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Android or ios?

Hemphog

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Dec 23, 2018
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14
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46
I'm an android user and recently got into flying my spark. I put one of my older 8" Samsung tablets on and love it compared to my s8+. As I said it's an older tablet and battery life isn't very good, it actually died today while I was flying and it made me want to get something new to use for my flying. I found a iPad 9.7" and the Samsung galaxy tab s3. Does having ios work better than Android or Android work better than ios? I'm curious what your experience has been with them if you have used both. Thanks
 
Does having ios work better than Android or Android work better than ios?
Android devices can run just as well as Apple devices if you choose a device that has good specs. If you choose a device with poor specs, you should expect subpar performance.

Not sure what to use? You can find a list of recommended and commonly used devices here:

Best Tablets and Phones for DJI GO (Updated Daily)
 
I have run an Android Galaxy S9 phone, the most CPU and RAM capable unit out there. I use an OTG cable, never WiFi. I usually get at least one stoppage per flight....I also have a Samsung 580 Tablet A which has has some magnetism issues with my Mavic controller... (different topic), as well as random stoppages. I do all the precautionary preflight routines.... Shut down WiFi, force kill all apps, Airplane mode, set all notifications to be stopped, double check that either Litchi or Go4 (whichever one I'm NOT going to use) is force stopped, and deselected as Default app. I shut off caching video in Go4..... everything I can possibly do to run as cleanly as possible, and it still crashes. So.... I just got a new Ipad Mini 4 128 gig WiFi only, that I have stripped of anything NOT flying related. No browser, no Email, nothing. So, I've only had occasion to test it briefly, as we just got 14" of snow here in northern PA overnite, and temps plunging below zero tonight.... :( I'll be grounded for awhile.
DJI sez on the side of every drone box... "Optimized for iPhone", so I have to assume they cannot possibly be on top of every new Android firmware release, as well as hundreds of new and existing Android products, and force their Drones to play well with every Android variable. So... I'm abandoning the Droids. Here's hoping that I'll have a better track record with the Ipad. There was a post a few days ago by a guy mentioning (tongue and cheek) his gambling addiction...
Right now, I feel that every flight is a gamble on whether that bird is coming home or not. I have drama every flight with my Androids.
 
I have run an Android Galaxy S9 phone, the most CPU and RAM capable unit out there. I use an OTG cable, never WiFi. I usually get at least one stoppage per flight....I also have a Samsung 580 Tablet A which has has some magnetism issues with my Mavic controller... (different topic), as well as random stoppages. I do all the precautionary preflight routines.... Shut down WiFi, force kill all apps, Airplane mode, set all notifications to be stopped, double check that either Litchi or Go4 (whichever one I'm NOT going to use) is force stopped, and deselected as Default app. I shut off caching video in Go4..... everything I can possibly do to run as cleanly as possible, and it still crashes. So.... I just got a new Ipad Mini 4 128 gig WiFi only, that I have stripped of anything NOT flying related. No browser, no Email, nothing. So, I've only had occasion to test it briefly, as we just got 14" of snow here in northern PA overnite, and temps plunging below zero tonight.... :( I'll be grounded for awhile.
DJI sez on the side of every drone box... "Optimized for iPhone", so I have to assume they cannot possibly be on top of every new Android firmware release, as well as hundreds of new and existing Android products, and force their Drones to play well with every Android variable. So... I'm abandoning the Droids. Here's hoping that I'll have a better track record with the Ipad. There was a post a few days ago by a guy mentioning (tongue and cheek) his gambling addiction...
Right now, I feel that every flight is a gamble on whether that bird is coming home or not. I have drama every flight with my Androids.
Thanks for the breakdown.... That's what I was looking for, someone that has tried both since I am going to buy it just for this. I'm really curious how you make out with the new iPad. If you wouldn't mind updating me on your experience when you fly again. I would appreciate it.

And on a side note holey [emoji90] lol it got cold fast here in NYC as well but we dodged the snow.
 
will do. I'm sure there are guys doing well with Android. Btw... my phone, Galaxy S9, us on the official list as a "100% good guy" phone. That has not been my experience, unfortunately. If anyone knows any preflight rituals I left out, please fill me in. I have also gone into developer mode, stopped animations, etc, as was posted previously.
Another Droid problem is that when using the OTG cable, the phone/tablet actually CHARGES from your controller's battery. This saps the life out of my Mavic RC.... the Spark's seems to do a little better, but Iphones/Ipads do NOT charge off of the RC battery. There is a You Tube video claiming that cutting the BLACK wire in your cable will disable charging. Yes, it disables charging, but it also leaves the phone unrecognized by the RC....:(
I tried the trick with an old cable, and once the black wire was cut, I could not connect, no matter how I tried to change up the sequence of connecting.
Thanks for the breakdown.... That's what I was looking for, someone that has tried both since I am going to buy it just for this. I'm really curious how you make out with the new iPad. If you wouldn't mind updating me on your experience when you fly again. I would appreciate it.

