Pros & Cons
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- Long-distance control.
- Return-to-home.
- Forward and rear obstacle detection.
- Automated flight modes.
- High-performance Sport mode.
- 24mm lens.
- Subject recognition and tracking.
- 60fps 4K video.
- 20MP Raw and JPG images.
- 1-inch sensor camera.
- Remote with integrated tablet.
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- Expensive.
- Side sensors limited in functionality.
- Integrated tablet suffers from occasional crashes and slowness.
- Maps only visible if preloaded over Wi-Fi.
DJI Phantom 4 Pro+ Specs
| Dimensions | 7 by 11.5 by 11.6 inches |
| Integrated Camera | Integrated with Gimbal |
| Live Video Feed | 1080p |
| Media Format | microSD |
| Media Format | microSDHC |
| Media Format | microSDXC |
| Megapixels | 20 |
| Remote | Dedicated with LCD |
| Rotors | 4 |
| Video Resolution | 1080p |
| Video Resolution | 2.7K |
| Video Resolution | 4K |
| Video Resolution | 720p |
| Weight | 3.1 |
DJI has released its latest Phantom drone in two versions. The Phantom 4 Pro ($1,499) works like previous models, with a remote control that leverages your smartphone or tablet to run the DJI Go app that controls the drone's camera and streams a live video feed. The Phantom 4 Pro+ ($1,799), meanwhile, includes a remote with an integrated Android tablet, but it costs more and the tablet has some drawbacks. The Phantom 4 Pro earns Editors' Choice honors, while the Pro+ stands as a strong option for users who don't own a smartphone, or for production companies that desire an integrated control solution.
Remote Control
Aside from the remote control, the Phantom 4 Pro+ ($1,799.00 at Amazon) is identical in features and functionality to the Phantom 4 Pro ($1,499.00 at DJI) . For more information on the drone itself, refer to our full review. We're just going to talk about the remote control here.
Instead of having a clip to hold your smartphone or tablet, like previous Phantom models, the Pro+ has an integrated tablet. It's permanently attached to the remote, so don't expect to have it double as a pocket device. It has 16GB of internal storage (with 9.5GB available) and is powered by a heavily skinned version of Android (the version of which isn't specificed). It sports a 1080p 5.5-inch screen with a very bright (1,000cd/m2) design, so glare when shooting outdoors is not an issue at all.
Touch sensitivity is quite good, and for the most part the tablet is responsive. It comes loaded with the DJI Go control app, and also has some basic Android apps, including a Web browser, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. There isn't a file browser or manager, which is a shame, as there's no way to easily offload screenshots, cached video, and other files stored on the tablet's internal memory to the remote's microSD card slot.
As much as I enjoyed not having to connect my phone to the remote every time I wanted to fly the Phantom—which, with a perfect device attached, might just be worth a $300 premium—there are a couple of issues that hold the Pro+ back from getting our highest recommendation.
My biggest issue is with maps. When you fly a Phantom drone with a smartphone, the DJI Go app leverages your phone's LTE connection to download a map of the area in which you are flying. You can toggle between it and the camera feed, so you can identify nearby roads and landmarks. But with the integrated solution, maps aren't preloaded. And without a built-in LTE connection, you can't access them on the fly when you're out in the field.
You can sit in your living room the before a flight, identify which area of the world you'll be exploring, and use Wi-Fi to load maps ahead of time that will be cached for your flight. But it's a cumbersome process, and not one that I expect from a company like DJI, which typically delivers a very polished user experience.
The tablet ships with plenty of of available storage space, and the remote has a microSD slot to expand capacity. That should be enough to hold quite a bit of map data. Adding an option to download some of it automatically would go a long way toward making the Pro+ remote the all-in-one control solution it should be.
The other issue I encountered is in regard to performance and stability. There's currently a bug with the Flight Log viewer that makes load times excruciatingly long—about 35 seconds—and replay sluggish. My iPhone 6 Plus, on the other hand, loads logs instantly. DJI is aware of the bug and is working on a solution. I don't think the tablet is underpowered; even though DJI doesn't specify the processor speed, it does state that it has 4GB of RAM, and it's quite responsive in every other aspect.
I also experienced occasional lock-ups, but never while in flight. A few were when trying to load the flight logs, so I'm expecting that to be fixed along with the overall performance, but one was when trying to take a screenshot of the settings menu of the DJI Go app. So, be careful of taking screenshots when the drone is flying.
Conclusions
There are certainly some reasons to opt for the Phantom 4 Pro+. Production companies that don't want to have a smartphone or tablet dedicated to each member of its Phantom fleet are certainly candidates. But for the average user who already has an Android or iPhone in their pocket? With the current state of the built-in tablet experience, that's a tougher sell. We'll revisit this conclusion if DJI is able to deliver a better solution for caching maps offline. But for now, we're recommending that most drone pilots opt for the less expensive Phantom 4 Pro configuration and leverage their existing smartphone as a view screen and platform for the DJI Go app.
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Further Reading
- Drone Deals: Save Big on DJI Mavic Bundles, Pre-Order New Mavic Air 2
- UPS, CVS Use Drones to Deliver Prescriptions to Florida Retirement Community
- Hands On: DJI's Mavic Air 2 Sports 48MP Camera, Amazing Battery Life
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- Drone Regulations: What You Need to Know