A cellular ipad will work perfectly even with no data plan or contract, you do not even have to have a sim installed, so no notifications etc, which I agree would be very annoying. We are always alert to strange noises, beeps etc when flying so do not want any extra noises.That's interesting. It seems that I remember that Apple uses data to fill in the gaps in Wi-Fi as well but as I type this I can't remember for sure and I can't find that setting on my phone so that's just going by memory.
But what's most interesting about it is that I never thought about this in terms of how it relates to using a Wi-Fi signal to control a drone. Sometimes you just plug-and-play, and then after-the-fact curiosity takes over.
In any case, not only do I want the increased screen size of an iPad to fly with, but I was specifically interested in something that did not have cellular data because I don't want the constant interruptions of notifications, phone calls, text messages…
What I hadn't taken into account at the time was it's inability to map. But now that's solved with tethering, and still don't get the pesky notifications.
Jeff
The cellular ipad has the gps chip on board which gives you the follow mode, and reset home point, you still have to cache the map.
I actually use a pay as you go data sim and notifications turned off,it uses very little data getting live maps, and I can immediately sync my flights when I land.