Alternative to Android.. Ipad mini 2 or mini 4 or phone?

theskyisthelimit99 · May 21, 2017

I have a samsung s7 edge.. i technically havent started using it with my mavic yet, because I keep reading about the DJI Go 4 app and its issues with crashing (and potentially crashing or losing mavics?).. not sure on that second part.. and that an apple platform is a safer bet for now (unless Litchi on android is ok, which i also downloaded, unsure on the differences between litchi and the dji go 4)

So i read on here and it sounds like the alternatives are the mini 2 or 4.. (i'm seeking the cheapest but best option)..

The issue i have is that i dont really intend to add another phone line to my (metro pcs) mobile plan.. i've read that you should get a cellular / wifi based model (i assumed this implied with a phone plan?)..

I'm thinking an iphone would be more expensive than an ipad..

Any thoughts on any of this?

Thanks in advance

CrowsFeet · May 21, 2017

I've just flown my 6th flight on my Galaxy S7, and hated it. First flights were OK, except when the app force closed. But I restarted the app and the rest of the flight (home) was uneventful. But I was packing it! Today, I flew my furthest away.. 1.3kms... (I know, not a world record, but it was huge for me), and on my 2ns flight of the day, decided to record some footage. App started stuttering... and then become un-responsive... Video was showing still, but I couldn't click any buttons. Mavic behaved... but app was stuck on a very stuttery video recording. Stop button, didn't work. Nothing. So, landed, and unplugged my phone... but still nothing.. it was real bad.

So, I'm in the same boat as you. Time to get an Apple (yuk, but ... this kind of against my religion, but plays well into the Apple fan friends of mine's plans) Air or something that will give me good use for my Mavic, but that's all the IPad will eb used for. So, which one, and a cheap deal...

theskyisthelimit99 · May 21, 2017

CrowsFeet said:
I've just flown my 6th flight on my Galaxy S7, and hated it. First flights were OK, except when the app force closed. But I restarted the app and the rest of the flight (home) was uneventful. But I was packing it! Today, I flew my furthest away.. 1.3kms... (I know, not a world record, but it was huge for me), and on my 2ns flight of the day, decided to record some footage. App started stuttering... and then become un-responsive... Video was showing still, but I couldn't click any buttons. Mavic behaved... but app was stuck on a very stuttery video recording. Stop button, didn't work. Nothing. So, landed, and unplugged my phone... but still nothing.. it was real bad.

So, I'm in the same boat as you. Time to get an Apple (yuk, but ... this kind of against my religion, but plays well into the Apple fan friends of mine's plans) Air or something that will give me good use for my Mavic, but that's all the IPad will eb used for. So, which one, and a cheap deal...

Good info..but im curious.. did you do like some suggested on here.. turn off cache locally in the RC menu, use airplane mode? And it was mentioned to not do any photos from the photo button, i assume in these cases you hadnt (which is silly, we have the feature but cant use it because of crashing apps, unreal).

CrowsFeet · May 21, 2017

Oh hell. Nope. I just plug in a fly. I'm a novice to the Mavic. I'll read up a bit. Losing the photo button would suck a bit.

I'll go read up on tips a tricks.

Thanks.

javester · May 21, 2017

I have a dedicated 64gb Mini 2 with unactivated cellular (so I get GPS) and it's rock solid. I pair it with my phone's personal hotspot to get maps on the road and I've yet to have a crash mid flight.

You can get away with less memory and try to look for certified refurbs in Apple store. I'm a long time Apple user (since Steve Jobs returned late 90s) and buy most of my gear refurbished straight from Apple.

Same warranty, good as new, have yet to get a lemon after all these years...

