play store version was since i heard there were updates recently that seemed to fix the issues. it installed and updated fine. then i got prompted for the quiz. which i skipped the first time. aircraft connected. hovered in my living room for :15 and then closed and restarted. skipped the quiz again. messed with some settings. took the quiz and got 100%. but it woudn't connect to the server to save my results. so i exited out. then i got an error that said the aircraft couldn't take off due to required firmware updates. i uninstalled 4.1.18 and tried 4.1.15 again. works great! i can't get the maps to show up. but that was with the aircraft disconnected. so maybe that's why. it's like the gps would never update. it was showing somehwere in chicago. i live in cleveland. ha!

but slick little (big) phone. as an ios guy for so long, i found it pretty easy to setup and navigate. no need to even google for help. threw a 64gb microsd card in there and set that as the main storage. for $49?! STEAL! i plan on flying out over lake erie tomorrow. not too far but enough to make me nervous about using this new setup instead of my un-updated iphone setup. i guess i'll roll the dice. ha!

 

[Neebles]

In case anyone has trouble at their Walmart, Jet.com also has them for 49 bucks...In fact if you buy 2, they are only 45 and change each... Just figured I would give you guys a heads up. I have ordered plenty of things from Jet and never had a problem.

Edit: free shipping for purchases over $35....

 

[s2seyecle]

Worth considering. I looked up the specs on DroidChat.com .... Walmart's specs are a little off, one of note... battery is NOT removable. Walmart online says it is. AT&T site and DroidChat show not. Yes for A-GPS & GLONASS. Sensors: Accelerometer, compass, proximity & light(?).

Huawei Ascend XT2 (2017) review and specifications - DroidChart.com

I've "lived" in both worlds iOS and Android for both work and play. While the droid-mongers deride the iOS "closed" system requirements, it's far more efficient and dependable to develop for and maintain. If that's one of your objectives or concerns you need some deep research.

 

[Wrinkle249]

No, battery needs to be on the Mavic, charger only charges it.

Ok, but why do we update the charging hub? (There were direction for that, attach the USB cable etc.) when I read the manual?

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

i tried installing 4.1.15 from the website directly on the phone. it installed but when it first launches and tries to update or whatever, i kept getting an error that it can't connect to the dji server

Same happened to me, can't download a resource file. I installed .18 from the store, launched, let it download the resource, didn't login or connect Mavic, deleted it, and reinstalled .15, and it works! I read about the same problem elsewhere, so it's not phone-specific. As usual - it's DJI's terrible QA.

 

[Brojon]

Yep. I haven't tried clicking the link on the phone itself; I downloaded .apk on a computer, copied to SD card, and opened it on the phone. Either way, I guess.


Never use a phone to do Mavic updates! Better to install DJI Assistant 2 on your computer, you'll need to connect and update Mavic and controller separately. If you have multiple batteries, you need to do updates with each battery installed.

Not with me - Assistant 2 always seemed to lock up and was much slower than doing it with remote. It was however the only way to update batteries...

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Walmart's specs are a little off, one of note... battery is NOT removable. Walmart online says it is. AT&T site and DroidChat show not. Yes for A-GPS & GLONASS. Sensors: Accelerometer, compass, proximity & light(?).

Yes, I mentioned this above. And "light" = ambient light sensor for autobrightness.

iOS "closed" system requirements, it's far more efficient and dependable to develop for and maintain. If that's one of your objectives or concerns you need some deep research

I've developed for (and used, of course) iOS for years and know what's between its sheets. Trust me, it's a lot of garbage with a pretty facade. Just like I discuss in my "Mac is polluting SD cards with hidden junk" thread. You craft some elegant code, sweat every pixel (what Steve Jobs inspired us to do) and Apple walks in with a new update and totally destroys your baby. They are so ignorant, especially to developers! It was increadibly frustrating and was one of the reasons I started looking elsewhere. When I started developing for Android, I was amazed how elegant it is. They really built it from the ground up. Well thought-out documentation. I guess a good comparison would be America/New world (maybe not so pretty, but built from scratch, with a lot of common sense, take road signs for example) vs. Europe/Old world (lots of prettiness, but lots of heritage making many things a mess, take road signs again for example). API is fantastic. I have and use and develop for all 3 platforms, and out of iOS, Android, and Windows I much prefer Android. I'm laughing at myself blindly kneeling to the Emperor a few years ago while it's so obvious now that he's totally naked.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

In case anyone has trouble at their Walmart, Jet.com also has them for 49 bucks...In fact if you buy 2, they are only 45 and change each... Just figured I would give you guys a heads up. I have ordered plenty of things from Jet and never had a problem.

Edit: free shipping for purchases over $35....

I wasted $4.90.... Walmart loses their Steal of the Millennium title!

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Ok, but why do we update the charging hub? (There were direction for that, attach the USB cable etc.) when I read the manual?

Yes, charging hub - theoretically - can be updated, there's just never been any update for it.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Not with me - Assistant 2 always seemed to lock up and was much slower than doing it with remote. It was however the only way to update batteries...

Still, I trust updating by wire more than by air. Also, computer has more resources (RAM, storage, CPU) than phone, and easier (or possible at all) to troubleshoot; with phone, something happens and there's no way to get insight.

 

[snoopdrone]

Just place the order lets see what happen i will upload video and photo later..... good looking out xtreme drone pilot

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

good looking out xtreme drone pilot

I actually found about this steal, out of all places, at macrumors:

Blown away by $49 Huawei Ascend XT2

I then went to slickdeals and found it there, and since it has a lot of comments and up-to-date info about availability, I posted the link here to slickdeals, instead of direct to walmart, so people can learn more about it. I feel lucky to stumble upon this, as I was seriously ready to plunk out $200-300 for a dedicated Android phone for Mavic.

 

[snoopdrone]

Got it!!! About to test it... had lil issue at one walmart to get it price match endup ordering online but went to another walmart got it price match so i cancel the one online

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

To all new happy owners (aka thieves ), I highly recommend downloading the full manual, it's well written and can be especially useful for those used to iOS.

http://download-c1.huawei.com/download/downloadCenter?downloadId=97222&version=408400&siteCode=us

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Got it!!! About to test it... had lil issue at one walmart to get it price match endup ordering online but went to another walmart got it price match so i cancel the one online

You can just check which store near you has it (right there, on the product page), order it online for free pickup, and pickup in several hours. Sometimes they are a bit hesitant to do price match (in this case, they probably can't believe themselves this steal).