You know, the only thing I've though was a bit ill thought out about the Mavic was how the iPhone fit in the controller. It's just a bit to hard to get in and get the plug seated properly. And when it was in it half-way covered the home button. I thought to myself, why did they put so much obvious effort into designing all the other aspects of the Mavic and its controller and not find a way to avoid obscuring the home button? And what's with this sliding plug holder that is removable and we are provided with extras??
I truly believe now that the controller was built around an iPad Mini and then "retrofitted" to also hold a phone. I think DJI knew a vast majority of people were controlling their Phantoms with an iPad Mini-and they had to know they would piss people off if this new Mavic controller couldn't.
But, DJI also wanted to market the small size. This would be a revolutionary product with a size unheard of-but if you put an iPad mini in the controller it starts to look bulky again-even if it may be very functional.
So I think they decided to market the smallness of the unit and the controller, but make it so it still fit an iPad Mini. This was clear to me once I put my iPad mini into it. The mini fits nice and snug. Remember, the mini is hanging out the bottom, it needs to be tight or you'd have all kinds of customers complaining that their tablet just fell out the bottom on the floor!
You can tell it was meant for the mini because it is exactly the right size. The mini fits perfectly into the corners. There are slots in the corners of the controller so the corners of the mini can slide through. There would be no other reason for this otherwise. A phone doesn't need the open slot. And the plug holder is removable so that you can put the mini in the open slots. There is an extra USB port that works just like the phantom. And they probably gave extra plug holders because they knew if you take them out to put in your mini there is a good chance you will lose it.
And the corners of the controller snug perfectly in the palm of your hand, with the ability to wrap your pinky's under it for stability. And holding this way with the mini you barely obscure the screen.
Yes, it may get some getting used to because the controller was designed to be as small as possible, but it is usable.
Again, I think they definitely planned for the iPad mini to fit but they wanted to tout portability. If you start carrying around a mini too it becomes less portable and you start losing some of the benefits. But for those who want the best of both worlds I think DJI did a great job designing for both applications-I just wish they could have put just a little more thought into how the phone would be installed and figment.
Z