Spark owners have to upgrade by 1st Sept

[Robbyg]

Yes I know this is not a Spark forum but it does have serious implications for us.
Come Sept 1st if a Spark is not updated to .600 DJI says it will no longer take off. Is this really legal and does .900 for the Mavic also have a time time bomb in it?


Rob

 

[BossBob]

More important, do any of the Mavic firmware versions have a time bomb in them?

 

[Kilrah]

There is no known firmware timebomb - it will just be an app thing. They have app updates scheduled to come out this week, and they're what will enfoce that. Pretty sure those staying with older app versions and/or not giving the app internet access won't be bothered.

 

[Kate]

Spark owners are awesome

 

[Robbyg]

There is no known firmware timebomb - it will just be an app thing. They have app updates scheduled to come out this week, and they're what will enfoce that. Pretty sure those staying with older app versions and/or not giving the app internet access won't be bothered.

I am trying to follow your logic on that and keep finding too many loopholes! For starters DJI is really being bold making this statement that they know is going to be received very negatively by the user base. One can only assume after going to this extreme level that their plan has got to be fairly solid.

Just forcing an app update has zero effect on Apple users who turn off auto updates and android users can always roll back the app.

If it's a forced update one can only assume based on past DJI experience that it's not going to contain happy code but more likely further control and restriction.

If your right and the early adopters start to see bad things I doubt any body is going to rush to update or leave a forced one in place. Bottom line is that I don't think an App update would be a solid plan for DJI.

Rob

 

[BossBob]

Ok, still on go4 4.0.8 with auto updates off on my iPad and refusing to update the drone/rc firmware from .700, (contemplating rolling back to .400 as video horizon seems off).
I work in IT and know the pitfalls of just autoupdating everything. It is sometimes worth waiting a while to see what others find wrong! Security updates for vulnerabilities are something else, you just have to hope that's all they're updating!

 

[TheLightSpeed!]

I don't see how they can require any of this.

The drone, and the app are working. How do they force us to update either one? Even with internet?

Everyone panicked last time this happened to the Mavic, remember that? Don't update or else? I updated my app, and I'm always connected to the internet and nada. Haven't seen any issues with it. Works great

 

[Kilrah]

Just forcing an app update has zero effect on Apple users who turn off auto updates and android users can always roll back the app.

That will reach 95+% of their users, which is probably what they're after. The problem is supposed to be about the documented losses of power in flight, that would be fixed by a battery firmware update (and maybe FC). There have been quite a few reports of flyaways too. Both these modules are updated in the new FW.

The drone, and the app are working. How do they force us to update either one? Even with internet?

If there is a known critical problem causing crashes it would make sense to force the update - BUT it should be properly documented which isn't the case, and should be isolated from any feature updates which it also isn't.

The app will likely simply show you a popup "you must upgrade until you can fly again" and that you can't dismiss unless you've actually upgraded.

Investigations that have taken place on the firmware side don't suggest anything else can happen without app action. Of course there is the possibility that no app upgrade is needed (older app versions already have code to do the disabling), and they would just fetch the order to do so from the net if they have access.

Current firmware will happily run in September. What WAS found is that while Assistant currently offers you 300/400/500/600, once you've upgraded to 600 all others disappear, and that .600 enforces antirollback so you cannot downgrade with the current versions of known tools. BUT... that was defeated in about an hour.

Really this firmware was a first important step to know what to expect in the future, and it suggests they are trying to care for the masses but without a real desire to prevent tinkering. If they REALLY wanted to prevent rollbacks it would have been easy to do so, the way they've used is trivial to defeat.

 

[Kilrah]

Today's Mavic update does not have anti-rollback nor forced update, which confirms they haven't set about using that when not necessary.
...now if they could actually document WHY it's necessary they'd have much less resistance.

 

[Robbyg]

...now if they could actually document WHY it's necessary they'd have much less resistance.

Yeah that's DJI biggest problem right now. It was bad enough when they did not document stuff but at least we all had a level of trust that it was for our benefit.

As far as public relations goes DJI stands up and acts like nothing has happened, like the trust we had in them 6 months ago has not changed. They are in a complete fantasy land as to what the consumer is thinking and it's obvious because they do things like this forced update and think that there is absolutely no need to to take 30 minutes and put pen to paper and explain why.

Rob

 

[Kilrah]

Cultural problem. Unless they opened subsidiaries in various places and let them operate in ways that are expected in said palce that won't happen. And that won't likely happen either.

 

[Robbyg]

Cultural problem. Unless they opened subsidiaries in various places and let them operate in ways that are expected in said palce that won't happen. And that won't likely happen either.

Totally agree about the cultural differences but even smaller Chinese companies than DJI have at least learned to adapt to their consumer after a few hits from the big stick, but DJI seems to have learned nothing! That arrogance is gonna hit them in the butt if some other company releases a better drone platform.

Rob