I have a few months until I can upgrade my phone, and my battery just dies super fast when flying. Would a cheap iPad mini 2 work for a short term solution? Are they still decent for flying a Mavic?

as long as it is A8 chip or higher (A7 on old apples will struggle i think) and decent storage should be ok, I use an Ipad Air 2 A8 chip and its fine although i'll be getting another soon as need more space on it.

RCNJ Posted at 2017-9-16 05:44
as long as it is A8 chip or higher (A7 on old apples will struggle i think) and decent storage should be ok, I use an Ipad Air 2 A8 chip and its fine although i'll be getting another soon as need more space on it.

Just curious, why more space? You doing the editing on the Ipad?

Jabreu001 Posted at 2017-9-16 07:42
Just curious, why more space? You doing the editing on the Ipad?

i like to preview clips on ipad yeah and its only 16GB.... fills up quick when shooting 4K even with the cached are lower quality i find it fills up fast etc, i do some editing for short clips on the ipad that are ok at 720P, the rest i pull off the card to imac etc

RCNJ Posted at 2017-9-16 05:44
as long as it is A8 chip or higher (A7 on old apples will struggle i think) and decent storage should be ok, I use an Ipad Air 2 A8 chip and its fine although i'll be getting another soon as need more space on it.

negative.. A7 does just fine!   i can confirm as an ipad Mini 2 owner and iPhone 5S owner.   the A7 does show its age in other ways like its a little slower to open the App but once in the app its about as good as modern iPads

A7 is used in a lot of apple devices.  iPhone 5S, iPad mini 2, Mini 3, and iPad Air 1.  and it runs iOS 11 perfectly fine.    so Apple really built a beast of a CPU that they were happy about, because apple hasn't really put the same SoC in so many devices before or since.   

It's fine. No more viewable in sun than my iPhone 7, though, which I had hoped would be of some improvement but on reflection, I guess that was too much to ask.

Ex Machina Posted at 2017-9-16 11:38
It's fine. No more viewable in sun than my iPhone 7, though, which I had hoped would be of some improvement but on reflection, I guess that was too much to ask.

very true, i found whacking the brightness up to max helped on that, but on very sunny days its look for shade to stand in

RCNJ Posted at 2017-9-16 12:52
very true, i found whacking the brightness up to max helped on that, but on very sunny days its look for shade to stand in

yea, the ipad mini 4 is better, but not hugely..    the mini 4 has a screen that is laminated to the glass, which does help but its not that good still..  

i think given the price i found Mini 2's at for under $200 sometimes, i rather grab a mini 2, wack my shade on it and lean back under a shady tree or something..

Yes, iPad mini 2 is on the support list, so it is compatible with DJI GO / DJI GO 4.