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After recently rolling out the new Phantom 4 Pro and the massive Inspire 2, DJI has introduced a new mobile app as well, this is DJI Go 4. This is not an update to the existing DJI Go app, you’ll still need that for your older Phantom drones, but Mavic Pro, Phantom 4 Pro and Inspire 2 owners, this is the app for you.

Also supported in the new app is the Phantom 4, but we have not heard from DJI themselves yet for an explanation why there is now two versions of their mobile app floating around.

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Diving in, DJI Go 4 is a near replica of the existing DJI Go app for Android and iOS. Updated artwork is a pleasant start, but the features, largely, remain the same at first glance. Beyond the homepage and basic settings is where the magic happens, with a stream of new and improved features to get the most out of your drone.

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The key features that DJI highlights as updates to the new DJI Go 4 app are “near real-time image transmission” and some improved camera controls.

As any experienced drone pilot will tell you, if a craft offers a FPV (first person view,) the faster that image is transmitted from the air to the screen in your hand, the less likely you are to crash. DJI promoting near real-time is, believe it or not, only a small speed increase in video transmission, at least as far as the Mavic Pro and newer Phantom 4 Pro and Inspire 2 are concerned. Not to discredit the achievement, but we have been enjoying near real-time FPV already.

Stay tuned, it is night now with this news breaking, we’ll fly in the sunshine tomorrow and update if we notice any major differences in video streaming.

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Improvements to video playback and editing features are a nice touch, DJI makes it easy to create films from your aerial footage, including music and built-in templates, both of which are updated in DJI Go 4 as well.

Back to DJI’s main promotion, camera settings adjustments. Granted, you could adjust camera settings prior to this, the trick here is expanded ability to control said camera settings while in mid-flight. With the majority of the drones currently supported by DJI Go 4 being more like cameras with wings, the more camera control the better, I’d say.

Available for Android devices running at least Android 4.4. DJI Go is a free app in the Google Play Store, available now for download.

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Are you one of the many that dislike the original DJI Go app, looking for an improvement? We hope this is it.

[alert]After testing this app, we like the new features and design, but it still packed up, freezing not only the screen and app, it required a full reboot of my phone before I could return to FPV navigation and image framing. The older DJI Go app did the same thing a short time later in the flight, so we’ll accept the issues as part of the process.[/alert]

[alert]Speaking for myself, DJI, I’d rather you drop frames in the FPV video stream than get locked up trying to produce every frame. Also really wanted to see adjustable video cache sizes, 2GB is not sufficient when you can be in the air for over 20 minutes recording 4K video. Next time will be better, right?[/alert]


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