Phantom 3 with iPhone 5s ?

ImJim · Jul 8, 2015

Hi guys,

I'm about to buy the Phantom 3 Advanced. The thing is that I only have my iPhone 5s to control it. The 5s is, indeed, supported by the Phantom, as DJI says. But... I heard some people had trouble with the video feed: lags, jumps, pauses... This is a huge concern for me, as my main goal buying this marvelous machine is to control it entirely with a perfect smooth video feed.

The 5s only works with A7 chip, unlike more recent iPhones (6 and 6+ with A8). A lot of people advise to check the "hardware decode" for 5S users. Does anyone here uses his Phantom 3 with an iPhone 5S? I'd really appreciate if you guys could tell me about the quality of the video feed. Are you experiencing lags or is the video smooth like other supposedly "better" devices? I haven't found any YouTube videos showing the FPV with a 5s.

Looking forward to your replies

Jim

snowghost · Jul 8, 2015

I use an iPad mini 3 with the A7 chip. I don't have any issues with lag.

jlo · Jul 8, 2015

I don't know about the 5S but, I flew with an iPad Air which has the A7 chip and it worked great.

Flying with that itsy-bitsy screen is going to be a drag man.

rmfa · Jul 8, 2015

iPad Air uses the same chip. It works great! Just make sure to take the case off your iPhone or iPad to help with heat dissipation.

tjlt123 · Jul 8, 2015

Sorry to hijack your thread but I'm in the same position as you and wondering if the iPhone 6 too has any lag as this has an A8 vs the iPad Air 2's A8X?

emilewski · Jul 8, 2015

I occassionally use an iPhone 5s with my P3P (I bought a Nexus 7 2013 off ebay for $119 which is my primary device for the P3, but if my Nexus battery is drained I have used the iPhone 5s as a backup). It has an otter case on the iPhone and I have had no issues with it and the P3, other than the very small screen. It is perfectly usable, although difficult to go back to after being used to the Nexus 7 screen. It is worth the $ to upgrade to a tablet but you can fly with the 5s.

jlo · Jul 8, 2015

tjlt123 said:
Sorry to hijack your thread but I'm in the same position as you and wondering if the iPhone 6 too has any lag as this has an A8 vs the iPad Air 2's A8X?

iPhone 6 works fine.

ImJim · Jul 8, 2015

Thanks a million times to everyone for your replies! Apart from the chip, are the integrated iPhone antennas involved? Cause each time a new iPhone is released, it is equipped with better antennas... For example, the 6 and 6+ have way more powerful antennas than the 5s. Will it have any impact on the video feed?

ImJim · Jul 8, 2015

rmfa said:
iPad Air uses the same chip. It works great! Just make sure to take the case off your iPhone or iPad to help with heat dissipation.

I don't have any case

makes me think about something.. Which hood would you advise for the iPhone ? Sunlight in the phone's screen is so annoying

jlo · Jul 8, 2015

ImJim said:
Thanks a million times to everyone for your replies! Apart from the chip, are the integrated iPhone antennas involved? Cause each time a new iPhone is released, it is equipped with better antennas... For example, the 6 and 6+ have way more powerful antennas than the 5s. Will it have any impact on the video feed?

Nope, all the Lightbridge data is being passed through the USB.

ianwood · Jul 8, 2015

I am using an iPhone 5S. I normally have an iPad or two from my clients but not at the moment. I refuse to give Apple any more money in 2015. So I'm waiting for the HDMI port so I can use my 7" HDMI portable monitor.

The only challenge I have noticed is the difficulty to press the right option in the app. It also seems to be missing some of the functions due to the smaller screen size e.g. I can't set the camera to automatic as the button is not shown.

Vtecturtle · Jul 8, 2015

I use my 5s, no issues what's so ever. Just use at APPLE cable, not a cheap/non apple cable and you will be fine. No lags or video issues since the latest update.

snowghost · Jul 8, 2015

I use a monoprice.com cable and it's just fine.

ImJim · Jul 8, 2015

Vtecturtle said:
I use my 5s, no issues what's so ever. Just use at APPLE cable, not a cheap/non apple cable and you will be fine. No lags or video issues since the latest update.

Thank you so much. I was a bit worried but now I'm reassured