Hey, I have a Mavic on order (like most of us) and I'm not use to using a phone or tablet for viewing with a quad. I have a spare Galaxy Note 4 that I'm not using, but it's not activated for cell service.  Does that matter or is the controller just communicating with the phone through the cable?
Sorry, probably a dumb question.
Thanks!

You don't need cellular service on the phone to use it with the Mavic, however you won't have access to some features such as loading map data unless you do that beforehand on wifi. Also make sure to check for software updates before you leave home with wifi each time you go out to fly.

Your Note will work fine with your controller without having cell service. Be sure to do everything on a wifi network the first time you boot up to ensure your Note and Mavic get the latest firmware.

The only thing I can think of you won't be able to do is live streaming (obviously). I also think follow-me (NOT to be confused with active track) might not work because your Note isn't reading gps.. Could be wrong.

T_A_Rogers Posted at 2016-11-7 11:10
Your Note will work fine with your controller without having cell service. Be sure to do everything  ...

Thanks! I think the maps may be a really helpful feature, so I guess I'm going to have to use cell service.

fans14ea42ea Posted at 2016-11-8 06:35
Thanks! I think the maps may be a really helpful feature, so I guess I'm going to have to use cell ...

You can cache your map while home on wifi (https://forum.dji.com/thread-48959-1-1.html)

Just navigate to the place you plan to fly, let the map load & save, and you should be good to go.

fans14ea42ea Posted at 2016-11-7 17:35
Thanks! I think the maps may be a really helpful feature, so I guess I'm going to have to use cell ...

I use a Note 5, thats not active on my cell account. Works very good!
I don't worry about the maps, i know where i'm flying.
Plus i'm not updating anything unless i have problems, everything works real good right now!
I did the same with my P4, didn't update, no problems at all. I've had it from day one.
My opinions, lol.

i use a note 3 from sprint. its my old phone. it is not activated. and it works great with the DJI app and Mavic.  pre cached google maps = pre loaded maps for dji

Thomusvoo Posted at 2016-11-7 15:45
i use a note 3 from sprint. its my old phone. it is not activated. and it works great with the DJI a ...

Sounds perfect!  Now I just need to get my Mavic and try it out.  
Getting lots of useful information while I wait.
Thanks!