Tablet question

[bullerman1946]

I am confused on tablets. I have the Galaxy Tab A. I understand it has wi fi only. Do most fly with wi fi only or have tablets that have GPS. Can I do most everything with wi fi that I need to. I believe I have to have gps to do the follow me and get the maps feature which I don't know if I need or not. I bought the Galaxy Tab A thinking it would be all I need. Now I don't know. One of the flyers suggested a Samsung Galaxy S2. You can buy one on Ebay resonable. Thanks

Oh, one other question. When I turn on my transmitter and turn on drone and open the app on my tablet will a new home point be automatically be set and how do I know if it is. Still not clear on this.

 

[Loz]

Hi let me try answer a few points you have raised. Not sure which AC you are flying, however answers that shouldn’t matter. In short YES you can do pretty much everything needed to fly without having GPS in your tablet. The home point (and Return To Home / RTH) is determined by the GPS in the drone. On DJIGO app, shortly after you first start up the app linked to a powered drone, the AC GPS will find its position, send it to the app and record that as Home. The app will announce this verbally out loud.

The GPS on device can be used to update (change) HOME whilst in flight, if pilot moves from home / takeoff location and wishes AC to return to where Remote is now located (determined from GPS in device attached to remote) - this is a rare use for most, as most folk return to where they took off I’m pretty sure.

You asked if most fly wifi - that’s not quite relevant to other questions - some drones use built in wifi or a DJI specific variation of wifi known as lightbridge or Ocusync. These are methods of communication between drone and remote controller and operate quite independently of, and don’t require, GPS.
Hope this helps

 

[Oso]

I am confused on tablets. I have the Galaxy Tab A. I understand it has wi fi only.

FYI that your Tab A should have built in GPS as do most Android tablets.

When people say "WiFi only" with regards to a tablet, it is predominantly referring to iPads which don't all come with GPS. Only cellular enabled iPads have GPS whereas the "WiFi only" (non cellular) iPads do not have GPS.

 

[Meta4]

I am confused on tablets. I have the Galaxy Tab A. I understand it has wi fi only. Do most fly with wi fi only or have tablets that have GPS. Can I do most everything with wi fi that I need to. I believe I have to have gps to do the follow me and get the maps feature which I don't know if I need or not. I bought the Galaxy Tab A thinking it would be all I need. Now I don't know. One of the flyers suggested a Samsung Galaxy S2

If Apple put GPS in all iPads instead of only the cellular capable ones, this confusion would not exist.
Your tablet has GPS like just about all Android tablets.

Oh, one other question. When I turn on my transmitter and turn on drone and open the app on my tablet will a new home point be automatically be set and how do I know if it is. Still not clear on this.

Your Phantom has a perfectly good GPS receiver and it uses that to record the home point and tell where the Phantom is every 1/10th of a second.
Although your tablet has a GPS unit, the only things you can use it for with a Phantom are:

1. Follow-me flying - so the Phantom knows the position of what it's following
2. Reseting the homepoint to the current location of the controller - only used if you want to fly from a moving car, boat etc.

 

[bullerman1946]

Three great explanations. I understand a little more now. Think I will just keep my tablet. Sorry I didn't state I have the Standard model. I flew it in the back yard the other day. Didn't get but a few feet from where I took off and only ten feet or so off the ground. I wasn't sure if the home point had been set. I didn't notice if it verbally said it was recorded. Next time I fly I will listen. My next flight will be up at the school. It has a pretty good open size area. I am sure it will take me a while to learn. Thanks again

 

[PeterX]

Three great explanations. I understand a little more now. Think I will just keep my tablet. Sorry I didn't state I have the Standard model. I flew it in the back yard the other day. Didn't get but a few feet from where I took off and only ten feet or so off the ground. I wasn't sure if the home point had been set. I didn't notice if it verbally said it was recorded. Next time I fly I will listen. My next flight will be up at the school. It has a pretty good open size area. I am sure it will take me a while to learn. Thanks again

You will take care for wireless interferences if your bird flies near the school house if this house has a WIFI hotspot. Set the sound louder for listen the message of the Go app and after the message look for the right position of the home point on the map.

 

[bullerman1946]

Well since I am new to this maybe I better find somewhere else. I would probably be 300 feet or so away from the school. I will look for another spot. Thanks