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Is Cell Service/Data Needed or Not?

raymacke

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I called DJI support yesterday and ask if cell service was needed to fly the Mini and was told NO - not necessary. Now I read in the manual page 34 that it is. Which is it? I ordered a Ipad Mini wifi only tablet thinking I was OK. Tell me I am - Please!!!
 
CELL IS NOT NEEDED.(on any of their other ac, don’t see that they would deviate)
 
Not so much cellular specifically but access to internet. However using WiFi on the device could possibly cause some interference with RC-AC link since that's yet another radio on the band to compete with the RC.
Benefits of app access to internet in the field: Instant update of map view in the app mostly. Unlocking of authorization zones also requires internet.
 
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Can maps be pre-loaded before the flight or is this something that must be done live.
BTW - please excuse my total lack of knowledge - I am new to all this.
 
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With Go it could, especially if you do not turn off the app after caching. Not certain with Fly but likely will stick at least as long as the app remains running.
 
I ordered a Ipad Mini wifi only tablet thinking I was OK. Tell me I am - Please!!!
Putting aside cellular/Wifi capability, is the iPad itself even compatible with DJI Fly app and the controller?
 
Well the app loads just fine but I don't have a Mini to be sure it doesn't crash on connection. You do have to hit the 2X button on the lower right of the view, as natively the app does not fill the tablet screen.
 
Putting aside cellular/Wifi capability, is the iPad itself even compatible with DJI Fly app and the controller?

I have flown mine using my iPad Mini 5 (cellular) and my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0 (WiFi).

(“Flown” meaning got it off the floor in my house and flew it between my office and bedroom, but both tablets worked fine.)
 
Putting aside cellular/Wifi capability, is the iPad itself even compatible with DJI Fly app and the controller?


iPhone 7 plus fits in the controller and I have 1cm of room for an even bigger phone, but iPad mini is 4CM longer, I can't think how to fit a mini into the controller, besides some elastics and macgyver kung-fu
 
It fits. The remote was practically designed for the iPad Mini. Almost just said "Mini" but that would be ambiguous in this context, now that we have a Mavic Mini.
Basically what you do is open the arms as wide as they go, then fit the corners of the iPad in the slots in the arms. The rubber of the arms holds the iPad tight.
 
iPhone 7 plus fits in the controller and I have 1cm of room for an even bigger phone, but iPad mini is 4CM longer, I can't think how to fit a mini into the controller, besides some elastics and macgyver kung-fu

iPad Mini will fit if it doesn’t have a case. The controller arms spread wide and the upper corners fit inside the arms. Same with Galaxy Tab S2 8.0.
 
Does the MM fly with the iPad Mini 4/DJI Fly?

(oops, just saw the above post)

I loved the "Age Rating 4+"!
 
And yet when someone contacted DJI about a problem with the app, they said its not supported on an iPad or other Tablet. Yeah right. True the app doesn't fill the entire iPad screen yet, but you can click on the 2x icon to stretch it until they fix it.
 
This is my first forte into the drone world. One of the main reasons I chose the Mini was DJI's reputation for quality equipment. I assumed their tech support would be similar. So far, I have not been impressed.

The Mini was obviously produced to attract new pilots and as such their knowledge base will be limited or non-existent. DJI does not seem to recognize this. Making a few short slick videos are no substitute for solid accurate information about requirements. On this, they have done a very poor job. At least in my opinion as a new user.
 
They've never been clear about device requirements, particularly for Android. In the Phantom 3 days, the app would crash on lots of systems. DJI support's kneejerk reaction was "not on list, not compatible". Uh, just because you haven't tested it yet does not mean it's not compatible.
What was worse back then was that they'd never update the list. As time went on, they listed only had phones with old OSs.

They went for revamping the app to make it cleaner for new, inexperience pilots. They should have stuck with the Go app at least for now, where the underlying subroutines are already in place rather than rewriting the entire code and not having enough time to redevelop all the functions and work out the bugs.

One thing I was surprised about when the M2 came out was a lot of functions were missing that the M1 had and the fairly new MA revolutionized. You would have thought they'd blend what code they had for M1 with the new code for the new MA features, making the M2 more robust.

But they'll work it all out. Might take them 6 months though. Just wish they'd prioritize on the basics like geofence unlock and add the wiz bang later. Problem is marketing and sales relies on the wiz bang, and don't care about the basics, not realizing they lose customers when they fail on the basics.
 
Alright, new worry. I now become aware the Ipad Mini WIFI does NOT have built-in GPS. Looks like WIFI-Cell model does. I ordered just a WIFI version. Is this going to be a problem?

(Really, Apple made tablets with no GPS? Even the cheapest Android tablets have it!)
 
Well I was surprised the Samsung Tab E didn't have a compass. But that was a waste of money. Even Go 3 for the P3 was problematic on that one.

Anyway, no you won't likely have much need for GPS from the iPad. The only use would be to reset the home point to RC position if say you walked to the other side of the field. But why walk there when you can fly?
 

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