Thermal Drone - Tablet Info From Parrot (Response)

[vkm083185]

Hey all....

After several aggravating hours (and days) trying to get past the initial, entry level, support call center blues (i.e. someone re-reading the owner manual to me over and over, lol) I finally got a designer to send me the following information:

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Mr. Martin,

I am sorry that you feel we are not answering your questions adequately. As you may know, with the launch of several new products, our support team has been overrun with requests in the last few days. However, we do want to assure you that we are here to help you anytime you need support for your product.

In regard to your question about an available tablet list for the Parrot Bebop Thermal drone, we only recommend three tablets for use at this time. These are:

- Samsung Galaxy Tab S3
- Samsung Galaxy Tab active
- Sony Z4

Our primary concern with using other, untested tablets, is performance. While a lesser quality tablet might be compatible to the FreeFlight Thermal App, the overall performance and user experience may be reduced significantly.

We appreciate your interest in helping test other tablets, but at this time, we are not doing further evaluation on tablet performance and compatibility benchmarks.

We hope this answers your question. Please let us know if there is anything way we can help you in the future.

Sincerely,
Tim Corley
Parrot Design Team
Parrot, U.S.

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Soooo....my Bebop Thermal is on its way (FedEx), and I already have a bid on a large commercial job in East Texas (24,115 sq. ft. building - Thermal Audit) that I am waiting to use it on. I am going to get a Samsung Tab S3/32G for mine. If the job comes through, I hope to post some video and possibly a review on the performance of the Bebop Thermal. I'll keep updating this thread provided I can get the time, lol.

Keep Calm...and Drone On!
Kevin

 

[Landbo]

Hey all....

After several aggravating hours (and days) trying to get past the initial, entry level, support call center blues (i.e. someone re-reading the owner manual to me over and over, lol) I finally got a designer to send me the following information:

-------------------------

Mr. Martin,

I am sorry that you feel we are not answering your questions adequately. As you may know, with the launch of several new products, our support team has been overrun with requests in the last few days. However, we do want to assure you that we are here to help you anytime you need support for your product.

In regard to your question about an available tablet list for the Parrot Bebop Thermal drone, we only recommend three tablets for use at this time. These are:

- Samsung Galaxy Tab S3
- Samsung Galaxy Tab active
- Sony Z4

Our primary concern with using other, untested tablets, is performance. While a lesser quality tablet might be compatible to the FreeFlight Thermal App, the overall performance and user experience may be reduced significantly.

We appreciate your interest in helping test other tablets, but at this time, we are not doing further evaluation on tablet performance and compatibility benchmarks.

We hope this answers your question. Please let us know if there is anything way we can help you in the future.

Sincerely,
Tim Corley
Parrot Design Team
Parrot, U.S.

-------------

Soooo....my Bebop Thermal is on its way (FedEx), and I already have a bid on a large commercial job in East Texas (24,115 sq. ft. building - Thermal Audit) that I am waiting to use it on. I am going to get a Samsung Tab S3/32G for mine. If the job comes through, I hope to post some video and possibly a review on the performance of the Bebop Thermal. I'll keep updating this thread provided I can get the time, lol.

Keep Calm...and Drone On!
Kevin

Yes, those models that Parrot suggests is to be quite old as well. But you can look up for specs and age here on devices: GSMArena.com - mobile phone reviews, news, specifications and more...

Looking forward to having time to let us know about the model. Unfortunately, it will take a while when your business succeeds.

Good luck, regards Leif.

 

[vkm083185]

Yes, those models that Parrot suggests is to be quite old as well. But you can look up for specs and age here on devices: GSMArena.com - mobile phone reviews, news, specifications and more...

Looking forward to having time to let us know about the model. Unfortunately, it will take a while when your business succeeds.

Good luck, regards Leif.

Thanks, Leif! I'll try hard to keep some updated materials on as I learn it. I have spent a number of years using the FLIR cameras, and look forward to seeing how it integrates with the Parrot. Fly on, y'all!

 

[80minus1]

French companies don't operate under the same anti-trust laws that we have here. I've tried platforms that meet their published specs. But, when updating the firmware, there is no virtual button to initiate the transfer. My thermal unit arrived with 4.4.2 installed but indicated that it needed an update to 4.7.2. Fair enough. But three consecutive platforms have no button to initiate the transfer. Parrot does not address the issue on their sites at all and is unresponsive to requests for guidance. One work around is to channel the firmware through another application. So I passed the firmware to the drone through FreeFlight Pro. That got me all the way to 4.7.1. If I could get it all the way to 4.7.2 I would be ready, at least, to test the device. All the other tests of video and data work flawlessly. It handles my other drones every bit as well as the iPhone that I use for the Anafi. This isn't about my display device. It's about refusing to encode a simple button for other devices to permit the use of competing devices. If I'm out on a long hike performing a survey on a remote cell tower and I drop a device, I'd rather it be a device that doesn't cost in the $400 or $500 range, no matter how much Sony and Samsung are paying to freeze out other platforms.