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Samsung Tab A 2019 on Sale at Costco ($90)

steve495

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Update: Although this tablet seems to work well with DJI Go, it does not seem to be a good fit with DJI Fly.

I'm now in the market for a new drone - either a Mini2 or a Mavic 2 Pro - and I was thinking about tablets. Happen to be in Costco today and they had the following model on sale for $90 including a 32gb Lexar card. I'm not sure if the card would be acceptable on the drone, but what the heck.

So I did a bit of research after opening the Tab A up and found the DJI Go app in the Google Play Store. The DJI Fly app was not listed. I'm not at all familiar with Android devices, but I was able to stumble my way through sideloading the DJI Fly app and got it running. Dronelink was in the Play Store, so installed that too.

I would expect I'll have a new drone within a week and will let you know how it works out. But the primary goal of this post is to let you know Costco has these for $90.

Model SM-T290NZSCXAR
8 inch screen, silver color
 
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Steve, I bought one 2 weeks ago (3 days sale) and didn't work with my MA2. Some users reported I had a faulty unit. Bought another one 2 days ago (longer sale) and same problem (everything works except no live stream). After 30-40 seconds the video sometimes will come on but too much lag. Maybe with another drone it will work with no issues .?.
 
Steve, I bought one 2 weeks ago (3 days sale) and didn't work with my MA2. Some users reported I had a faulty unit. Bought another one 2 days ago (longer sale) and same problem (everything works except no live stream). After 30-40 seconds the video sometimes will come on but too much lag. Maybe with another drone it will work with no issues .?.
Good to know. I think I'm going to get a Mini 2 and will be able to report on Wednesday or Thursday if it works. If not, I can return it to Costco.
 
I'm now in the market for a new drone - either a Mini2 or a Mavic 2 Pro - and I was thinking about tablets. Happen to be in Costco today and they had the following model on sale for $90 including a 32gb Lexar card. I'm not sure if the card would be acceptable on the drone, but what the heck.

So I did a bit of research after opening the Tab A up and found the DJI Go app in the Google Play Store. The DJI Fly app was not listed. I'm not at all familiar with Android devices, but I was able to stumble my way through sideloading the DJI Fly app and got it running. Dronelink was in the Play Store, so installed that too.

I would expect I'll have a new drone within a week and will let you know how it works out. But the primary goal of this post is to let you know Costco has these for $90.

Model SM-T290NZSCXAR
8 inch screen, silver color
Silly question, is the 8 inch screen size on the diagonal? The space between the brackets on my Mavic 2 Zoom controller is just about 7 inches, I use my phone now but would prefer a dedicated device. If this device will fit I'll buy one. Thanks for the tip, and enjoy whichever new drone you get!
 
Silly question, is the 8 inch screen size on the diagonal? The space between the brackets on my Mavic 2 Zoom controller is just about 7 inches, I use my phone now but would prefer a dedicated device. If this device will fit I'll buy one. Thanks for the tip, and enjoy whichever new drone you get!
The actual product overall dimensions:
8.35” x 4.89” x 0.35”

The 8" is the diagonal screen measurement, and the screen resolution is 1280 x 800.
 
Silly question, is the 8 inch screen size on the diagonal? The space between the brackets on my Mavic 2 Zoom controller is just about 7 inches, I use my phone now but would prefer a dedicated device. If this device will fit I'll buy one. Thanks for the tip, and enjoy whichever new drone you get!
All screen measurments are ALWAYS diagonal BTW. :)
 
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So after a bunch of research this morning. I'm not even going to bother trying the DJI Fly app with the Tab A. There are just too many reports of serious lag. I was able to sideload it and the application ran, but I'm one of those people who will not deal well with lag or other issues. It's been restored to factory settings and is going back to Costco today.

Note this Tab A does seem to work fine with DJI Go, the problems are with DJI Fly.
 
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Update: Although this tablet seems to work well with DJI Go, it does not seem to be a good fit with DJI Fly.

I'm now in the market for a new drone - either a Mini2 or a Mavic 2 Pro - and I was thinking about tablets. Happen to be in Costco today and they had the following model on sale for $90 including a 32gb Lexar card. I'm not sure if the card would be acceptable on the drone, but what the heck.

So I did a bit of research after opening the Tab A up and found the DJI Go app in the Google Play Store. The DJI Fly app was not listed. I'm not at all familiar with Android devices, but I was able to stumble my way through sideloading the DJI Fly app and got it running. Dronelink was in the Play Store, so installed that too.

I would expect I'll have a new drone within a week and will let you know how it works out. But the primary goal of this post is to let you know Costco has these for $90.

Model SM-T290NZSCXAR
8 inch screen, silver color
Cannot get 'DJI Fly' for Mini app on the Play Store/Android (Canada) site. It's just not there for any of my Android devices. (Had to buy a used iPhone to get the app). Check it out and let us know if it shows in USA Play Store wouldja please.. Thx
 
Cannot get 'DJI Fly' for Mini app on the Play Store/Android (Canada) site. It's just not there for any of my Android devices. (Had to buy a used iPhone to get the app). Check it out and let us know if it shows in USA Play Store wouldja please.. Thx
As noted in my first post, DJI Fly was not listed in the Google Play store for the tablet I had. It had to be sideloaded. I'm in the US.
 
I know I was wanting a larger screen than my Pixel 4XL, so I ended up with a Samsung Tab A7 10.4. Definitely not a fast tablet, but it does stream with minimal lag and was $149 because of holiday. So Ive been happy so far
 
I know I was wanting a larger screen than my Pixel 4XL, so I ended up with a Samsung Tab A7 10.4. Definitely not a fast tablet, but it does stream with minimal lag and was $149 because of holiday. So Ive been happy so far
So was this for the DJI Fly app ... were you able to install via Google Play store or did you have to sideload it?
Curious what drone you are flying and what the lag is like?
 
Newbie here. Any more on how the Galaxy Tab A7 is working with dji fly app? Just bought the mini 2 but can't settle on which tablet. Thanks.
 
I picked up a Galaxy Tab A sm-t290nzkaxar today. Had to side load the DJI APK so it now has the new version 1.2.2. (I'm not convinced the loss of the center bottom indicator is a good move. The new "attitude indicator" is nothing like any attitude indicator in any plane I've flown. The three colored spots are going to take awhile to get used to.)

In order to mount, I took a 4" piece of a plastic hanger and hot glued it to the back of the tablet half way up, parrallel to the side. Snapped it in to the controller and the usb C to usb Mini b cable that came with the mini 2 works perfectly.

We had freezing fog today so I just flew it around at low altitude weaving in and out of some trees. Never got higher than 20 feet or so and was always withing 100 ft or so in distance. However, everything seemed to work a treat. I do feel like there is a slight lag in the video, but just a fraction of a second.

Your mileage may vary.
 
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