I just received an advertisement email from DJI expressing upcoming additions for the Inspire. So why am I posting in the P3 forum, read excerpts from the email. Sounds to me like the P3 will indeed have ground station.

What's Coming Next

In the next few months, three main features announced with the Phantom 3 will be coming to the Inspire 1:

Ground Station

Plan and execute autonomous flight paths by telling your Inspire 1 where to go and what to do at up to 100 points on a map.

I'd really appreciate a direct statement from dJI saying ground station will be supported.   Tahoe Ed said he heard this is true.  This advertisement says it's coming for the inspire 1. Indirectly insinuates it is a feature of the P3.   All this is very promising but just say it already

I noticed this in the e-mail too! Got me too excited!

While Ground Station isn't sometime I must have, its always nice to have those extra added features.

Once GS is available from DJI then ill buy a P3 would not risk any of the third party app's been there done that and most of the paid ones are very buggy (Coffie's app not included in this statemeent ) where as Dji's own GS for me is rock solid.

xzgraham@btinte Posted at 2015-4-28 03:29
Once GS is available from DJI then ill buy a P3 would not risk any of the third party app's been the ...

Agreed. While a 3rd party app may be fine for my RC Car that can only travel a short distance before hitting something.  A plane or quad can quickly go out of site because someone programmed a "3" instead of a "4" in a loop statement.

With that said, DJI's policy of mandating firmware updates within 3 days scares me. I would prefer to let others test a new firmware for a couple of weeks at least before upgrading.

Under normal circumstances we test the firmware for some time.  The latest firmware for the Inspire was tested for almost a month by about 100 people.  

Tahoe_Ed Posted at 2015-4-28 07:12
Under normal circumstances we test the firmware for some time.  The latest firmware for the Inspire  ...

As an I.T. Manager for many years I can appreciate the testing DJI does. However, once in the hands of the general public anything can happen.   Letting a larger group of people test generally finds issues the testers missed. Didn't DJI have a recent recall of a firmware?  

This isn't just with DJI's firmware but anything, Windows, OSX, cars, toys, etc. Testers generally follow a script laid out for them. However, some scripts are only written to test what the application or item "should" do and not what it "shouldn't" do. The real test in when the general public uses it in a manner the vendor never thought of. Again, this is directed at DJI but anything produce by a company.

We construct our tests several ways.  Sometimes it is just here is the firmware, tell us what you think.  The guys that test are very experienced and know how the firmware should work.  But different users use the firmware differently just as you stated.  We also do structured tests where the testers are ask to test certain aspects of the firmware.  It depends on what the engineers what to test at that moment.  There is no way that we can test every aspect of the firmware and even after release there will be small pockets of issues.  We are making efforts to make sure that our firmware is adequately tested before release.

Tahoe_Ed Posted at 2015-4-28 20:42
We construct our tests several ways.  Sometimes it is just here is the firmware, tell us what you th ...

Tahoe_Ed

I just got my Inspire 1 today. Updated to the latest firmware and had my first flight.. No issues at all. Everything from charging to updating the firmware to takeoff and landing was easy.  My first flight was in beginners mode and scary but so much fun.

Even though my experience was non-eventful, I still think DJI should allow their customers to update the firmware as they see fit.  Keep the "no-fly zones" separate updates, like a database the firmware reads. No need to update firmware to get an updated list of no-fly zones. Then you can make updating the list required and firmware optional.

Anyways, the Inspire 1 is a GREAT product and I can't wait to fly again.  It's 2am so I need to get some sleep.

I wish DJI would have tested Inspire 1 firmware better (maybe more than 100 people). I crashed mine because ground sensor activated itself when I pass across some upstairs and Inspire auto changed mode to P-OPTI, changed altitude enough so the propeller touched a palm leaf and crashed from 2 meters high, leaving me 1 month without my new bird, and a 1200Euro repair  invoice. Not funny. Now I can see that they have implemented an off switch for the ground sensor. If only somebody would have thought of this before...

edumlz@outlook. Posted at 2015-5-10 00:23
I wish DJI would have tested Inspire 1 firmware better (maybe more than 100 people). I crashed mine  ...

Ouch! If I do my conversion correctly to USD, that's 50% of a brand new Inspire, When you say Sensor I am assuming you mean the "Adaptive Landing" sensor. Is that correct?

I mean the VPS (Vision positioning system) . I've read others had crashes because of this when you fly across an oblique surface.
When I received my P3 I was I little worried because of the inclusion of this new sensor, but I discovered it can be switch off so that's the first thing I did. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy the P3 includes this new technology, but it's rather useless and I would dare to say dangerous to use it outdoors.

edumlz@outlook. Posted at 2015-5-10 16:37
I mean the VPS (Vision positioning system) . I've read others had crashes because of this when you f ...

Agreed. I doubt I will ever fly indoors.