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

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Guys who came to the game late: when the first words you read are

TL/DR: RUN to your Walmart NOW

you MUST start running to your local WM immediately, find the reason why when you arrive. Mark Black Friday 2018 on your calendar and be ready to RUN at the moments notice for XT3.

 

[royalhghnss]

I just checked WM online, they still have it for 49, with free shipping......

Did you actually try to buy it? Because if you did you'd have seen it is actually oos.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

That looks like a decent phone, good price, but then it is another 50 bucks to unlock it.

Well, we're talking here about using it as a dedicated Mavic screen, no unlock required, unless you need cellular data in the field. All other qualities of this Wunderphone as a regular phone are only a bonus.

 

[guest1023]

I liked it so much that went to Walmart again and got another one. The robbery continues. You can just walk in, it's there for $119, show them $49 on walmart.com, done!

I have one set up with Go 4.1.15, it will be permanently offline ("if it ain't broken, don't fix it"). The other one will be experimental - will always have the latest Go 4 to monitor "the state of the union". With this setup, I can guarantee that I can always fly and a botched app update won't ground me or tar the flying experience; at the same time, I can always see what's new in the latest app.

My aging Note 4 (paid ~$900) looks like a dinosaur compared to this slick $50 phone!

By the way, to all "iOS guys" - don't be shy and intimidated by trying a different OS. It doesn't bite. You don't have to commit all of your digital life to it; stay where you are and try small things; use a cheap phone like this to do some dedicated tasks, such as car navigation, or just web browsing, or media playback, or Mavic flying, etc. You can setup this phone without SIM and even without Google account, and it won't nag you (you can install apps by downloading .apk files, if you prefer). The hysteria instilled by these monsters (Apple/Google) that you have to "switch", make a big committing step, is designed to keep people FEARING "the other side", to keep them in their cancerous cobwebs they call "ecosystems". Trying a different thing can be the very best thing that can happen to you.

I've been a rabid Apple fanboi from 2007 to approx. 2013. Now I'm happily "polygamous" - use iOS, Android, and Windows freely as I see fit. iPhone, iPad, Macbook Pro, Android phones and a tablet, Android Wear, Microsoft Surface Pro, Windows Phone - I have them all and use them all, and don't give a flying **** about any prison "ecosystem". After all, all devices are pretty much the same - screen, touch, keyboard, connectivity, multimedia - it's all pretty much the same! If you can play a piano, you can play any one of them.

Variety and not being afraid to try new things are essentials of life. You WILL be surprised that the emperor in new clothes you've been worshiping for years is so disgustingly naked!

I ordered one to be delivered- free delivery and it saves me the horror of Walmart. So, don't install the sim card? It'd be nice to have something dedicated to one sole purpose.

 

[Terry G]

I don’t even get my Mavic until tomorrow but this screen size is the same as my iPhone 6s Plus so I just bought one as well. Told my wife I was getting a burner for the Mavic and she asked if I was planning on “doing some illegal ****”. I said maybe... Freeing up my phone sounded like a no brainer for $50.

Thanks for the tip!

2000 feet? Arent we supposed to stay under 400 feet? Kind of makes me wonder why drones get so much bad press :>(

Just did a quick preliminary flight test - went up 2000ft and down, and a few quick runs at 45mph low to the ground to tax video feed bandwidth. IT WORKS LIKE A CHAMP!!! No lag, no app crash, this 8-core puppy eats DJI Go for lunch! It was just after sunset, getting dark, so didn't take any video to see if video caching would put more stress on the phone, but so far the result is very promising. Will test more tomorrow.

Un-believable. $49. You can buy two of these (one dedicated to Mavic, one as a regular smartphone) AND Mavic Pro for the price of the CHEAPEST iPhone X. Or TWENTY of these, instead of one with a piece of screen missing.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Guys remember also that WM website, like any big site, is load balanced, i.e. served by many web servers; you may load the page and it says in stock, because the real time info hasn't reached that server, even though it's oos. Also, your browser does caching. You can try to append the URL with some random parameter, like so: &blahblahblah (if url already has & in it; if not, use ? instead). This will force the browser to load page afresh.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

So, don't install the sim card? It'd be nice to have something dedicated to one sole purpose.

