Tablet buying considerations, advice requested

[Wyoming]

I am at the buy point now for a MP, first time drone owner. I live in an area of Wyoming with minimal cell coverage and expect 99% of drone usage to occur without access to cell phone signal. This part of wyoming has millions of acres of public land consisting of dessert and forested mountains, 250,000 acre section of which sits 50 feet from my house, but essentially no cell service except near a few towns. So the tablet would be wi-fi only and mostly connecting through home wifi unless traveling and could access through a hot spot. Intended use of MP is videography of the mountains, canyons, documenting horse back riding trips, and scouting routes for hiking and horse trips.

Trying to decide what are the most important factors in buying a tablet for the drone and which are necessary given the situation i am in. Never owned a tablet so minimal knowledge of the brands or features

1.Cost of course, but if i needed to spend $300+ i suppose I would for a IPAD 4 MINI, but want to avoid over spending for this purpose. are the ipads mini 2 or 3 just as good as the 4 for this use?
2. Apple vs samsung (or other). Have impression that the IPads are more reliable for this purpose.
3. Screen resolution. have seen a post where someone uses a samsung galaxy tab 2 as it was stated to be the largest tablet to fit in the RC, but it has a resolution of 1024 x 600. perhaps is enough for good FPV but don't really know if higher such as on Ipad mins is better for my uses.
4. Glare, is this an important factor? any of the tablets superior in terms of coatings on the glass to minimize glare or improve visability of screen?
5. Memory, seems like not important factor as the video is recorded to the MP. 16 gb is plenty?
6. any other factor? hope it;s a easy decision.
thank you for any input

Will be readily sharing videos of this neck of the woods!
Bud

 

[NaiveFlight]

Whatever you get, you need to somehow connect your tablet to the web if you switch NFZ zones so the stupid app updates the nfz zone data... You can tether your phone or wifi if available in the area... Very very inconvenient... Good luck

 

[Nikon1]

I have an iPad Mini 4 so that's my experience vs an iPhone 7+:

1) Many people have said the Mini 2 is "laggy" when viewing the data streaming from the bird.

2) Reading numerous posts about many Android based platforms, it seems that DJI writes for the iOS platform. This is just my opinion, reading through many problems that seem to be based on incompatibility between DJI software and some flavors of Android.

3) Afraid I cannot advise you there. The iPad Mini 4 has outstanding resolution and color.

4) I bought a mount that attaches into the Mavic RC and raises the iPad off the RC and allows me to install a Hoodman anti-glare screen over the iPad 4 to block out outside light and allow me to really see what my Mavic is seeing.

5) IMO - Memory is always "More is Better"

YMMV

 

[NaiveFlight]

I have never had an app crash or lag on my note 5. But the Samsung tab e is worthless and lags. It seems ram and processor is whst you should be after in whatever tablet. You get

 

[Wyoming]

Thanks for the replies. Seems to confirm the preference for the IOS route. Nikon 1, can you share more on the mount that raises the tablet in order to use the hoodman?
thank you
'bud

 

[bowens44]

I use a Nvidia Shield K1. Love it. Use both the DJI Go 4 App and Litchi. I have had no problems what so ever. Ordered on Amazon Prime Now for 199.99 and had it delivered to my house in less than 3 hours.

No cellular but unlike Apple minis without cellular, it does have GPS and can take up to a 256GB micro SD card


NETWORK Technology No cellular connectivity
LAUNCH Announced 2015, November
Status Available. Released 2015, November
BODY Dimensions 221 x 126 x 9.2 mm (8.70 x 4.96 x 0.36 in)
Weight 356 g (12.56 oz)
SIM No
- Stylus
DISPLAY Type IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 8.0 inches (~66.6% screen-to-body ratio)
Resolution 1920 x 1200 pixels (~283 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
PLATFORM OS Android 6.0 (Marshmallow), upgradable to 7.0 (Nougat)
Chipset Nvidia Tegra K1
CPU Quad-core 2.2 GHz Cortex-A15
GPU ULP GeForce Kepler (192 cores)
MEMORY Card slot microSD, up to 256 GB (dedicated slot)
Internal 16 GB, 2 GB RAM
CAMERA Primary 5 MP, autofocus
Features Geo-tagging, touch focus, HDR
Video Yes
Secondary 5 MP, HDR
SOUND Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes, with stereo speakers
3.5mm jack Yes
- Dual bass reflex port
COMMS WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band
Bluetooth 4.0, A2DP, LE
GPS Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
Radio No
USB microUSB 2.0
FEATURES Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, compass
Messaging Email, Push Email, IM
Browser HTML5
Java No
- HDMI port
- MP4/H.264 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
- Photo/video editor
- Document viewer
BATTERY Non-removable Li-Ion 5200 mAh battery (19.75 Wh)
MISC Colors Black

