Tablet Issues With Phantom 4 Pro (I tried to be descriptive, little wordy)

[DaveN18]

I am very new to DJI products. I have been using Draganfly drones over the past few months with the college I attend, however, recently I purchased a Phantom 4 Pro+. The controller it came with does not support 3rd party apps (dronedeploy, Pix4d, ect...) but works very well with the built-in DJI Go app. I have not had any issues using that controller for videos or images but need to do some mapping missions.

After purchasing a regular phantom 4 pro controller I used my phone (Samsung Galaxy S7) which works fine connecting to the DJI Go4 app, Pix4d Capture, and DroneDeploy (although there seems to be an issues when I go to run the mission I always get an error about waypoints). I decided to stick with android and bought a Galaxy S2 Tablet (9.7"), and the tablet just does not work well. I've researched about switching the developer settings with debugging and changing the USB from MTB or something to another setting (RNS... I forget the actual name) and always clearing the defaults of whichever app you use.

Here is where things go downhill, and maybe I am doing something wrong, but this is my process.

• Power on the controller
• Power on the drone
• Tablet is on, defaults cleared and the settings above are applied
• Connect Tablet to Controller

Once I've done this I get the pop-up on the bottom of the tablet asking what app I want to use as default (most of the time this pop-up flashes then disappears, and to get it back I have to power down everything and restart). In the pop-up I choose DJI GO4 to check the firmware is up to date and change any settings needed. Then I would close the app completely, disconnect the tablet, and reconnect to try out DroneDeploy (Which I believe no longer supports the Galaxy S2) Pix4d (was never able to connect to the drone once in the app), or even DJI Go4 again (which most of the time would not find the drone again and have to power everything down).

It seems like people had issues in the past with the Galaxy S2 tablets and Samsung products not working with DJI or the 3rd party apps. So, my questions would be: Is there a fix to the Galaxy S2 Tablet? Am I doing something wrong or missing a step?

OR


Should I just switch to an Apple product, get the cellular tablet only for the GPS and not active the cellular service?

What are other people using as a tablet and having great success?

 

[Meta4]

Should I just switch to an Apple product, get the cellular tablet only for the GPS and not active the cellular service?
What are other people using as a tablet and having great success?

Sorry ... can't help with the Samsung tablet
I use the Huawei M3 and it just works without any issues.
If you got an iPad, do you have a particular reason to get one with GPS?
GPS in the tablet is only useful for two things:
Follow-me flight .. and
Resetting the Phantom's homepoint to the current location of the controller (used if you are flying from a moving car, boat, etc)

 

[DaveN18]

Sorry ... can't help with the Samsung tablet
I use the Huawei M3 and it just works without any issues.
If you got an iPad, do you have a particular reason to get one with GPS?
GPS in the tablet is only useful for two things:
Follow-me flight .. and
Resetting the Phantom's homepoint to the current location of the controller (used if you are flying from a moving car, boat, etc)

I thought I would need the GPS capability in order to use downloaded maps offline where there is no wifi or internet. I guess I'm just not sure what I would need to run mapping missions with dronedeploy or pix4d in an area with no service. I know you can download maps for offline use, but I thought you would need some sort of GPS in the phone or tablet in order for the drone to know where it is.

 

[Meta4]

I thought I would need the GPS capability in order to use downloaded maps offline where there is no wifi or internet. I guess I'm just not sure what I would need to run mapping missions with dronedeploy or pix4d in an area with no service. I know you can download maps for offline use, but I thought you would need some sort of GPS in the phone or tablet in order for the drone to know where it is.

GPS gives location details - not maps.
You can download maps over wifi at home or by hotspotting from your phone.

 

[ravedog]

To add to Meta4: the drone has its own GPS. The only reason you need a GPS in your tablet is follow me mode which has been replaced by one of the intelligent modes Active Track.

 

[ravedog]

This what’s wrong with my mobile device has been beaten into the ground. It’s generally understood that DJI has two dev teams. iOS. And android. And it always appears that iOS is more stable than their android brethren. You will find isolated examples of android working fine (mostly phones not tablets) but you’ll find if you search here that a lot of people overal find more stability with iOS. If you have an aversion to Apple, I’d put it aside and try it. You might find it more robust in the long run.

 

[Meta4]

It’s generally understood that DJI has two dev teams. iOS. And android. And it always appears that iOS is more stable than their android brethren. You will find isolated examples of android working fine (mostly phones not tablets) but you’ll find if you search here that a lot of people overal find more stability with iOS. If you have an aversion to Apple, I’d put it aside and try it. You might find it more robust in the long run.

That's a common misconception and it's based on observations of DJI Go running on sub-standard Android tablets.
DJI Go has always been a resource hungry program but over time it has become bloated and needs a faster tablet with more RAM than it used to.
Run it on a machine that isn't up to the task and you get poor performance - whether you fly Apple or Android.
I fly a Huawei M3 which is a moderately fast tablet with 4 GB of RAM and it runs very smoothly.

 

[Neon Euc]

That's a common misconception and it's based on observations of DJI Go running on sub-standard Android tablets.
DJI Go has always been a resource hungry program but over time it has become bloated and needs a faster tablet with more RAM than it used to.
Run it on a machine that isn't up to the task and you get poor performance - whether you fly Apple or Android.
I fly a Huawei M3 which is a moderately fast tablet with 4 GB of RAM and it runs very smoothly.

Totally agree with meta. I used phones with 2GB of ram and although it does the job there are issues now and again. Moved to 3GB of ram on another phone and it's flawless. No lag or anything. Got a 4GB of ram phone but can't use it yet due to its raining.

However I would like to add that all my devices are unheard brands that are not listed on the site. So if you see a tablet that's not listed, don't assume it's not going to be compatible. After all a lot of galaxy S9 complaints are listed on the app store saying it's not compatible even tho DJI says it is (in a way it is but apparently screen resize issue is happening)

Basically I would say anything with 2GB or ram or higher and 1.5GHZ processor or higher will be fine. I would recommend a minimum of 3GB of ram and also a minimum of 1.7GHZ processor to get the job done perfectly

I would recommend this from AliExpress as it will be just what you need and save paying lots for an un-needed Apple device

 

[Scottie74]

Sorry ... can't help with the Samsung tablet
I use the Huawei M3 and it just works without any issues.
If you got an iPad, do you have a particular reason to get one with GPS?
GPS in the tablet is only useful for two things:
Follow-me flight .. and
Resetting the Phantom's homepoint to the current location of the controller (used if you are flying from a moving car, boat, etc)

I use the same Huawei m3, and had lots of trouble connecting!! But then found that I need to hit don't connect, charge only on start up!! Since that was figured out, zero problems!! I use my tablet exclusively for my Phantom, and it works great!!