And on a side note holey [emoji90] lol it got cold fast here in NYC as well but we dodged the snow.
 
will do. I'm sure there are guys doing well with Android. Btw... my phone, Galaxy S9, us on the official list as a "100% good guy" phone. That has not been my experience, unfortunately. If anyone knows any preflight rituals I left out, please fill me in. I have also gone into developer mode, stopped animations, etc, as was posted previously.
Another Droid problem is that when using the OTG cable, the phone/tablet actually CHARGES from your controller's battery. This saps the life out of my Mavic RC.... the Spark's seems to do a little better, but Iphones/Ipads do NOT charge off of the RC battery. There is a You Tube video claiming that cutting the BLACK wire in your cable will disable charging. Yes, it disables charging, but it also leaves the phone unrecognized by the RC....:(
I tried the trick with an old cable, and once the black wire was cut, I could not connect, no matter how I tried to change up the sequence of connecting.
I've had good luck with my galaxy s8+and my galaxy tablet but it's old now lol. And it may have been luck lol
 
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Im running a two year old samsung galaxy prime android (version 7.1.1) with short otg cable that came with the spark, havent had any issues.
 
Using a five years old iPad mini2 dedicated for the
Spark. All unnecessary apps were deleted and a
good "switching-off" of almost all options in the
settings. With all resources free for DJI GO 4, it is
still working perfectly without any issues.
... OTG connection, of course...
 
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Using a five years old iPad mini2 dedicated for the
Spark. All unnecessary apps were deleted and a
good "switching-off" of almost all options in the
settings. With all resources free for DJI GO 4, it is
still working perfectly without any issues.
... OTG connection, of course...
hoping for the same with my new Mini 4. Question: being a new user, To force kill apps, do I double click the home button, then swipe up any icons??? Any other ways to kill apps,
 
hoping for the same with my new Mini 4. Question: being a new user, To force kill apps, do I double click the home button, then swipe up any icons??? Any other ways to kill apps,
You "touch and hold" on one app and all icons
will eventually begin to shake. Then you'll see
an X on removable apps. Even some Apple apps,
like health, watch, wallet, podcast, etc... can be
remove. Don't forget to switch-off the bunch of
options in almost all categories in the settings.
They are resources eager.
 
I'm an android user and recently got into flying my spark. I put one of my older 8" Samsung tablets on and love it compared to my s8+. As I said it's an older tablet and battery life isn't very good, it actually died today while I was flying and it made me want to get something new to use for my flying. I found a iPad 9.7" and the Samsung galaxy tab s3. Does having ios work better than Android or Android work better than ios? I'm curious what your experience has been with them if you have used both. Thanks


IOS just seems to have less dropouts.
 
As I read this I too have all Apple Devices that I use will my Spark IPhones 7,7s, 10xs and a iPad Pro 10.5 with OTG cable. It strikes me funny that DJI them selfs sell and promote Android look at the Crystal Sky and their New Smart Controllers both are Android bases. So why do the Apple products work better than my Android tablets? I just a funny thing to me.
 
I use an old Samsung S5 (Android 6) with OTG. Never had a problem. Didn't do anything special to get it working.

I must check if it charges from the RC...?
 
I haven't used any apple phones/tablets myself...diehard android user here. I did have issues with my Samsung S8+ over the past week. After a few emails back and forth with DJI tech support....no luck with them...I figured out that if you have developer options on, you'll get a restart loop with the DJI Go 4 app. After turning that off, everything worked fine again. I've also used the OTG cable with my Samsung S8+, S6 and Tab 4 10.1. All of them with different android versions on them. I've closed down apps that I wasn't using, but never turned off WiFi or bluetooth. Haven't had any drop outs or gray screens while flying. Of course I haven't flown past 400 feet up and I've always kept my Spark within line of sight, which can be hard sometimes with such a small quad.
 
I don't think the SPARK demands a very high peformance device. I have been using a sub $150 Android device (Moto E4 Plus) with OTG and the only issue I have is that the I cannot edit videos in the DJI Go4 app. The app simply keeps crashing when I try to do so. Clocked above 10 hours of flight time on this device with no issue apart from the one mentioned above. I have never felt the need to try any other device.
 
