Apple iPads come in either a wifi only version or a wifi + cellular enabled version. Your Phantom has GPS to know where it is and to set the home point for RTH, so you can fly your Phantom with either version. Some
optional features require GPS at your RC (controller) so that your RC location is also known. Wifi only iPads are
NOT GPS enabled and there's no crowd sourced location data accurate enough to allow the use of the optional features. However, phones,
cellular enabled iPads, and most Android tablets
DO have GPS that can be used for those optional features. A data plan is
not required if you go with a cellular enabled iPad.
Take a look at this high level overview of different options
when using the GO app with an iPad. Forgive me if you have seen it before since I have posted it to the forum many dozens of times so you may have seen it before in your research.
Please let me know if I have inadvertently misrepresented or omitted something.
[JAN 13, 2016] A new thing to consider is if you will want internet access in the field so that you can instantly unlock self authorization zones in the emerging GEO system from DJI. Without internet access in the field, you may need to plan ahead and unlock self authorization zones in advance if your country has or is getting GEO and you are impacted by one of the zones. This is similar to how you might plan ahead to cache maps in advance. We will understand more once GEO is implemented. For now, keep it in mind when considering which device to buy.
Wifi only iPad (no internet access in the field)
* Can fly your Phantom
* Can use maps if desired, but maps must be cached in advance
* No access to new maps in the field
* No Follow Me
* Can use Waypoints
* No LIVE STREAMING
(this is different than FPV)
* Dynamic Home Point
> Can manually change home point to Phantom location.
> Can not manually change home point to RC location.
Wifi only iPad (tethered for internet)
* Can fly your Phantom
* Can access new maps in the field if desired
* No Follow Me
* Can use Waypoints
* Can use LIVE STREAMING, but likely not well.
* Dynamic Home Point
> Can manually change home point to Phantom location.
> Can not manually change home point to RC location.
Wifi only iPad with an external GPS
* Can fly your Phantom
* Can use maps if desired, but maps must be cached in advance
* No access to new maps in the field
* Can use Follow Me
* Can use Waypoints
* No LIVE STREAMING
* Dynamic Home Point
> Can manually change home point to Phantom location.
> Can manually change home point to RC location.
Cellular iPad with no data plan
* Can fly your Phantom
* Can use maps if desired, but maps must be cached in advance
* No access to new maps in the field
* Can use Follow Me
* Can use Waypoints
* No LIVE STREAMING
* Dynamic Home Point
> Can manually change home point to Phantom location.
> Can manually change home point to RC location.
Cellular iPad (no data plan, tethered for internet)
* Can fly your Phantom
* Can access new maps in the field if desired
* Can use Follow Me
* Can use Waypoints
* Can use LIVE STREAMING, but likely not well.
* Dynamic Home Point
> Can manually change home point to Phantom location.
> Can manually change home point to RC location.
Cellular iPad (with data plan)
* Can fly your Phantom
* Can access new maps in the field if desired
* Can use Follow Me
* Can use Waypoints
* Can use LIVE STREAMING
* Dynamic Home Point
> Can manually change home point to Phantom location.
> Can manually change home point to RC location.
*Notes:
Third party apps
If you are interested in trying something other than the GO app you should check if what you want is available for iOS, Android, or both.
Tethering
Tethering your phone to a wifi only iPad does
not share the phone's GPS. Some have noted that it may be possible to share GPS data if you jailbreak and use certain software, but I don't have any first hand knowledge of how to do that or how well it works. [
Tethering is connecting one device to another. In the context of mobile phones and tablets, tethering allows sharing the internet connection of a phone or tablet with other devices that may not be able to access the Internet directly.]
MAPS
Maps are not required to fly, but many find them useful.
GPS alone does not transmit map/terrain data for you to download to your device.
If you do not have internet access where you plan to fly and you
want to use the maps, they
must be downloaded (cached/stored) in advance via the internet.
External GPS
If you have a wifi only iPad already and don't want to jailbreak or buy a new tablet, you might consider an external (
bluetooth) GPS device if you
want to use the features that require GPS at the RC. There are many threads on the topic. It seems that the most talked about here on the forum are Bad Elf, Dual and the Garmin GLO. Just search and you will see
plenty to read for research if you want to look into that option.
A few notes to consider regarding an external GPS with a wifi only iPad:
* They are usually more accurate than the GPS in a phone/tablet
* A wifi only iPad + an external GPS usually cost roughly the same as a cellular iPad.
* If you have an external GPS, you wont need to spend more for the cellular version each time you upgrade your iPad.
* Having an external GPS is one more thing to charge and carry
* It may be easier to use the emerging GEO system noted above if your mobile device has internet access in the field. A wifi iPad + external GPS does not give you internet access.
If this option interests you, one thing to watch for is that iOS 8.3 broke the ability for an external GPS to transfer data. It was fixed with iOS 8.4 and later, and still works in iOS 8.2 and earlier. It is only iOS 8.3 with the issue, but any new iOS might accidentally break it again.
As noted earlier, Android tablets almost always have built in GPS so they are a great option to consider.
'
Dynamic Home Point'
This term is used here since that is a common way to refer to the functionality that allows changing an established home point to the current location of either the RC or the Phantom itself. Remember that the home point does not actually dynamically change. You must
manually change the
static home point to a new
static home point.
'
LIVE STREAMING'
The feature that allows for posting your FPV to the internet in real time.
RTH
As noted above, RTH works with both wifi only and cellular enabled tablets and phones.