Phantom Pilot App for Android really that bad?

[blade strike]

It's fairly obvious that the iOS application is preferred to dji as it probably uses less resources to maintain and develop for due to it being a closed ecosystem (just a guess, I have no knowledge of developing apps). However that seems to be alienating a large % of users that have android stuff. There public relations are absolutely awful, even a generic statement to say that they are working on it would probably be enough for me.

Please understand they will do their best to get android to perform the best that they can. I don't think anywhere they have posted the opposite.

 

[nv40]

It's fairly obvious that the iOS application is preferred to dji as it probably uses less resources to maintain and develop for due to it being a closed ecosystem (just a guess, I have no knowledge of developing apps). However that seems to be alienating a large % of users that have android stuff. There public relations are absolutely awful, even a generic statement to say that they are working on it would probably be enough for me.

Nailed it.

And Android user base is MUCH larger than apple worldwide.

 

[Stephan]

@blade strike in a previous thread you said the POI & Follow me etc would be native in the Pilot App soon. Whats happening with that?

 

[bbfpv]

@blade strike in a previous thread you said the POI & Follow me etc would be native in the Pilot App soon. Whats happening with that?

Coming soon.

 

[witold]

Nailed it.

And Android user base is MUCH larger than apple worldwide.

500 million people running $30 budget devices in India and China means nothing to DJI. You go where potential customers are, not where the crowds are. This is why a lot of stuff gets IOS priority. DJI is no exceptioneed in this regard.

 

[nv40]

500 million people running $30 budget devices in India and China means nothing to DJI. You go where potential customers are, not where the crowds are. This is why a lot of stuff gets IOS priority. DJI is no exceptioneed in this regard.

In north america alone the split is basically 50/50...do your research first. Unless you are calling all of north america a third world country. On top of that...studies show that more men use android than women...and technology oriented individuals prefer android over apple. So DJI's primary market....tech savvy, men, in developed countries...android has market share over apple.

Anything else?

EDIT:

Oh..COMPLETELY forgot to mention that a lot of people use tablets for these and not their phones. Well..android passed up apple in that department last year as well:

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/android-overtakes-ipad-tablet-market-share-gartner/

 

[King Luff]

500 million people running $30 budget devices in India and China means nothing to DJI. You go where potential customers are, not where the crowds are. This is why a lot of stuff gets IOS priority. DJI is no exceptioneed in this regard.

If your theory is correct, why release it at all?

 

[vegasfighterpilot]

Got my p3p today....flew great with 7" Nexus 7 tab. I hit the neighbors' roof...the computer took control and recovered! This stuff is almost as much fun as the F- 16 !!!

 

[vegasfighterpilot]

There is no doubt that DJI has the best out of the box experience. I appreciated that even more after buying a Solo

But the tablet framerate deal is a problem and I hope its resolved soon. I know there are a multitude of guys doing work arounds to get it to fly. The Play Services rollback is the most significant but cripples the tablet for other uses including the map function.

This might be the only thing I found to work better on Solo. Even at 2.1 miles out the video was much smoother than the P3.

Got my p3p today....flew great with 7" Nexus 7 tab. I hit the neighbors' roof...the computer took control and recovered! This stuff is almost as much fun as the F- 16 !!!

 

[Stephan]

@nv40 & @King Luff, I agree...
Some people are "just know it alls", no matter what the facts you put in front of them... its not worth your time to try and convince them otherwise...

 

[witold]

In north america alone the split is basically 50/50...do your research first. Unless you are calling all of north america a third world country. On top of that...studies show that more men use android than women...and technology oriented individuals prefer android over apple. So DJI's primary market....tech savvy, men, in developed countries...android has market share over apple.

Anything else?

It doesn't matter what the split is. Hence my point about a billion poor people using Android devices.

Here are some stats: These Maps Show That Android Is For People With Less Money

iPhone Users Earn Higher Income, Engage More on Apps than Android Users

Do you think Phantom and Inspire customers live in Newark or Manhattan?

Sure, the gap is narrowing but Apple still dominates the demographics for the sort of people who buy expensive toys. And yes, drones are toys, with the biggest user group being the same people who buy $4000 dSLRs. "Tripod in the Sky" with auto-takeoff and IOC that "flies itself" is hardly targeting "tech savvy men." Maybe 4 years ago, but not today. The handful of new P3 owners I know are not tech savvy in the least and Phantoms and Inspires are sold at camera stores.

I've always been an Android guy and I'm not a fan of Apple practices. It's not like I'm not rooting for Android. I am. But the reason why developers and companies get behind iOS are both logistical and economical. It's easiest to make things work on uniform iOS and there are more actual customers on iOS.

 

[nv40]

It doesn't matter what the split is. Hence my point about a billion poor people using Android devices.

Here are some stats: These Maps Show That Android Is For People With Less Money

iPhone Users Earn Higher Income, Engage More on Apps than Android Users

Do you think Phantom and Inspire customers live in Newark or Manhattan?

Sure, the gap is narrowing but Apple still dominates the demographics for the sort of people who buy expensive toys. And yes, drones are toys, with the biggest user group being the same people who buy $4000 dSLRs. "Tripod in the Sky" with auto-takeoff and IOC that "flies itself" is hardly targeting "tech savvy men." Maybe 4 years ago, but not today. The handful of new P3 owners I know are not tech savvy in the least and Phantoms and Inspires are sold at camera stores.

