P4P+ Controller... What I know & What I don't know yet

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In playing with the P4P+ controller for over a week now I can say I've figured out most things, but some things I'm still stumped.

Here is what I have figured out:

- It works in -15 Celsius /5 Fahrenheit weather with no issues.
- Massively bright in direct sunlight, even in winter when the snow is reflecting off the ground (a real challenge for a normal phone or tablet).
- When indoors, swipe down from the top and select AUTO brightness. When outdoors swipe down from the top and select SRE for the brightest screen possible in sunlight.
- At home set up two WIFI connections. One to your home network and one to your mobile phone (turn mobile hotspot on with your phone). This way when you are indoors it will connect to your home network and when your outdoors it will connect to your phone. Both are done automatically without you knowing it. The data connection gives you maps & social network sharing access.
- Fastest way to access the SETTINGS menu is via swiping down from the top of the screen and selecting the GEAR icon.
- Since the "P4P+" controller is running on Android, swiping up from the bottom reveals 4 icons. On the far left is the DOWN icon to remove all icons. Next is the LEFT POINTING TRIANGLE which means go back one screen. Next is the CIRCLE which means take me back to the HOME screen, finally there is the SQUARE which means, show me all the applications currently running (you can jump from DJI GO 4 to TWITTER to FACEBOOK, etc).
- If there is an UPDATE for the CONTROLLER, ANDROID or DJI GO 4 APP, you need to swipe down from the top and select the GEAR icon (settings). Next scroll down and select ABOUT DEVICE, then select SYSTEM UPDATES, then CHECK FOR UPDATES. If there is a new DJI GO 4 APP or an update to the Controller or an update to ANDROID, this is where it will be.
- If there is an UPDATE for the Phantom 4 Pro, it will show on the DJI GO 4 APP main screen.
- Like any ANDROID device you can enable DEVELOPER OPTIONS by going to the ABOUT DEVICE (mentioned above), then scrolling down to SYSTEM VERSION and tapping on it approx 7 times. This enables a whole set of new features.

Here is what I can't figure out:

- If you place a blank Micro SD card into the controller it will recognize it and MOUNT it. However, like all ANDROID devices, you normally have the option to save items on the card. The only options I found were to move APPLICATIONS to the micro SD Card. You could move FACEBOOK, TWITTER the DJI GO 4 APP to the micro SD to free up space if you wished to free up space on the controller.... but what about saving photos and video to the card, there is no option for this?
- You can SCREEN CAPTURE anything just by swiping down from the top and selecting the SCREEN CAPTURE icon. Images are saved to the GALLERY. You can edit the photos and share them via social media, but I can't figure out how you could just save them to the external micro SD card. Any ideas?
- You can use the WEB BROWSER to browse the internet and even download ANDROID Applications (which are .APK files). They will download to the DOWNLOAD directory and you can even begin to install them... However before the install completes it always says... insufficient space.... free up more space before installing. There is plenty of space, yet I just can't get Applications to install. Any ideas?
- If you attempt to watch a video using the ANDROID GALLERY, the video will play back but stutter now and then. But if you play the video back via the ALBUM, it reduces the video quality and it plays back fine. This is Strange. What is more strange is that compared to any other device (phone or tablet) there is almost zero latency on the P4P+ display... so graphic horsepower is not an issue. Must be a software problem.

If you've figured out solutions to the above or discovered more items, post them in this thread.
 
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Can you do a latency test and show us the results? I'm curious if the Android device really does provide 180ms latency as advertised.

Like this?

upload_2016-12-19_20-24-27.png
 
I thought you couldn't have other apps on the P4P+ screen?
You can use other pre-installed apps. It's not possible to install additional apps though.
 
SPEED TEST of the P4P+ Display.... or as we call it, "a screen latency test".

As I noted, the latency on the P4P+ is extremely low.... result is below: P4P is pointing at the iPAD with the STOPWATCH. What the P4P views is transmitted to the PLUS CONTROLLER in super fast time. The photo was taken as the iPAD was showing 2.5 seconds. The PLUS was showing 2.25 seconds. So... a quarter of a second behind perhaps?


SPEED1.jpg


SPEED2.jpg
 
SPEED TEST of the P4P+ Display.... or as we call it, "a screen latency test".

As I noted, the latency on the P4P+ is extremely low.... result is below: P4P is pointing at the iPAD with the STOPWATCH. What the P4P views is transmitted to the PLUS CONTROLLER in super fast time. The photo was taken as the iPAD was showing 2.5 seconds. The PLUS was showing 2.25 seconds. So... a quarter of a second behind perhaps?


View attachment 71291

View attachment 71293
So the plus monitor is slightly faster than the Ipad is what your saying right?
 
In the near future I'll do a quick comparison latency test. The only drones I have are the Mavic Pro, Typhoon H & the P4P+. I'll put a short latency video together showing them all in the same controlled test.
 
So the plus monitor is slightly faster than the Ipad is what your saying right?

Not really. The iPAD is doing nothing more than providing the display of the Stopwatch. What is displayed on the iPAD screen is viewed by the camera on the P4P and sent to the controller display. I then snap a photo of both the iPAD display and the P4P display. If there was zero latency, then the display on the controller would be identical to that of the iPAD. But, there is always latency caused by transmission, reception, and speed of producing an image.

My picture just gives a general indication of latency. Someone else may do the same test and get a different result due to all the variables. Same is true for those who purchased the non P4P+ controller. If you have a super fast phone or tablet you'd more than likely also get a low latency result... But if someone else does the same test with slightly different equipment (phone, cable, memory, interference, etc), the results could be different.
 
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Here is my "non-scientific" video latency test of the Phantom 4 Pro, Mavic Pro and the Typhoon H.

Some of you may get different results. I wish I knew what DJI was doing for their video lag tests because as we've seen in their flight range tests, they get much different results then the general public.

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