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Best Drone Tablets (compatible with DJI GO)

Ultimate Guide for 2021
best-drone-tablets

So you're looking for a tablet for your drone and want to make sure it is compatible as well as have the right specs for the right price.

A tablet makes the experience of flying a quadcopter way more precise and enjoyable since you can see a lot more details in the frame compared to a phone.

In this article, we'll cover the best tablets you can buy for any drone and also what are the best tables for DJI drones (DJI Go and their other apps).

Tablets vs Phones for drones

Plain and simple smartphones are limited by their screen size. Gets harder to know if you are getting the right exposure when you compare the videos and images when viewing from such a tiny screen resolution. Holding a tablet when flying a drone eases the entire process as you get a clearer picture of what’s going on.

The tablets suitable for drones have a minimum screen resolution of 1200 by 800 pixels that delivers sharp and clear graphics while enhancing their navigational accuracy.

What to look for in a tablet for your drone

When choosing a tablet for your drone you need to look for the following important things:

Compatibility with your drone app

It's obviously important that your tablet can support the apps that you're using, and more than that, can run it properly without issues. The cheaper tablets might actually have issues when trying to process things like follow me or the screen might not be responsive enough to select objects on the screen.

Screen size

The screen has to be considerably bigger than a standard phone (even though phones these days are as big as tablets of a few years ago). This is obviously to get the main benefit of using a tablet for your drone: seeing a bigger picture and more details.

Screen Brightness

Screen brightness is usually measured in lux or nits and you'll want to get a tablet that's as bright as possible for when you'll be out there in the sun. Getting a sunshade for your screen can partially fix the problem.

Solid build

Most tablets aren't built for being used outside, so you might need to get one that can handle being put on the ground a few times without getting scratched or broken.

 

Here are my 8 top tablet picks when flying a drone

best-tablets-for-drones-that-work-with-DJI

I picket them not in order, but got them from different categories, depending on your budget or what you might be looking for.

1.Vankyo MatrixPad S8 - Best Budget tablet for Drones

PROS
  • Great compatibility with your drone
  • A great choice for beginners and inexperienced drone users
  • Budget-friendly
CONS
  • Lower end specs

This is one of the best low-budget android tablets you can get for your drone that comes with a great screen a plenty of brightness.

It can run the DJI Go app perfectly and I personally tested it with quite a few other drone apps (even cheaper made ones) and it dealt with them perfectly.

It comes with 32 GB of storage and the option to expand it with a micro SD card, so you can store some of the recorded screen footage or edited videos directly on it.

The best selling point of it is probably the IPS display which makes the colors much truer to real life and comes with a great viewing angle, great for when you want to show someone else what the drone is recording.

Another important thing is that this tablet comes installed with the latest android system and doesn't come with some annoying ads pre-installed like some other cheap ones do.

Screen size

8", IPS   1280 by 850 

Operating system (OS)

Android 9.0 (Pie)

Camera (Front & back)

5 MP -

Battery capacity

4000 mAh  11 hours

Connectivity

Wifi

Storage space

32 GB - 128 GB

RAM

2 GB

Processor

Quad-Core 

Display resolution

720 x 1280 pixels

2.Apple iPad Air - Best iOs tablet for drones

PROS
  • Great screen
  • Powerful A12 processor
CONS
  • Battery can be problematic

The iPad Air is the perfect size for using with any drone, as it's big enough to greatly increase the amount of video you see on the screen, yet it's still small enough to keep it portable.

The processing power is plenty and it works smoothly with every drone app DJI has.

I personally found the battery to be lacking sometimes, but I think mine was a bit too old.

Screen size

9.70-inch (1536x2048)

Operating system (OS)

iOS 7

Camera (Front & back)

1.2MP.,5MP.

Battery capacity

8820mAh.

Connectivity

Wi-Fi + Cellular include Wi-Fi, GPS, and 3G

Storage space

16GB.

RAM

RAM 1GB.

Processor

Apple A12 Bionic 64-bit and M12 motion co-processor

Display resolution

1536x2048

3.Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 - Works with every Drone

xiaomi tab 4 tablet for drones
PROS
  • Works with DJI GO app perfectly
  • Great price for the quality
  • Good screen quality
  • Suitable screen size
CONS
  • None
Check Price and Specs

A great tablet that's both affordable and delivers great performance even for editing your drone footage.

The Xiamoi Mi Pad provides some great materials that are actually quite durable in case you manage to drop it in your drone adventures, which makes the experience much more enjoyable than having a large and expensive tablet hanging from the controller.