I am a diehard droid user, I have been using Android since v2.1x and with the kids and family I have 12 Android devices from Galaxy S5s, Galaxy 2014 Tab Notes, Galaxy Tab S2s, and one S3, Galaxy S8 and S9+ int he household. Why? because I'm a Comms tech by trade, being doing I/T for years and I like to decide what I can do with my device not be told by the manufacturer. No walled gardens for me.

Then I have to admit I have 1 IOS device, a 2018 iPad which does all of my flight duties. I never fly on Android anymore.

DJIs GO 4 app works perfectly well with stock reference vanilla android, their own CrystalSky units are Android, very close to reference and they control strictly what other apps you can install, from all reports they are (mostly) reliable and have a very bright display (I use a hood on the iPad). Other than that or rooting your device and loading a stripped back ROM you're not going to get stock reference Android on a consumer device anywhere.

Every company overlays a skin of some kind to make their product "stand out" from the crowd and that's where the trouble starts. Samsung's "Touchwiz" interface is known offender for example, that's not to say every Samsung device will be flaky. Some are fairly good, some are terrible. None are perfect.

When the App writers do the DJI app and updates IOS is simple because Apple keep such a stranglehold on the O/S, the hardware and certifying apps for it. Once the App is written or updated and finalised it just works with any Apple device capable of hosting a recent IOS version because it's the same O/S regardless of device.

On the other hand there is no possible way that the App author can make allowances for every interface on every brand or type of device on Android. There are hundreds if not thousands to take into account. They can certify their app for reference android but they have no control over what the device manufacturer does with the O/S or how other loosly controlled apps will inter act with GO 4.

I have the added complication that I am a certified commercial Remote Pilot and I work with my aircraft in mission critical situations where safety and threat and error management is paramount. I can't afford any avoidable variables.

When I got my first R.P.A. and while I was studying for my certification I tried most of my Android devices. Surely you'd think with that many I'd be set right? Well, here I am with an iPad...... some of the droids were not too bad, some couldn't be relied upon for 5 minutes before a drop out occurred. I only have flight related apps installed on the iPad, GO 4 , Litchi, Drone Deploy, Can I fly there, etc and since buying it I have had exactly zero issues or drop outs. Not one, not ever. As much as I hate apple (even my iMac computers are boot camped and run windows) I can't argue with the figures.

If you DO decide to go the apple route you may want to think a bit on the Mini 4. I almost bought one, I was only getting it to fly and the size was perfect but as it's now my business I do a LOT of reading at a technical level and I had noticed over the last year a small but increasing number of reports of people with Mini iPads suffering from overheating, excessive video lag or other problems. This was almost always with people who used their iPad for everything under the sun as well as flying and had a zillion apps installed. Those who just use them for flying seem to do OK with the Mini 3 or 4 although they do report some heating issues.

It does stand to reason, the Mini 4 has been unchanged for 4 years since it's last upgrade from the mini 3 and rocks the A8 processor of the iPhone 6 era. The DJI GO4 app has evolved a lot in the last year adding many more functions with the release of the newer aircraft and as such it's requirements for system resources has increased quite a bit.

I'll repeat, if you only use it for flying than you should be OK with a Mini 4 as things stand now, the Spark is not exactly the most demanding aircraft in DJI's stable but you do have to ask yourself how much future headroom is in the unit and what if you buiy a Mavic 2 pro in 6 months? I asked myself and after a lot of thought bought a 2018 9.7" iPad with the A10 fusion chip and then had to buy Lifthor tablet holders and a full harness and the like to compensate for the extra weight etc, After 6 or more hours flying the setup gets heavy but I haven't regretted it.

Also for that matter, an industry insider famous for doing very accurate leaks on upcoming Apple devices has said that there will be a 2019 entry level iPad and finally a Mini 5 released around June/July so you might want to hold off and see.

New iPad mini 'will launch this spring'

As with everything my experiences aren't going to be the same as every body else, Other people will totally disagree and that's all good. I have to be conservative because it's a job and a Droid or a Mini 4 may be perfect for you I can't risk it and if I was only a recreational flyer I'd still think ..... "why risk having to buy twice?"

Regards
Ari
 
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I am a diehard droid user, I have been using Android since v2.1x and with the kids and family I have 12 Android devices from S5s, Galaxy Tab Notes, Galaxy Tab S2, S3, S8 and S9+. Why? because I'm a Comms tech by trade, being doing I/T for years and I like to decide what I can do with my device not be told by the manufacturer. no walled gardens for me.

Then I have 1 IOS device, a 2018 iPad which does all of my flight duties. I never fly on Android.