Refurbished iPad

pogopilot · May 21, 2017

I used both my Samsung s7 and then bought the larger Nvidia shield. Both crashed on a regular basis especially after the nougat upgrade. Finally bought a used iPad min 4 and I love it! It is flawless, great image, and it seems that the app in iOS is richer and has a much better feel

flemmodk · May 21, 2017

pogopilot said:
I used both my Samsung s7 and then bought the larger Nvidia shield. Both crashed on a regular basis especially after the nougat upgrade. Finally bought a used iPad min 4 and I love it! It is flawless, great image, and it seems that the app in iOS is richer and has a much better feel

Did exactly the same thing. Tried with the Shield and since I'm a android fanboy really like the shield K1. But gave up on it even after downgrading it to 6.0, so bought a mini 4 16gb wifi only and it just works..

Nomand Eloc · May 21, 2017

I use the S7 edge on Nougat and it works for me. I do make sure the USB cable is inserted all the way in first. I do turn off wifi and close all other apps before l connect to the RC. I let the DJI 4 app launch on its own when I connect my phone. I don't put my phone in airplane mode and I have even been talking on my phone while flying. I think most people that have problems with android should look at the USB cable and make sure it's in all the way.

Shacky · May 21, 2017

I'm tend to use Apple products. I bought a mini iPad 4 just for using with the Mavic. It fits in the controller quite well and has a great bright screen. The 4 has lots of processor power, too. So, you can't go wrong with one of these.

theskyisthelimit99 · May 21, 2017

Curious, do most that fly the mavic also do local recording in case the drone is lost.. ie: on the ipad mini or s7.. and if so.. are you just using a screen capture software and how much space does that consume per hour (to gauge which ipad or iphone is best if i get one just in case).. i may try my s7 for awhile and see how it goes.. but if i run into issues, the debate is boiling down i think to ipad mini 2 vs iphone 6 (not 6plus) (both possibly used as a burner phone should my s7 need repaired like it did once)..

Can you record the local session on an apple product, ie: screen capture? Then again, unsure how useful this would be given a flyaway or crash etc.

BerndM · May 21, 2017

I started with a Samsung Galaxy S7 and it works fine even with the latest Nougat undate. No issues whatsoever with app crashes. However I wanted a bigger screen so I bought a 32gb iPad Mini 2(wifi only) and it is also glitch free running iOS 10.2
It is a snug fit but it clamps very securely into the controller's arms.

JoostGT3 · May 21, 2017

Long time android user, tried with my nexus 5x, had the app freeze almost every flight. Used the nexus 7 2013 for a bit, same issue. Bought an iPad mini 4 128gb wifi, never had any issues ever since. I went for the 128 as you can never have enough storage

Cellular model sold out at the time that I wanted to get it.
@theskyisthelimit99; you can buy the wifi + cellular model since that model has gps if you want that, but you dont need to activate the cellular function.

theskyisthelimit99 · May 21, 2017

JoostGT3 said:
Long time android user, tried with my nexus 5x, had the app freeze almost every flight. Used the nexus 7 2013 for a bit, same issue. Bought an iPad mini 4 128gb wifi, never had any issues ever since. I went for the 128 as you can never have enough storage Cellular model sold out at the time that I wanted to get it.
@theskyisthelimit99; you can buy the wifi + cellular model since that model has gps if you want that, but you dont need to activate the cellular function.

So i take it the wifi only model doesnt have the gps.. thats true i guess i can leave it unactivated. Does apple allow some sort of screen capture software to have a local ipad copy of the flight going at the same time?

JoostGT3 · May 22, 2017

theskyisthelimit99 said:
So i take it the wifi only model doesnt have the gps.. thats true i guess i can leave it unactivated.

True

Does apple allow some sort of screen capture software to have a local ipad copy of the flight going at the same time?

If you check the option to cache video locally, then the ipad still has the data in memory. You can not directly access it in the filmroll, but you can see it when you open the dji go app and instead of going to the mavic, you click the edit button in the opening screen... There you can directly review the locally cached foto's and videos.

theskyisthelimit99 · May 22, 2017

JoostGT3 said:
True

If you check the option to cache video locally, then the ipad still has the data in memory. You can not directly access it in the filmroll, but you can see it when you open the dji go app and instead of going to the mavic, you click the edit button in the opening screen... There you can directly review the locally cached foto's and videos.

