Beating a (not so) Dead Horse - DJI Smart Controller

Michael Ninos

I hope Dronelink will reconsider their belief that DJI is abandoning the Smart Controller.

I love the Smart Controller AND Dronelink. I consider them BOTH essential. Please do not abandon DL on the SC.

DJI's latest Enterprise drone, the Mavic 2 Enterprise Advanced, is being released with the Smart Controller. Hard to believe DJI would be abandoning the device if they're including it with their latest Enterprise/Professional series drones.

DJI just released pricing for the drone a few days ago. A local retailer will be demoing it on-site for us next week.

Aditionally, DJI recently updated the Go4 app on the SC and updated the device with the Fly App to support the Mini and the Air 2. why would the do all this if they intended to abandon it anytime soon?

https://store.dji.com/product/mavic-2-enterprise-advancedand-dji-care

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Comments

3 comments

  • Comment author
    Michael Ninos

    One more thing in hopes of persuading Dronelink to continue development on the Smart Controller:   While I personally do not care whether speech works, Litchi's APK for speech works perfectly on the SC. Dronelink's not gonna let that slide, are they? :-)

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  • Comment author
    Jim McAndrew Dronelink Staff
    • Edited

    I hope Dronelink will reconsider their belief that DJI is abandoning the Smart Controller.

    They have abandoned it in the sense that they have not released a new version of this device with updated hardware specs or a new/modern version of Android. Yes, they continue to update the firmware to add support for their new drones.

    DJI designed the smart controller for one purpose: to be a good monitor for manual flight with a bright screen and active cooling. Dronelink, on the other hand, needs a device with actual performance and a modern version of Android (with Google Play) to provide a good user experience. Other apps, such as Litchi, don't have the same performance requirements as Dronelink because they simply upload waypoints to the drone (onboard compatibility) as opposed to using virtual stick (which is what makes Dronelink different / better from a capabilities standpoint). FWIW, onboard compatibility is something we will eventually implement, but it will come with its own set of drawbacks.

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  • Comment author
    Michael Ninos
    • Edited

    Jim,

    I appreciate this response much more than bashing DJI.

    DJI’s SC is a solid device which they built to meet their requirements. They shouldn’t be faulted because if becomes an unsuitable platform for DL due to DL’s requirements.

    It seems like a catch 22, DJI may or may not update the hardware in the near future and DL may or may not continue to support and develop the SC.

    I’ll take what I can get from them both for as long as I can but, would likely find an alternative to DL before the SC. Just my take, not meant to trash DL in anyway, it’s an amazing tool which I value but can work without.

    Bashing DJI  because they haven’t updated the specs to DL’s needs is kinda like bashing DL because it can’t operate a motor vehicle. DL wasn’t designed for it. 

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