I've always been an Android guy and I'm not a fan of Apple practices. It's not like I'm not rooting for Android. I am. But the reason why developers and companies get behind iOS are both logistical and economical. It's easiest to make things work on uniform iOS and there are more actual customers on iOS.

My response is pretty simple.... for $1k a pop, either do it right or don't do it at all. You wanna treat android users as second class citizens...then just don't release an android app and say it is IOS only.

You can't crap out an inferior app and then tell customers "well, you aren't our primary targets". Either do it...and do it right...or don't do it at all.

You think chevy could get away with putting in a steering wheel that doesnt always turn right in the chevy volt because sales numbers are a FRACTION of what it sells/makes on their trucks?

I'd love to see that one "well...our primary market is trucks and gas cars...but we made an electric vehicle because a few people wanted one. yeah..we used inferior parts...we just don't care because that isn't our target market and man, it's hard to make new stuff work".

 

[witold]

My response is pretty simple.... for $1k a pop, either do it right or don't do it at all. You wanna treat android users as second class citizens...then just don't release an android app and say it is IOS only.

You can't crap out an inferior app and then tell customers "well, you aren't our primary targets". Either do it...and do it right...or don't do it at all.

I completely agree with you.

I've been battling my Android tablet for a month. Almost bricked my device.

DJI should specify exactly which Android devices work with without glitches.

But wait a second... Looks like they pulled a fast one on us. I just checked P3 specs on DJI page. It says:

Mobile App
DJI GO
Required Operating Systems

• iOS 8.0 or later

Recommended Devices

• iOS: iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, iPad Air, iPad Air Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 2 Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad Air 2, iPad Air 2 Wi-Fi + Cellular, iPad mini 3, and iPad mini 3 Wi-Fi + Cellular. This app is optimized for iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus
• Android version coming soon.

So according to DJI - as of August 7 - Phantom 3 IS in fact an iOS device ONLY. Android version is "coming soon." There is zero mention of the Pilot App. Have a look.

 

[Meta4]

So .. if you need the app you can get it from the Google store

 

[Panther6834]

Since receiving my P3P, I've been flying using a nexus 7 (2013) LTE, and I've had the same problems reported by other people...usually meaning that the app crashes every 2-3 flights, & the video feed is slightly choppy. As many others have discovered, just because a device isn't on DJI's "approved" list, that doesn't mean it won't work. Case in point: Asus ZenPad S 8.0

I recently purchased the just-released Asus ZenPad S 8.0 (currently only available from Best Buy, although others (B&H Photo, Amazon, etc) are taking pre-orders, & should be selling them soon), and while I've only used it for a single test flight, I will state that I encountered no problems whatsoever. For those not aware of the ZenPad S 8.0, it's among the first Android tablets to be running a 64-bit CPU. It's overall specs are considerably superior to the Nexus 7 (2013), and having compared the two tablets against each other, using the Android versions of 3DMark & PCMark, I can confirm that the ZenPad S 8.0 does, in fact, outperform the Nexus 7 (2013). One of the best selling points of the ZenPad S 8.0 is it's price...only $199 for the 32GB version (at the same time, I don't know if this is an "introductory price", or the permanent price).

It will be at least a few days before I can get in extra flights using the ZenPad S 8.0, but once I've got a few additional flights using it (still under the DJI Pilot app, unless the Android version of DJI Go gets released before then), I can update this forum regarding any problems discovered, if there are any.

 

[rrmccabe]

Yea please check back after a few flights. Be anxious to see the results.

Is the Pilot or Go app even 64 bit?

 

[bbfpv]

Yea please check back after a few flights. Be anxious to see the results.

Is the Pilot or Go app even 64 bit?

Nope. The performance increase he's getting is due to the fact he's running modern hardware.

 

[rrmccabe]

Well I am running modern hardware but mine sucks ! Hoping the Go App helps that

 

[nv40]

Since receiving my P3P, I've been flying using a nexus 7 (2013) LTE, and I've had the same problems reported by other people...usually meaning that the app crashes every 2-3 flights, & the video feed is slightly choppy. As many others have discovered, just because a device isn't on DJI's "approved" list, that doesn't mean it won't work. Case in point: Asus ZenPad S 8.0

I recently purchased the just-released Asus ZenPad S 8.0 (currently only available from Best Buy, although others (B&H Photo, Amazon, etc) are taking pre-orders, & should be selling them soon), and while I've only used it for a single test flight, I will state that I encountered no problems whatsoever. For those not aware of the ZenPad S 8.0, it's among the first Android tablets to be running a 64-bit CPU. It's overall specs are considerably superior to the Nexus 7 (2013), and having compared the two tablets against each other, using the Android versions of 3DMark & PCMark, I can confirm that the ZenPad S 8.0 does, in fact, outperform the Nexus 7 (2013). One of the best selling points of the ZenPad S 8.0 is it's price...only $199 for the 32GB version (at the same time, I don't know if this is an "introductory price", or the permanent price).

It will be at least a few days before I can get in extra flights using the ZenPad S 8.0, but once I've got a few additional flights using it (still under the DJI Pilot app, unless the Android version of DJI Go gets released before then), I can update this forum regarding any problems discovered, if there are any.

I havent really had app crashes...i simply get chop and lag/dropped frames. You are saying you noticed the video feed smooth, or just slightly better than the nexus?

 

[nv40]

Well I am running modern hardware but mine sucks ! Hoping the Go App helps that

Same