Android Tablet Selection

Ground Control Software Tower
1

  1. When deciding between which Android tablet to host Droid Planner, what features are desirable?

  2. How does the software refresh its maps if the tablet does not have cellular service or a network connection if you are standing in the middle of a field?

  3. Will the onboard tablet GPS realign the drone’s current position based on the cached map when it was connected to a network after you get to your launching site?

2

  1. Decide on how big a screen you want to lug around. For me it was a 7" Nexus, the 2013 has a great screen.

  2. Search on Prefetching. What I have learned is that the tablet stores maps while previewing a flying site before you head out and are still connected. Detailed maps of those areas appear when you get to the site and reopen DP.

  3. It is the drones GPS that will realign it when you get there. You wouldn’t want another device trying to tell the drone where it was!

3

Make sure it has OTG capability.

Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite I bought…

4

Unlike the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 I bought.

5

Also, if you get a Google Nexus, make sure you pre-load the maps for the area you will fly in.
Don’t expect your iPhone’s wifi hotspot to provide internet, because the iPhone rejects the Nexus’ attempt to connect via bluetooth, because who Apple products don’t want Google products to work, and probably vice versa.

6

I just got back from a fruitless search at a Verizon store. I brought along a 3DR 915 telemetry radio with the 3DR otg cable and (with the assistance of their staff) tried every model of Android tablet they had, (including several on the compatible devices list).

None worked, the led on the radio did not light. I also tried the “USB Host Check” app on every one: again all said “USB Host support not enabled” and pressing “fix” just brought up an error message.

This radio module works just fine on a PC (running Mission Planner). Am I missing some required step to get it working on Android?

7

Update:

Solved.

The OTG cable supplied by 3DR is asymmetrical. Plugging the blue end into the device works, but not the other way around.

I’ll try and update the compatible devices list with a “Droid Turbo” cellphone.

8

My experience? I have a Nexus 10. Once I figured out the correct end of the OTG cable to plug in, it worked great. Since both of my mobile devices are Android (phone and tablet and both are Nexus devices), I was able to tether via wifi and map loading worked great.

I have a Nexus 5 for my phone.