Smart Controller and Litchi Clarification please

[Remote Pilots Australia]

Hello Everyone

After saying I was never going to get one I finally caved and bought a Smart Controller last week because ... I had run out of DJI stuff to buy and felt the need to support the struggling Chinese economy and DJI in these dark covid times........... No? I guess not

I actually bought it so I could be in the air quicker when flying recreationally with friends, I'll probably stick to the iPad when flying commercially as it has a 0.0000 % incidence of app crashes where as GO4 crashed first flight with the SC. Not fun so I'll add Litchi as I use it all the time on the job and feel comfortable with it.

I've done my research and understand how to add the Amazon appstore and download Litchi that way, I've also read the "go to" article that everyone points to on certifiedaerials on how to install Google services et al which I will be doing because I certainly want google maps, what I'm a little confused about after reading so many threads is this.

On the bottom of the tutorial on certifiedaerials there is a list of apps from google store that are SC friendly and Litchi is not included. In fact he states that installing the google play version of Litchi will "brick your controller". Is this still the case? Are people installing Litchi from Amazon and using the google play store just for Google Maps or can I ignore the warning on the certifiedaerials tutorial (it is over a year old after all) and install Litchi and Maps from Google? I'll have to buy either way as I only have a IOS licence and I'm not fussed which method I use I just want to choose the most stable method.

Looking forward to hearing what has worked for you all.

Thanks in advance
Ari

 

[CaptHook]

The last I read, Google services access on SC gets deleted with every SC update.
(there have been 3 of them in the last 6 months - 1 yr?)
So you would need to do all the re-install process each time.
I went with the Amazon route and works great.
(but don't have Google Maps or Google services)
However, I do force-stop Litchi AND Amazon App Store app (it starts also when running Litchi) before going back to DJI GO because it can cause crashes from out-of-memory errors.
You might check your background apps to see if something running might be a cause for the crash you mentioned.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

So you would need to do all the re-install process each time.

However, I do force-stop Litchi AND Amazon App Store app (it starts also when running Litchi) before going back to DJI GO because it can cause crashes from out-of-memory errors.
You might check your background apps to see if something running might be a cause for the crash you mentioned.

Thanks for the reply CaptHook

I don't mind doing setting up google again as I do a factory reset after any firmware upgrade anyway and I don't mind downloading Litchi from Amazon and Maps from the google store if the Amazon version of Litchi is more reliable on the controller. I would just like to be sure of which is best before I buy another subscription. Obviously my first preference if I'm loading maps would be to get Litchi from the Android store as well for ease but not if as some say it causes issues with the controller. IF I can find someone who confirms that the Google play version does not as claimed by certifiedaerials "brick the controller" then I'll go that route, if not Amazon it is.

First thing I did when I had the app crash was hunt for the logs and yes, you're correct it was an "outofmemory" error which is a bit disheartening on the first flight with a brand new controller with to answer your question, nothing running in the background. I've also noted your suggestionsabout force closing background apps. In hardware therms the SC is no beast but it should be sufficient for the job. One of the many threads I've read over the last week had a lengthy comment from a professional android developer who commented (to sum it up) that the version of Android that had been ported to the SC was less than premium and the implementation of GO4 left a lot to be desired. I don't personally do not have the expertise in that area to know but it sounds consistent with what some people experience.

I think the SC will meet my needs for a recreational "get in the air quick" controller, I just have to find the most stable configuration.

Regards
Ari

 

[CaptHook]

Doing a factory reset, at times, will not revert the SC to a previous state.
The update 2 versions ago, updated the Android kernel as well.
From that version, a user is unable to roll-back to a previous version.
Also, the updates offer upgrades/improvements/bug fixes - so I would think keeping them applied would be best.

I find it hard to believe the Google Play version of Litchi would brick the SC, but I have no proof/knowledge.
But the Amazon version works fantastic, so one might posit - why risk the Google version?
Plus, you may find the stock maps sufficient/a satisfactory compromise vs Google and Play etc.

And yes, the SC and Android version seem just barely good enough for the task. ?

Hope someone that has installed Google Litchi will reply for you!

 

[NewbyNZ]

I purchased Litchi from the google play store on my android phone and then packaged it to install it on my smart controller, well this did not work as it needed all the google services. Then found the Litchi site where it explained how to install it on the SC, after installing the google services and login to my google account it worked.
Been running it for the past 14 months and it works fine. Sometimes after a DJI update i need to login to google again but most times it works fine.

When flying i just open the app i want to use (Go, GoPilot or Litchi)

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

Hi Guys

Thanks for the feedback,

Google services, app store, installer etc etc
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I bit the bullet and tried it. I used the tutorial here :- CERTIFIED AERIALS - How to Install Google Play Store on DJI Smart Controller

I installed all of the google services from the links provided there and it worked more or less as described other than taking a few updates for the google installer as there is a new version but I guess that's not surprising, it's an old tutorial.

Litchi
---------

I did *not* as suggested install Litchi from the Amazon store. I had to pay for it either way but I felt that the Google play store version would probably be updated more in a more timely fashion if I could possibly get it installed so I went ahead installed and paid in the Google appstore and all went smoothly. It is installed and apparently operational on the smart controller. By apparently I mean the aircraft connects, you get the aircraft telemetry and video feed within the Litchi app and all functions I've played with to this point appear to function. It certainly does not brick the controller.

Weather permitting I will flight test it on an already proven Litchi flight plan over the next 2 days and will update here how it went.

Regards
Ari

 

[ff22]

Thanks for the reply CaptHook

I don't mind doing setting up google again as I do a factory reset after any firmware upgrade anyway and I don't mind downloading Litchi from Amazon and Maps from the google store if the Amazon version of Litchi is more reliable on the controller. I would just like to be sure of which is best before I buy another subscription. Obviously my first preference if I'm loading maps would be to get Litchi from the Android store as well for ease but not if as some say it causes issues with the controller. IF I can find someone who confirms that the Google play version does not as claimed by certifiedaerials "brick the controller" then I'll go that route, if not Amazon it is.

First thing I did when I had the app crash was hunt for the logs and yes, you're correct it was an "outofmemory" error which is a bit disheartening on the first flight with a brand new controller with to answer your question, nothing running in the background. I've also noted your suggestionsabout force closing background apps. In hardware therms the SC is no beast but it should be sufficient for the job. One of the many threads I've read over the last week had a lengthy comment from a professional android developer who commented (to sum it up) that the version of Android that had been ported to the SC was less than premium and the implementation of GO4 left a lot to be desired. I don't personally do not have the expertise in that area to know but it sounds consistent with what some people experience.

I think the SC will meet my needs for a recreational "get in the air quick" controller, I just have to find the most stable configuration.

Regards
Ari

I can't answer the question. I did install the hack and Google Store and maps but one of the upgrades killed it and I could not be bothered to go through the process again. Lazy, I guess.

 

[Remote Pilots Australia]

I can't answer the question. I did install the hack and Google Store and maps but one of the upgrades killed it and I could not be bothered to go through the process again. Lazy, I guess.

I can understand that view lol.

When I fist got the SC I had an app crash first flight out of the box which was a bit of a heart starter after 3 years without a glitch on IOS. When I researched SC issues it was widely suggested (among other things) to do a full factory reset after each firmware upgrade which I have decided is fair enough, I do that with a lot of other devices. So I sort of accepted I’d be doing a full setup each time.

I’ve download and kept the required .apk packages and you only need to register the SC as a development device the once so I think I can get it down to a 5 to 10 minute process next time.