HW OS and DJI GO4 android

[Mauri59]

As I wrote in another TD, I had problems with the last version of DJI GO4 for android.
Just curious to verify impressions and comments, I bought a used Ipad mini and noticed that everything works flawlessly with the iOS based app and the iOS device.
Since nobody can convince me that is because IOS is better than Android, i think what is confirmed is that DJI favours iOS, not giving the same "care" to the Android version of their App. (whose fact, is seems confirmed by no DJI GS App for Android)
Stated it, I gave my attention to the Mavic and Controller HW... and I noticed both the drone and the controller miss Apple Lightning connectors, being equipped with USB/Usb micro connectors.
I find a little bit "strange" that a company which seems to favour iOS, designed a drone and the controller, using no lightning connectors for I/O (but cable adapters) to connect to iOS devices.
Now I'm curious to know what sort of OS is installed in Mavic and its controller.
Is it a proprietary OS? Android? iOS? Something else?

 

[Bunny Too]

As I wrote in another TD, I had problems with the last version of DJI GO4 for android.
Just curious to verify impressions and comments, I bought a used Ipad mini and noticed that everything works flawlessly with the iOS based app and the iOS device.
Since nobody can convince me that is because IOS is better than Android, i think what is confirmed is that DJI favours iOS, not giving the same "care" to the Android version of their App. (whose fact, is seems confirmed by no DJI GS App for Android)
Stated it, I gave my attention to the Mavic and Controller HW... and I noticed both the drone and the controller miss Apple Lightning connectors, being equipped with USB/Usb micro connectors.
I find a little bit "strange" that a company which seems to favour iOS, designed a drone and the controller, using no lightning connectors for I/O (but cable adapters) to connect to iOS devices.
Now I'm curious to know what sort of OS is installed in Mavic and its controller.
Is it a proprietary OS? Android? iOS? Something else?

Not sure about the controller, linux I thought I read someware; they are using android for the new CrystalSky displays.

 

[Kilrah]

Since nobody can convince me that is because IOS is better than Android, i think what is confirmed is that DJI favours iOS

No, it's just that validation and fixing all issues on a fragmented environment with thousands of variations is much harder if not impossible than on an environment where you can test on all devices becasue you can count them on your fingers, and that said devices have very very few differences in the first place.

Lightning is Apple proprietary and it would make no sense for anyone else to use it on device side, just like no device other than Apple's will ever run iOS.

OS is either Linux or Android (which is only an environment built on top of Linux anyway) on the various devices. There isn't much else around to use anyway.

 

[JeffM46]

Having a friend whose business is writing banking apps, I can second that's it's difficult to impossible to write Android apps that will run on all the variations and versions found in the wild. The iOS guys have it much, much easier. Samsung for one is well known for make major changes and add overlays to stock Android. This is one of the reasons my old Nexus 7 works. As a Google product it's OS is fairly unmolested.

Since DJI controls and writes the OS for the CrystalSky, they shouldn't have any problems with compatibility and will certainly use an open source system.

 

[Mauri59]

This sounds more a myth or an excuse, spreaded all over.
First of all, my Android device is among the DJI supported devices. Then, why?
Second, I've never came across and android app which has troubles running in a Smartphone, while working flawlessy in others. That connects OK with some "smart" external device, wireless or phisically with cables, and not with others.
Stated it, it's obviously easier to develop the app for a single OS, which lasts for years, and known few proprietary devices, than following many android OS and different manufacturers proprietary interfaces (I.e. Emui and so on)

...last but not least, again, anybody knows what's the OS installed inside the Mavic and controller?

No, it's just that validation and fixing all issues on a fragmented environment with thousands of variations is much harder if not impossible than on an environment where you can test on all devices becasue you can count them on your fingers, and that said devices have very very few differences in the first place.

 

[Kilrah]

The GO app pretty certainly uses more of the API and libraries than any other out there given the variety of tasks it's acomplishing.

You got the best answer you'll get for the rest already. There are actually several separate computers in the Mavic that may run different OS variations.

 

[McToddy]

@JeffM46 -- am I understanding this correctly: you're using a nexus 7 with the mavic controller? How well does that work? I just got a Mavic this past weekend and I'm looking for an appropriate device that can run Go 4 in a stable and consistent form.

 

[JeffM46]

@JeffM46 -- am I understanding this correctly: you're using a nexus 7 with the mavic controller? How well does that work? I just got a Mavic this past weekend and I'm looking for an appropriate device that can run Go 4 in a stable and consistent form.

I've had good luck with the Nexus 7, and it's listed by DJI as a tested and approved Android device. It has to be the 2013 or 2nd version to have the competing power needed. Also, I did a factory reset and only loaded the bare minimum of apps since it's only used with my Mavic.

 

[McToddy]

@JeffM46 Thx for the input... I'll give my Nexus 7 2013 a try too then (I like to keep my options flexible).

FYI: I just did my first Mavic flight this afternoon using OnePlus One with Android v6.0.1 running Go 4 v4.1.3 (which got updated from v4.1.2 yesterday). No issues with the app encountered in 15m of flight. It would have helped that I had used a real USB cable, not a Power-Only USB cord (the first 10m of battery was burned while trying to figure out why the app didn't display any video)