Capable But Cheap Android Phone or Tablet for Controller

the.ronin · Mar 17, 2019

Anyone have recommendations for a capable but inexpensive Android phone or tablet for the Mavic controller? I think the recommended minimum Android CPU is Snapdragon but would also want a particularly bright screen and good battery life.

msinger · Mar 17, 2019

You can find a list of recommended and commonly used phones and tablets here:
Best Tablets and Phones for DJI GO (Updated Daily)

One of the cheapest Android devices I found was the Huawei Ascend XT. It's now about double the price of what I paid. Performance isn't amazing, but it works.

Cymruflyer · Mar 18, 2019

Yep, I use the wunderphone and it is doing just fine on my Mavic 2 Pro. Do a search for the Wunderphone to see all the info. It is brighter than my iPhone 6 or 7 and the battery life is great.

ROMEY · Mar 18, 2019

the.ronin said:
Anyone have recommendations for a capable but inexpensive Android phone or tablet for the Mavic controller? I think the recommended minimum Android CPU is Snapdragon but would also want a particularly bright screen and good battery life.

My galaxie tab A works great. All you need is Wi-Fi only tab if your phone has hotspot capabilities. A refurbished tabA Samsung is only 130bucks on ebay....im super happy with mine

the.ronin · Mar 18, 2019

Thanks everyone. That repository of useable phones and tablets is extremely useful!

After a lot of digging around and youtubing I didn't want to risk it and just took back the Nvidia Shield I had given to my wife not realizing what a powerhouse of a tablet that is lol. (I got her a bigger, nicer looking tablet next day air on Amazon.) I just don't want to risk loss of connection just because my device could not handle DJI Go 4. I even got one of those high speed USB to micro USB cables to connect the Shield.

I also like how evidently you can use the HDMI out on the Shield to connect to goggles which I def want to do at some point coming from FPV.

Gizmo · Mar 18, 2019

I fly my MPP with a Galaxy S7, old phone but extremely reliable I bet you could get a very cheap one, also recently bought a very cheap Galaxy tab S3, haven't really flown much with it due to lack of free time, but haven't had any problems with it so far. Both have a very good display

the.ronin · Mar 18, 2019

Just looking up the specs on the S7, that is one beefy phone. 2.2 GHz octacore and *4GB* ram wow! My sense was that the Nvidia Shield K1 was something of a gold standard for DJI GO 4 and that's only at 2GB ram and not an octa 2.2 GHz. But I don't think there is HDMI out so no workaround to the goggles.

tleonhar · Mar 18, 2019

I've seen a few posts where people were using Samsung Note 3's an having quite good luck. It's an older phone for sure considering the Note 10 will be coming out soon, but I would think you could get one pretty cheap if you looked around.

gerrymad · Mar 18, 2019

For a while I was using a Galaxy S7. Used ones in good condition are easy to find on ebay. I now use a newer phone (Mate 20 Pro), but I also sometimes use the Nvidia Shield which has a nice big screen and works great with the DJI app as well as with Litchi.

Bryce steiner · Mar 18, 2019

I've had success with the iPad Mini 4 which is really cheap right now and has great battery life. I know you mentioned android and this is IOS. I wasn't sure if you mentioned it just because you thought iPads were expensive or if you really were tied to Android.

draver · Mar 21, 2019

A few months ago on CraigsList I bought an iPad Mini 2 for $100. a week or two later I found an iPad Mini 4 with cellular for $200 so I bought that and gave the Mini 2 to one of my grandkids. Keep checking daily and you'll find deals. I especially like the Mini 4 for the size, weight and thinness and how well it fits my Pro Platinum controller.