 

[Rabid Machina]

You don't need an active internet connection to fly your drone. You can cache all map data and nfz zones from your house where you have wi-fi. So no worries there. I use a 6S+so that is the extent of my experience with an attached device. As far as tablets go, it is debatable. As stated above iOS is probably going to be your best bet.

 

[Wyoming]

checked on the K1 shield 8" just now but not in stock at amazon or best buy and best buy doesn't expect future stock of it so not sure if it available going for forward. I like the price point of course vs the mini 4.

I see the mention that the shield has GPS and the mini does not. There was mention in another thread that having a GPS capability in the view device attached to the RC is helpful in using the drone, but not critical, but no further detail on what problems might occur without GPS. Hoping i could get more info on this point. Not clear that those using the ipad mini are doing so without access to cellular or WiFi service when flying the MP.

 

[Rabid Machina]

checked on the K1 shield 8" just now but not in stock at amazon or best buy and best buy doesn't expect future stock of it so not sure if it available going for forward. I like the price point of course vs the mini 4.

I see the mention that the shield has GPS and the mini does not. There was mention in another thread that having a GPS capability in the view device attached to the RC is helpful in using the drone, but not critical, but no further detail on what problems might occur without GPS. Hoping i could get more info on this point. Not clear that those using the ipad mini are doing so without access to cellular or WiFi service when flying the MP.

This is a good point, since the iPhone has GPS and does not need a connection for it to continue work.

 

[NaiveFlight]

Everytime I change location im asked to s

You don't need an active internet connection to fly your drone. You can cache all map data and nfz zones from your house where you have wi-fi. So no worries there. I use a 6S+so that is the extent of my experience with an attached device. As far as tablets go, it is debatable. As stated above iOS is probably going to be your best bet.

Everytime I change location I am asked to connect to web on my tablet, I am asked to update the nfz zone.

On my phone too... But you can see the inconvenience I'm sure

 

[Rabid Machina]

Well I connect to my RC at my flight location before turning on airplane mode, so that may be the case as to why I don't get that notification. I have gotten the NFZ when I change batteries, you can just hit no and continue on.

 

[jcarloacsay]

Go with iPad mini 4 with cellular or the iPad 2017 with cellular.

 

[Wyoming]

Without having access to a drone or ever used one, this is a difficult point to understand and is potentially a deal killer. There is a thread on the .800 firmware that went into detail about whether internet access was needed every time the drone was used at a new location. If the DJI app is not turned off (closed), and even if the device might be turned on and off) then i think the conclusion was that internet service is not needed when changing locations. Whether the device (phone/tablet) required GPS access was not mentioned if i recall correctly.

My typical use could be many occasions of multiple use locations of the drone when continuously out of range of cell service when going to different locations to fly the drone.

Hope to hear from someone that knows if the drone can be used with a tablet that does not have GPS capability (ipad mini) and does not access the internet via cellular service.

thank you
Bud

 

[Rabid Machina]

Ideally you are going to want a device with GPS capability, or you will want to tether to a device with an active connection or GPS capabilities.

Again I use a iPhone 6S+ so it is GPS capable, therefore does not require an active connection for that function to work. I however, fly in airplane mode due to interference the phone creates when a message or incoming call comes in causing intermittent connectivity issues with the app and controller.

But, I do so after arriving at my location as to access the latest geological information available before going into airplane mode. GPS function is still active in airplane mode.

I haven't flown with .800 so I cannot comment on that, but It would seem counterproductive of them to make that a requirement since there are so many issues with app to controller connectivity.

Hope this helps.