So i take it that with this local cache, you would be storing the same amount of data that the quads sd would be recording, or is it compressed.. ie: on the quad for 4k, i think its something like 26GB for 1 hour.. so would the same be true for the locally cached version?

Wouldnt it be easier to do a local screen capture (video) and save that.. or does apple restrict this, unlike android?

Trying to decide on which size ipad to go with for minimal dvr localized recording, ie: 16, 32.. i think the 32 with at&t runs at least 250 used, not finding many for tmobile (i'm on metro) or unlocked, or sure how hard it would be to 'unlock' for gsm.

JoostGT3 · May 22, 2017

The quality in cache is lower than the stuff stored on the mavic's SD card.
For functionality alone, a 16gb ipad mini would suffice. When i bought mine, I could only choose between 64 and 128 gb, with the 128 being 30/50 euros more expensive, so I went for the 128.

theskyisthelimit99 · May 22, 2017

JoostGT3 said:
The quality in cache is lower than the stuff stored on the mavic's SD card.
For functionality alone, a 16gb ipad mini would suffice. When i bought mine, I could only choose between 64 and 128 gb, with the 128 being 30/50 euros more expensive, so I went for the 128.

Ah i see ok, makes sense..

Can you screen cast/mirror from the ipad 2 mini very easily like you can with an android.. ie: to other local devices/tvs nearby to cast the flight? Or maybe just via the dji 4 go software?

theskyisthelimit99 · May 22, 2017

theskyisthelimit99 said:
Ah i see ok, makes sense..

Can you screen cast/mirror from the ipad 2 mini very easily like you can with an android.. ie: to other local devices/tvs nearby to cast the flight? Or maybe just via the dji 4 go software?

Also.. does the ipad mini 2 fit in the controller with a protective case still on it.. i'm assuming not? Also.. i read the mini 2 may have half second lag.. is this true.. another reason to maybe go for iphone 6 plus or ipad mini 4? I may have found a good bargain on a used ipad mini 4 16gb at any rate.. $250ish.. i think i may go that route to be safe, though the usable space is only 11gb.

Nikon1 · May 22, 2017

I started out with an iPhone 7 Plus in a slim case - but even that silicone case was too big to fit the Mavic RC arms. I bit the bullet and bought an iPad 4 GSM / WiFi model before Apple discontinues it. I've never put a SIM card in the iPad to activate it, but even without that, I still fly the Mavic and get all the benefits of having a GSM chip in it to use the maps / GPS locating features it supports.

It fits the Mavic RC perfectly and gives me great screen size and all the details of what my Mavic is doing. I've never had a problem with disconnects as I use the full size USB connector in the middle of the RC and use a 6" high quality USB To Lightning Cable.

The iPad mini 4 has plenty of processing power to handle the video processing that the Mavic passes down to it and it's not laggy or distorted in the least.

The only thing that would make me give up on the iPad mini 4 is the top of the line CrystalSky Monitor that DJI keeps teasing us with.

newnan3 · May 22, 2017

Nikon1 said:
I started out with an iPhone 7 Plus in a slim case - but even that silicone case was too big to fit the Mavic RC arms. I bit the bullet and bought an iPad 4 GSM / WiFi model before Apple discontinues it. I've never put a SIM card in the iPad to activate it, but even without that, I still fly the Mavic and get all the benefits of having a GSM chip in it to use the maps / GPS locating features it supports.

It fits the Mavic RC perfectly and gives me great screen size and all the details of what my Mavic is doing. I've never had a problem with disconnects as I use the full size USB connector in the middle of the RC and use a 6" high quality USB To Lightning Cable.

The iPad mini 4 has plenty of processing power to handle the video processing that the Mavic passes down to it and it's not laggy or distorted in the least.

The only thing that would make me give up on the iPad mini 4 is the top of the line CrystalSky Monitor that DJI keeps teasing us with.

So you need the celluar ipad mini to get the GPS features?

And other than the Iphone case being too big was there any other problem with the 7?

Im considering a mini 4 but also a iphone 7.