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Tablet/Phone performance reviews with DJI Fly

gb160

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I thought with certain devices struggling with the demands of DJI Fly with the MA2, it would be good to have a thread where people can briefly describe their devices and how they perform with DJI Fly with the MA2.

The main reason is the iPad (2018 Cellular) is on sale atm, and im interested if anyone has any experience with this exact model, the price is good but obviously I don't want to shell out on a device that gets choppy live view.

Anyway my main flying device is an iPhone 7+.
I have to say it performs rather well, considering the hardware is a good few years old now...only time I ever got the cpu error is when I had caching on and was doing a screen capture.
 
It should perform identically to your iPhone 7+ because it's running the same processor.

Cheers for that buddy.
What's interesting is the 2019 iPad has the same processor, and that's £150 more atm.

And unless you're going for iPad Air or pro, the latest one from Apple also uses that processor.
 
Last edited:
I thought with certain devices struggling with the demands of DJI Fly with the MA2, it would be good to have a thread where people can briefly describe their devices and how they perform with DJI Fly with the MA2.

The main reason is the iPad (2018 Cellular) is on sale atm, and im interested if anyone has any experience with this exact model, the price is good but obviously I don't want to shell out on a device that gets choppy live view.

Anyway my main flying device is an iPhone 7+.
I have to say it performs rather well, considering the hardware is a good few years old now...only time I ever got the cpu error is when I had caching on and was doing a screen capture.
No need for cellular, since you can use your iPhone 7+ as a hotspot.
 
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Yeah but i'm terrified of crashing and FMD needs gps (which you only get on cellular).
The last known location will still be properly displayed by FMD based upon the last transmitted aircraft GPS, even without GPS in the iPad. You can then use your cell phone GPS to navigate to that location, while also activating the aircraft beeping, as long as the battery is still intact and on.
 
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The last known location will still be properly displayed by FMD based upon the last transmitted aircraft GPS, even without GPS in the iPad. You can then use your cell phone GPS to navigate to that location, while also activating the aircraft beeping, as long as the battery is still intact and on.
Oh I know that mate, but Id still prefer to have it all in house on one device personally.
 
Haha im a terrible pilot, I'm not ashamed to say....the feature was created for the likes of me!
Just a couple of observations. If the battery is still on to make any beeping noise, it is also still broadcasting its location to the app without any GPS needed in the iPad, and you can walk straight toward it using the compass in the iPad. If not, the last broadcasted location is still displayed on the screen, and that's usually exactly where you will find it. The FMD feature really doesn't add anything new to finding a lost drone, where GPS is required in the tablet itself.
 
@gb160
I'd go for iPad mini 4 - as far as I know there were issues with it but with US ADS-B version only
or
mini 5 to be safe :)
personally I've got iPad 2019 model (didnt try it with MA2 as yet), mini 4 128GB WiFi - flown MA2 for roughly 1 hour without any issues even with video cache on and mini 5 64GB WiFi - roughly 20 minutes in the air without issues
 
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@gb160
I'd go for iPad mini 4 - as far as I know there were issues with it but with US ADS-B version only
or
mini 5 to be safe :)
personally I've got iPad 2019 model (didnt try it with MA2 as yet), mini 4 128GB WiFi - flown MA2 for roughly 1 hour without any issues even with video cache on and mini 5 64GB WiFi - roughly 20 minutes in the air without issues
Mini 4 I’m only going to be able to get used now.
If money wasn’t an issue I’d go for mini5, but right now the 2018 iPad is over £100 off at curry’s, cellular is £299, mimi5 is a lot more than that, looking at well over £400 atm.

I appreciate your input though mate, cheers.
 
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Mini 4 I’m only going to be able to get used now.
If money wasn’t an issue I’d go for mini5, but right now the 2018 iPad is over £100 off at curry’s, cellular is £299, mimi5 is a lot more than that, looking at well over £400 atm.

I appreciate your input though mate, cheers.
I'm selling my mini 4 for roughly £230 if so :)
 
I use a 10.5" iPad Pro with the A10X chip (released June 2017) for both the Mavic 2 Pro (Go4) and Mavic Air 2 (DJI Fly). No issues whatsoever. I do turn off video cache while flying though, but not because of performance. I don't need the cached video filling up the tablet's storage unnecessarily.

I also screen record on occasion - via Apple's native app - and it has no issues there either.
 
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