 

[niallxd]

I am at the buy point now for a MP, first time drone owner. I live in an area of Wyoming with minimal cell coverage and expect 99% of drone usage to occur without access to cell phone signal. This part of wyoming has millions of acres of public land consisting of dessert and forested mountains, 250,000 acre section of which sits 50 feet from my house, but essentially no cell service except near a few towns. So the tablet would be wi-fi only and mostly connecting through home wifi unless traveling and could access through a hot spot. Intended use of MP is videography of the mountains, canyons, documenting horse back riding trips, and scouting routes for hiking and horse trips.

Trying to decide what are the most important factors in buying a tablet for the drone and which are necessary given the situation i am in. Never owned a tablet so minimal knowledge of the brands or features

1.Cost of course, but if i needed to spend $300+ i suppose I would for a IPAD 4 MINI, but want to avoid over spending for this purpose. are the ipads mini 2 or 3 just as good as the 4 for this use?
2. Apple vs samsung (or other). Have impression that the IPads are more reliable for this purpose.
3. Screen resolution. have seen a post where someone uses a samsung galaxy tab 2 as it was stated to be the largest tablet to fit in the RC, but it has a resolution of 1024 x 600. perhaps is enough for good FPV but don't really know if higher such as on Ipad mins is better for my uses.
4. Glare, is this an important factor? any of the tablets superior in terms of coatings on the glass to minimize glare or improve visability of screen?
5. Memory, seems like not important factor as the video is recorded to the MP. 16 gb is plenty?
6. any other factor? hope it;s a easy decision.
thank you for any input

Will be readily sharing videos of this neck of the woods!
Bud

Hello!

I’ve flown with all sorts of tablets & phones so hopefully I can help!

1- iPad mini 4 is the best device of the mini range. You won’t notice much difference between the 3 and 4. The mini 2(I had one) was slightly laggy on few occasions. All maps can be loaded before you leave. Tether to a mobile device for gps.

2- Apple 100%. There is a reason they sell DJI gear on the Apple website. My friend uses Android with all sorts of issues.

3- 1920x1080 is more than enough. Any higher is a waste of pixels. The mavic pushes 1080/720 during live feed. Your 1920x1080 is more than enough.

4- All screens a pretty crap in sun light. Invest in a sun shield. The iPad mini 4 produces 450 nits. Probably the best in apples lineup apart from the new iPad Pro 10.5” which sports a super bright 600 nit super low glare display. But that will run you £620 for a 64GB model.

5- Is suggest 32GB for a dedicated Mavic tablet and 64GB for a normal use(Facebook, etc etc).

6- I don’t like the mounts that hold the tablet on your mavic controller. It blocks the LCD. I fly with a 12.9” iPad Pro which I mount to a tripod(DIY job). If I want to mavic on the go I use my iPhone 7+.

Where ever I fly with my iPad I don’t use any internet connection.

You should have a look at the Apple store. See what suits you.

Any more questions let me know.

Niall

 

[Wyoming]

HI Niall.

I think that the ipads are not functional for use in areas without cell service as they lack an internal GPS function. Also, no point in me tethering any tablet to a cell phone/hot spot because there is no cell service available in most areas that i would be flying the drone in Wyoming. As i understand it, ( though far from certain), GPS location is needed at the initiation of a flight in order for the GO4 APP to remove the NFZ restrictions. I wish i was certain about this. Can you speak to this?

At the the moment researching the use of a Nvadia K1 tablet (WIFI only) which has a internal GPS function which would allow the use of the drone in areas without cell service. There are issues with the tablet crashing with the Go4 app, and the tablet does not fit the RC, so concerns that need to be addressed to use this tablet

thank you
Bud

 

[Rabid Machina]

According to this if you tether you will pull GPS info as well.

Does Tethered iPhone Send GPS to Wi-Fi iPad?

 

[kona]

Question about tablets without GPS and cellular data (e.g., the new iPad Pro): is this only an issue with the latest firmware update? Can I overrule it with older firmwares? I always check for NFZ zones with the B4UFLY app anyway.

I'm getting the new iPad Pro in part because of the 600 nits screen and using it for my Mavic. But I don't want to pay extra for cellular data.

 

[Rabid Machina]

I believe wifi + cellular models have GPS capability.

 

[Tas47]

but no further detail on what problems might occur without GPS. Hoping i could get more info on this point.

Some features like 'Follow Me' and moving home point require GPS. That aside I've not had any related issues using a non GPS Android tablet. (FNF iFive mini 4s)