Yep, remove it before you even turn it on. Skip att setup when it prompts. Done.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

2000 feet? Arent we supposed to stay under 400 feet? Kind of makes me wonder why drones get so much bad press :>(

Mavic RC height display not going past 1000' feet

 

[Neebles]

Did you actually try to buy it? Because if you did you'd have seen it is actually oos.

I didn’t actually click the confirm purchase but it let me get all the way through the check out...

 

[hsetty]

Ascend phone showing out of stock at Walmart. Tried refreshing, different device, same outcome. Will wait for next shipment. Anybody know how many nits for the screen brightness?

 

[shimonunit]

No idea. Read slickdeals comments. Also, xda-dev forums.

Bought 2, 1 for Mavic and one for when I go to Morocco. They can be unlocked...

UnlockLocks.COM - UNLOCK YOUR PHONE, FEEL THE FREEDOM.

Thank you again for the pointer. I'm as Newbie as one gets, but I love this ****

 

[Neebles]

Ascend phone showing out of stock at Walmart. Tried refreshing, different device, same outcome. Will wait for next shipment. Anybody know how many nits for the screen brightness?

Yep, mine is finally showing out of stock. Should have snatched it up when I had the chance.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Ascend phone showing out of stock at Walmart. Tried refreshing, different device, same outcome. Will wait for next shipment. Anybody know how many nits for the screen brightness?

Don't know, but it's easily visible in direct sun, see my post above with photo comparing to mini 2.

 

[hoggdoc]

TL/DR: RUN to your Walmart NOW, thank me later. This $49 phone is not only slick, well built, has huge battery, has 8 cores, no lag, bright and crisp large screen, SD card tray, headphone jack, FM radio, Android 7.0, decent camera, and much more - it works with Mavic amazingly well.


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Just ordered Huawei Ascend XT2 from Walmart for $49 (regular $119):

16GB Huawei Ascend XT2 AT&T Prepaid Smartphone (Silver) $49 + Free S/H

Will pickup tomorrow. Anyone uses it for flying Mavic? Is it adequate?

I normally use iPad mini 2, but was looking for a dedicated smaller device, especially for hiking with Mavic; also, I'm flying with Goggles most of the time, so bigger screen size is not important.

People seem to be impressed with it (even at $119 price), so I simply impulse-ordered it thinking this deal may vanish fast. Will report back in a day or two!

Only problem it Android and this OS it not always known to work well with the DJI software.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Only problem it Android and this OS it not always known to work well with the DJI software.

What is known in general does not matter when you're actually holding this phone in your hands and it works perfectly with Mavic. For me, Android (either this phone or Note 4) works better with Mavic than iPad, which sometimes disconnects from RC when I press home button (accidentally or not) and come back.

 

[netfolks2000]

I just tried two 7 inch tablets my son brought over and neither worked. One couldn't even open DJI Go 4. The other was too dim. My Samsung Galaxy J7 phone is working pretty well but tell me, please, is this Huawei Ascend XT2 from Walmart you all are chatting about better? Do you think it is brighter than most phones ????

 

[Dougcjohn]

On Jet.com again... just ordered 2 for $92... had small discount for 2.
Received email verifying order and no notice of out of stock. Give an Est Delivery of Dec 7th.

 

[wytnyt]

On Jet.com again... just ordered 2 for $92... had small discount for 2.
Received email verifying order and no notice of out of stock.

ordered mine at walmart last night,no cancellation yet,fingers crossed.

 

[BrianTvegas]

I just tried two 7 inch tablets my son brought over and neither worked. One couldn't even open DJI Go 4. The other was too dim. My Samsung Galaxy J7 phone is working pretty well but tell me, please, is this Huawei Ascend XT2 from Walmart you all are chatting about better? Do you think it is brighter than most phones ????

I used the iPhone X. The new OLED screen is bright as hell. Better then using my Older IPad.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

I just tried two 7 inch tablets my son brought over and neither worked. One couldn't even open DJI Go 4. The other was too dim. My Samsung Galaxy J7 phone is working pretty well but tell me, please, is this Huawei Ascend XT2 from Walmart you all are chatting about better? Do you think it is brighter than most phones ????

It's brighter than my Note 4 and iPad mini 2 in the sun, see photo above.