Samsung Galaxy Tab S - The Saga Ends

[MadValley]

Okay. So I don't feel like spending stupid (sorry) amounts of money for old tech, so I'm not gonna buy an iPad Mini whatever number. I want to have a GPS onboard without the Cupertino extortionists saying, "Oh, GPS. Sure that'll be another $130." I want fast processors, RAM, and storage. Plus bright. I want a bright. screen. It also has to fit the phone brackets on the controller. (Which basically comes down to me being a total cheapskate and cranky.)

So I got a Brand New 8" Samsung Galaxy S2 T713 (yes, that one. the one everybody warns against getting.)

And boy does it suck.

The new ones are running Samsung's Nougat offering which has that little USB issue where everything goes belly up if you don't do things in just the right order. If the sacrifice isn't sufficient. Or if you glance away while it's trying to connect. It also had the interesting property of just disconnecting and providing me with the flashing Use DJI GO 4 when this USB appliance is connected? message. That's exciting. Particularly with me being a total Noob.

I had read something about the T710 (pre-2016) S2 being a more stable implementation so I tried to roll back the OS to Lollipop (not supported on the hardware) so I settled on Marshmallow. Which was indeed more stable EXCEPT now if I glanced away the S2 would immediately try and update itself to the horrid and wobbly Nougat that Samsung is passing off as a fine user experience.

So I figured I'd root it and see if I could get rid of enough stuff to make it even better.

And I bricked it.

So a couple more hours of punching arcane button combinations allowed me to flash in a boot partition and get to the Device Text Menu (something whose existence I was unaware of until today) and got the thing back to Marshmallow where, as you might have figured, it immediately tried to upgrade itself to Nougat.

I thought I caught it in time but once the smoke cleared and I went to boot into download mode I saw the little Android whatever character telling me it was updating and then it fell over dead (Really, X's for eyes and a really alarming red exclamation point.

I bricked it again.

Another couple of hours and (this time) I just reinstalled the image for Nougat, let it try and update itself and finish. Yay!

So now stable-ish again. I flashed in the TWRP bootloader, flashed in LineageOS 14.1 (another Nougat variant), and flashed in some Google apps.

Yay!

What a sweet ride. Very tight, amazingly stable, no junk or bloatware. And, it runs Go 4 like it was made for it. No more flashy-flashy. No more random disconnects. No more start-up rituals. Unplug the controller and jack it back in. No problem. Turn off the controller and turn it back on without turning off the S2. No problem.

It's just really nice. Highly recommended.

So total cost was $249 bucks from Samsung. Two hours to do the new OS and configure everything. Plus about six hours to get over being stoopid.

 

[sonof40]

I liked your post because it was well written.
The happy ending was a bonus.

 

[jag32266]

I enjoyed the last line the best and a good outcome. Win win!

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

Or... save $200 and tons of frustration and get a Wunderphone.

 

[phantomi]

My Ipad Mini (4) works like a charm, right out of the box.

 

[MadValley]

My Ipad Mini (4) works like a charm, right out of the box.

Yeah, but my Samsung bought me dinner at the Four Seasons and left me enough money for lunch. Plus, I'm (somewhat) future-proofed with an Octa-core processor (as opposed to the Apple's slower dual-core) and 50% more RAM.

But this is totally a personal decision. I understand that some people prefer Apple.

 

[Xtreme Drone Pilot]

 

[MadValley]

I've been trying to find a more robust app for flight planning and have looked at Litchi and several others but wanted to study more. So I found (through this forum) Drone Harmony (DH) which is currently in Beta. It's a fun app but more importantly speaks to my happiness with the LineageOS I installed on the aforementioned Galaxy Tab S2. With both GO 4 and DH installed I can run a pre-programmed mission in DH, shutdown DH and start GO 4, and then muck about flying free. Then I can shut down GO 4, immediately start DH, and go fly the pre-programmed pattern again. Very impressed with the stability of this setup now.

(Full disclosure: I did have to restart the tablet post-DH installation but once I did that I was able to switch back and forth between the apps at will with no issues at all.)

 

[MGS9500]

Ok, I know you don't want to hear this, but I use the same tablet. No root, standard updates.

I turn on drone, controller and app, no issues. USB connects.
I did go to developer options and allow USB connect.

Rooting a tablet is a good learning experience. I agree with those who chime in Apple works out of the box... but not always.

The beauty of android is you can root it.

But, like I said, my unrooted S2 and my current S8 note work without an issue.

 

[MadValley]

Do you have to turn on the tablet or just start the app? Which model of the tablet are you using T710 or T713? That's interesting that you didn't get the USB connection dialog flashing on and off. I did have developer options enabled and the USB options set too. I had a Samsung phone a few years back that I took to a Cyanogenmod OS (the forerunner of Lineage) but I didn't try all the intermediate testing that I did this time so it was much less of a learning experience...

 

[Porto]

I am using the Tab S2 T175Y. Very happy with it. Doesn't need to be rooted. Not even a single app crash so far (modded Go4). I simply turn off auto update and use it dedicated for flying.

Edit: It's T715Y

 

[MadValley]

Interesting. I can't find any information about that tablet other than a used one for sale in Thailand. The ones available here in North America don't seem to be as friendly as yours.

 

[Porto]

Interesting. I can't find any information about that tablet other than a used one for sale in Thailand. The ones available here in North America don't seem to be as friendly as yours.

Only in initial setup we need to choose the Go4 as the default for the USB device (RC). Then afterwards, once we connected the remote to the tablet in unlocked state, Go4 will automatically open. That's even better than when using an ios device (I am actually an Apple user).

It seems Asian market gets better specs for some android phones/tablets. The Wunderphone over at the other thread only comes with 2GB of RAM in the US market. I believe in the Asian market the phone is called Huawei Y7 Prime. It has the same specs but comes with 3GB of RAM.

 

[MadValley]

The Asian market gets better specs for almost anything electronic. It's almost impossible to find a good 2-SIM phone in the US unless you want to buy a no-warranty gray-market phone off Amazon or eBay.

 

[Porto]

Well, at least you guys get FCC tx power. The rest of the world need to mod their Go4 to get FCC tx power

 

[Flawless]

I had a Galaxy Tab A (2016) model SM-T585 for a while that I picked up (really) cheap. It sucked with Samsung's bloatware on, but with a debloated ROM (I probably could have uninstalled more) it ran DJI Go and Litchi great.

I ended up selling it for cost plus time invested, as it was just a bit too big for my needs.

Just be aware - some tablets now have powerful neodymium magnets inside the back (for flip covers). The magnets on the Tab A were strong enough you could stick it to a fridge and it would stay there - they're strong enough that they'd interfere with your drone from a meter away, and would potentially magnetise whatever you stored near it.

Easy enough to remove the back (carefully) and remove the glued-in magnets, however.