Screen size

8.0 inches,

Operating system (OS)

Android 8.1 (Oreo), 

Camera (Front & back)

Video (Front & back)

13 MP, 5 MP

1080p@30fps, 

Battery capacity

Li-Po 6000 mAh,

Connectivity

Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot

Storage space

microSDXC

RAM

64GB 4GB RAM

Processor

Octa core 

Display resolution

1200 x 1920 pixels,

4. Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 - Best android table for drones

samsung galaxy tab s7
PROS
  • Storage
  • Rated among the best tablets for drones users
  • Bright Screen
  • Great performance
CONS
  • Needs to be used for more than just your drone to justify the price
Check Price and Specs

One of the better tablets you can buy in general, but definitely a great choice both for using Drone apps like DJI Go or showing your clients what you recorded or your portfolio.

The processing power is top-notch and you can use a more advanced video editing software to edit your drone videos directly on it.

This means that it's great as an overall tablet, but not great if you want to use it just as a simple tablet to work with your drone app only.

The screen is bright and cristal clear with an 83.6% screen-to-body ratio and a huge size of 11 inches.

Because of the size, you might need to get a tablet holder for your transmitter.

Screen size

12.4-inch IPS LCD.

Operating system (OS)

Android 10

Camera (Front & back)

Video Front & back

13 MP, 8 MP

4K@30fps, 1080p 30 fps

Battery capacity

Li-Po 8000 mAh

Connectivity

Wi-Fi, LTE,5G

Storage space

microSDXC

RAM

4GB

Processor

Octa-core 

Display resolution

1600 x 2560 pixels

5.Apple iPad Mini 5 - best compact tablet for drones

apple ipad mini tablet for drone
PROS
  • Just right in screen size 
  • Fits perfectly in a DJI case 
  • Great for editing drone footage 
  • Can use Apple pencil for editing 
  • Solves the Mini 4 issue of overloading
CONS
  • Battery can be problematic
Check Price and Specs

If what you're looking for is a compact tablet for your drone, the Ipad Mini is the best way to go.

Apple iPad Mini 4 has a 7.9-inch retina display with a resolution of 2048 X 1536 pixels creating a  dual-core A8 chip carrying quad-core graphics. 

8 megapixel tablets have cameras for all photography lovers which also capture HD videos. The iOS camera is always on point yet delivers 128 GB of storage when supported by microcards based on preferences.

Screen size

7.9"

Operating system (OS)

iOS 12.1.3 (iPadOS 14.4.2 upgrade)

Camera (Front & back)

Video

8 MP/7 MP

1080p@30fps/1080p@30fps

Battery capacity

5100 mAh Li-Po

Connectivity

Wi-Fi + Cellular & GPS

Storage space

64GB/256GB

RAM

3GB RAM

Processor

A12 Bionic chip with 64‑bit architecture

Display resolution

1536 x 2048 pixels

 

Frequently asked questions

A few more things you should know before choosing the right tablet for your drone. Take note.

Does the DJI Fly App support iPads?

Yes.DJI made a new update that allows iPads to be supported on the DJI Fly App entirely with no more issues.

What are the best accessories for drone tablets?

Drone controllers are rarely already equipped with the hardware to handle a larger tablet, so you'll certainly need some additional equipment like this:

  1. Tablet mount
    • Required for actually attaching your tablet in the current phone holder of the drone
  2. Lanyard
    • Even though I don't like neck straps that much , when using a tablet it's almost necessary as your hands will get tired after a while
  3. Sun Shade
    • No matter how bright a tablet screen is, it will almost always have difficulties in daylight. Therefore, a cheap sunshade is almost required.

You can check out my article with the other drone accessories over here.

What smartphone/tablet work with DJI Mini 2?

All tablets and smartphones work with DJI FLy app and the DJI Mini 2 considering they have the following operating systems:

  • iOS v1.0.1 that requires iOS 10.0 and above 
  • Android v1.0.1 running on Android 6.0 and above

What’s the ideal size for a drone tablet?

Usually, anything between 8 to 10-inch dimensions is a good enough display on a screen.

If it's larger than that it can be problematic to hold in the hands or find a proper tablet holder for it.

Conclusion to drone tablets

I conclusion, you need to find a mix between proper screen size, brightness, and build quality when looking for a drone tablet. I would prefer something on the cheaper end if it simply has that purpose only.

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paul posea
Paul Posea
Hi, I'm a long-time drone reviewer and I hope my articles and comparisons on this site as well as Dronesgator's youtube channel are of as much help as possible.
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