Phone control vs NEO only

[Chrislaf]

Yesterday I flew the NEO outside with the updated phone interface. I like it much better than the portrait orientation that was the only option in manual control before the recent firmware update. I find it more natural and much easier to control the drone but like someone said on YouTube, I find I have to look down at my phone to make sure my thumbs are in the right area unlike with a physical controller. I was able to get to a distance of about 40m before it disconnected completely. Between 30 and 40m there were frequent disconnects. I was using an older iPhone XR so I am wondering if that had an effect on distance. Regardless it was pretty good considering the max distance is 50m.

I tried Follow using just the NEO selecting it from the drone control panel. Although it worked fine, when I was walking into the sun briefly it kept braking, so likely the sun caused the NEO to lose me for brief moments. Once the sun was behind trees the tracking worked well.

I like having these options on the NEO (they are convenient) but I don't feel as confident as using the physical controller. Also, with manual control in landscape mode on the phone there is no option to turn on grid lines which I find useful for doing panos. My 15 shot pano (3 rows) turned out better than I expected but the resulting image was too over sharpened. Hopefully there will be another update soon to add adjustments to the camera like the physical controller.

My order of preference for controlling NEO:

1. Physical controller

2. Phone control

3. Drone only

Chris

 

[GFields]

Same for me Chris!

1. Physical controller
2. Phone control
3. Drone only

 

[Chrislaf]

The convenience of just using the phone and not having to use a physical controller is great but DJI could make it even better with a few more updates.

Chris

 

[RcHawks]

I'm thinking the phone option for me won't be used very much, but it should make it easy to access the settings for neo only when required instead of using the RC to save space. I purchased a new phone but haven't set it up yet with the neo so I'm not sure how well I'll like flying with it.

 

[NEO 317]

I purchased a new phone but haven't set it up yet with the neo so I'm not sure how well I'll like flying with it.

I'm a pincher pilot vs thumber and the virtual sticks felt weird to me.

DJI updated the app for horizontal control which helped.

The NEO flew well with the phone and I had no problems flying with it.


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[Chrislaf]

I'm a pincher pilot vs thumber and the virtual sticks felt weird to me.

DJI updated the app for horizontal control which helped.

The NEO flew well with the phone and I had no problems flying with it.


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I have flown my NEO with the phone only in horizontal control - much better than the portrait control but my preferred method is still with the N3 controller. I find using the phone only control sluggish and feels the same as flying my Tello with the phone. But nothing beats the portability of the phone only control.

Chris

 

[NEO 317]

but my preferred method is still with the N3 controller.

I haven't tried yet, is it possible to fly with a device and NO GOGGLES, using the MC3 remote?

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[LilReaper]

i have a Samsung Fold so using the phone is like using a controller. I am new to this so i havent really gotten attached to one way over the other. So thanks for this cause now I've got some reading to do on control vs phone.

 

[Chrislaf]

I haven't tried yet, is it possible to fly with a device and NO GOGGLES, using the MC3 remote?

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From what I have read and responses on this forum, I don’t think so, since the MC connects to the goggles which in turn connect to drone.

Chris

 

[RcHawks]

I'm a thumb guy.

 

[GFields]

I'm thinking the phone option for me won't be used very much, but it should make it easy to access the settings for neo only when required instead of using the RC to save space. I purchased a new phone but haven't set it up yet with the neo so I'm not sure how well I'll like flying with it.

Same here