DJIs GO 4 app works perfectly well with stock reference vanilla android, their own CrystalSky units are Android, very close to reference and they control strictly what other apps you can install, from all reports they are (mostly) reliable. Other than that or rooting your device and loading a stripped back ROM you're not going to get stock reference Android anywhere. Every company overlays a skin of some kind to make their product "stand out" from the crowd and that's where the trouble starts. Samsung's "Touchwiz" interface is known offender for example, that's not to say every Samsung device will be flaky. Some are fairly good, some are terrible. None are perfect.

When the App writers do the DJI app and updates IOS is simple because Apple keep such a stranglehold on the O/S, the hardware and certifying apps for it. Once the App is written or updated and finalised it just works with any Apple device capable of hosting a recent IOS version because it's the same O/S regardless of device.

On the other hand there is no possible way that the App author can make allowances for every interface on every brand or type of device on Android. There are hundreds if not thousands to take into account. They can certify their app for reference android but they have no control over what the device manufacturer does with the O/S or how other loosly controlled apps will inter act.

I have the added complication that I am a certified commercial Remote Pilot and I work with my aircraft in mission critical situations where safety and threat and error management is paramount. I can't afford any avoidable variables.

When I got my first R.P.A. and while I was studying for my certification I tried most of my Android devices. Surely with that many I'd be set right? Well, here I am with an iPad...... some of the droids were not too bad, come couldn't be relied upon for 5 minutes before a drop out occurred. I only have flight related apps installed on the iPad, GO 4 , Litchi, Drone Deploy, Can I fly there, etc and since buying it I have had exactly zero issues or drop outs. Not one, not ever. As much as I hate apple (even my iMac computers are boot camped and run windows) I can't argue with the figures.

If you DO decide to go the apple route you may want to think a bit on the Mini 4. I almost bought one, I was only getting it to fly and the size was perfect but as it's now my business I do a LOT of reading at a technical level and I had noticed over the last year a small but increasing number of reports of people with Mini iPads suffering from overheating, excessive video lag or other problems. This was almost always with people who used their iPad for everything under the sun as well as flying. Those who just use them for flying seem to do OK although they do report some heating issues.

It does stand to reason, the Mini 4 is 4+ years since it's last upgrade now and rocks the A8 processor of the iPhone 7 era. The DJI GO4 app has evolved a lot in the last year adding many more functions with the release of the newer aircraft and as such it's requirements for system resources has increased quite a bit.

I'll repeat, if you only use it for flying than you should be OK with a Mini 4 as things stand now, the Spark is not exactly the most demanding aircraft in DJI's stable but you do have to ask yourself how much future headroom is in the unit and what if you buiy a Mavic 2 pro in 6 months? I asked myself and after a lot of thought bought a 2018 9.7" iPad with the A10 fusion chip and then had to buy Lifthor tablet holders and a full harness and the like to compensate for the extra weight etc, After 6 or more hours flying the setup gets heavy but I haven't regretted it.

Also for that matter, an industry insider famous for doing very accurate leaks on upcoming Apple devices has said that there will be a 2019 entry level iPad and finally a Mini 5 released around June/July so you might want to hold off and see.

New iPad mini 'will launch this spring'

As with everything my experiences aren't going to be the same as every body else, Other people will totally disagree and that's all good. I have to be conservative because it's a job and a Droid or a Mini 4 may be perfect for you I can't risk it and if I was only a recreational flyer I'd still think ..... "why risk having to buy twice?"

Regards
Ari

Your experience really sums up the "iOS versus Android with DJI" dilemma well. Plenty of good Android phones and tablets that work fine in general won't run DJI Go smoothly. Yet any recent iPhone or iPad is relatively glitch-free.

On the surface that seems unfair but with Android there are many different device manufacturers, more active OS versions, carrier dependent OS updates and a myriad of diverse devices. The combinations are in the millions and DJI can't account for them all. With Apple however -- iPhone and iPad are nearly identical technology, same manufacturer of hardware and software, and over 95% of users on most recent versions of iOS.

I sympathize with Android users who don't want to upgrade their device (or switch to iOS) just to fly their drone. And getting a second device dedicated only to droning can add another $200-300 to the cost of your quad. Those are three unacceptable options for most pilots.

There isn't a simple and inexpensive solution which is certainly why this topic is constantly rising to the surface.

For the record I use iPhone X, iOS 12 with Tello, Spark and Mavic Pro with no issues. Just gets better with every update. Not trying to rub salt in any wounds but thought another perspective could better help folks decide.

Cheers
 
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