Compatibility

Hitman219 · Aug 14, 2016

Good day. I recently purchased a Phantom 4, but I do not have a tablet for it. What would you highly recommend for this unit. I am thinking of getting the ASUS ZenPad S 8 Z580C-B1-BK 8″ Tablet. Would this work? Will this tablet perform all of the features using its onboard GPS? I don't have a huge budget to get an expensive tablet but I do want to se the Phantoms 4's features like active tracking and return home. Thanks for your time.

alta view · Aug 14, 2016

Hi I use the Nexus 9 and it works fine. And not to expensive.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using PhantomPilots mobile app

Hitman219 · Aug 14, 2016

Is it better to have tablet with GPS or with A-GPS? What happens if I take my Phantom to an area with no cell phone towers, wont the Phantom need satellites for any of it features?

Meta4 · Aug 14, 2016

Hitman219 said:
Is it better to have tablet with GPS or with A-GPS? What happens if I take my Phantom to an area with no cell phone towers, wont the Phantom need satellites for any of it features?

GPS signal comes from GPS satellites about 12500 miles above earth - not from cell towers.
Your Phantom has a very good GPS unit built in, that's what it uses for flight.
Having a GPS enabled tablet will only tell the Phantom where the tablet is and that won't help much for most flying.
The only things you need a GPS enabled tablet or are Follow-Me flight and resetting your home point to the current location of the controller (used when you are moving around like shooting from a moving boat).
Most Android tablets have GPS anyway but iPad users only get GPS if they pay extra for the cellular version.

Hitman219 · Aug 14, 2016

Yes but a tablet that only A-GPS gets its info from satellites via cell phone towers. Its more precise that having a normal GPS chip into the tablet but if I have the Phantom in an area that has no cell phone towers, will a tablet that has A-GPS assist in getting Phantom home or using the active track?

Meta4 · Aug 14, 2016

Hitman219 said:
Yes but a tablet that only A-GPS gets its info from satellites via cell phone towers. Its more precise that having a normal GPS chip into the tablet but if I have the Phantom in an area that has no cell phone towers, will a tablet that has A-GPS assist in getting Phantom home or using the active track?

The Phantom uses it's own real GPS receiver to do everything it needs to.
It doesn't care where the tablet is unless you want to fly Follow-Me or reset home to the location of the controller.

Looking into what A-GPS is, I see that it doesn't make GPS any more accurate.
It just helps GPS to find location faster.
But it needs mobile phone signal to do that so it's not going to make much difference anyway.
A-GPS – What does it mean?

Hitman219 · Aug 14, 2016

So in order for me to use active tracking or the return home function of the phantom, I will need a normal GPS (not A-GPS) in my tablet?

Meta4 · Aug 14, 2016

Hitman219 said:
So in order for me to use active tracking or the return home function of the phantom, I will need a normal GPS (not A-GPS) in my tablet?

Your Phantom will do everything perfectly even if it has no GPS in the tablet. (except the two cases i mentioned above).
The Phantom records home point before takeoff and that is where RTH returns to unless you reset your homepoint in flight.

Hitman219 · Aug 14, 2016

A-GPS = Assisted GPS. It gets its info from cell phone towers so I am assuming you will need your cellular data turned on. I am looking on getting a tablet that will use all of the Phantom 4's functions without having my cell phone's data turned on and whenever I am in the world, I could still use it. What do u recommend?

jwt873 · Aug 14, 2016

Active tracking uses the video signal to lock on and follow a person or vehicle. No GPS is required.

You do need GPS for the 'Follow Me' function. When in use, this mode follows the GPS coordinates sent from the Phone/Tablet to the remote controller and then to the drone.

Hitman219 · Aug 14, 2016

So what tablet will recommend for me to use? Doesn't active tracking follow the person or object around?

jwt873 · Aug 14, 2016

Get one that best suits your budget in the list of recommended devices: Best Tablets/Phones for DJI GO | Phantom Help

Active tracking follows what you select in the video image on your screen. No GPS is required. Search for "P4 Active track" on YouTube. There are many videos showing how it works.