Out of all the
CS models, the 7.5 Ultra has had all the backlight failures, some after a only few minutes on full brightness, some 7.5 Ultra owners were having multiple failures with warranty replacement units as well
I've not heard about any of the high brightness units failing in the same way but they might be out of production as they haven't been available from the DJI store for a while.
The
CS was released in 2017 it still uses android 5.1.1 which is effectively out of date, in comparison other android 64 bit phones and tablets are running on Android 10 (Q)
I don't see DJI ever updating the Android OS.
The customised version of 5.1.1 used by the
CS range prevents you from using the Google play store and apps that require license/ purchase verification. e.g paid apps
Additional unbundled software can only be sideloaded and are not guaranteed to work as they may require the googles services that can't run without issue in the
CS's modified android environment.
Unfortuantley the
CS is limited to what android apps it can run and it is trial and error to get a them working
The
Crystal Sky has never been updated and well supported by DJI, in fact it has been updated only once in the last 18 months in Dec 2019.
The current
CS version of DJI Go 4 is 4.3.16 and this is over a year old already, other android and the IOS versions of the flight app are at 4.3.28.
The older
CS 32 bit architecture means you can't run the DJI Fly 64 bit software for the Mavic Mini.
As newer DJI flight software will follow the 64 bit trend required by Google for the play store, the
CS architecture will not be able to support newer DJI drones, effectively making the product line obsolete.
DJI have effectively moved on and forgotten about this product as we now see with their focus on the
Smart Controller using the 5.5 high brightness panel, for example DJI Go 4 on the
SC has been updated to 4.3.28
I have both the 5.5 high brightness and the 7.5 Ultra.
The Ultra is only used at 50% brightness, there is a risk of the backlight burning out due to reflow from the extra heat generated by the panel at maximum brightness.
For me the Ultra is only operating as a high brightness unit and I regret spending the extra for it.
The negative impact is also reinforced by the significantly lowered resale value of the 7.5 Ultra, no one wants to buy a unit that could fail at any moment due to the numerous issues reported.
I now only ever use the the 5.5 when flying by myself, the 7.5 Ultra is bulky and heavy creating an awkward form factor.
Head over to the DJI official forum to read about the litany of issues with the
CS Ultra and DJI's lack of support for the
CS product line.
Seize the Moment. DJI Products discussion and support.
forum.dji.com
From my personal experience, the recommendation is to stay away from the
Crystal Sky Ultra , it was rushed on to the market without fully testing the hardware under stress and now only so much can be done to resolve the hardware issues, like making the fans come on earlier etc. through the rare firmware updates. The techincal obsolescence and the lack of support should also steer you away from the other
CS models as well.
For a larger screen, I'd actually recommend an Ipad Mini 5 with a hood, it will work with latest versions of DJI Go 4 and DJI Fly and it will be future proof due to the 64 bit architecture most of the ipads have except for earliest models.
I have a Ipad
Mini 4 that has worked perfectly with every DJI drone I have (MM,
MA, MP, MPP, Spark and
P4P) in 4 years it has never glitched or crashed once with either DJI Go4 or DJI Fly.
The
Mini 4 is the furthest back you want to go as earlier models don't have the processing power to run DJI Go 4 if you are planning to use it.
The other advantage is that you have full access to the Apple App-store and its apps, which all work perfectly.
DJI is also very aligned with Apple and the flight software is much more robust working on the less variable and controlled IOS platform.