Paul explains why the DJI Spark is now the only drone he plays with, and solves the problem of delayed notifications on Samsung Galaxy S8 phones.
Paul explains why the DJI Spark is now the only drone he plays with, and solves the problem of delayed notifications on Samsung Galaxy S8 phones
One of my favourite toys right now is my DJI Spark. It’s a drone, but not just any drone. What makes the Spark so special is its size.
It’s small enough that you can easily carry it around in a coat pocket or a small bag, but the reduced size has other benefits too. The main one being that you don’t seem to get as many negative reactions from those concerned about privacy and spying as you do when flying a larger drone. It seems that, in this regard at least, size really does matter. Also, I find that a smaller drone makes far less noise than its bigger stablemates – which, again, seems to help when it comes to the anti-social aspects of drone flying.
Don’t confuse it with the other super-small drones such as the Hubsan X4 or Q4, though – the DJI Spark is nothing like those models. It’s much easier to fly and uses all of DJI’s know-how from the Phantom and Mavic Pro ranges – only shrunk down to a more compact form.
I mentioned that it’s my favourite “toy”, and it’s great fun, but it does have some genuine uses too. I recently flew the Spark around the top of my house to check that the gutters weren’t clogged with leaves – so much quicker and easier than getting the ladders out! I even noticed a cracked roof tile while I was doing this.
Like all drones, though, you need to be careful if you fly one for anything that could be perceived as “business” use. If you do, you need to be authorised by the Civil Aviation Authority, and that involves taking a course and sitting an exam. The CAA is really hot on policing this, too – people who have posted “commercial” footage on YouTube have received warnings from the regulatory body. Strictly speaking, I can’t post footage online to accompany this column or even include photos taken from the drone, because I’m being paid for this work and so it would count as commercial flying.
For commercial work you need a PfCO, or Permission for Commercial Operation, and the usual way to get this is by taking a course that lasts a few days and costs over £1,000. There are a number of companies offering such courses, but NATS and Heliguy are two names that you’ll see recommended frequently (NATS is the company that operates the UK air traffic control system; Heliguy is at the other end of the spectrum, starting life as a small remote control helicopter specialist).
Whether or not you have commercial certification, there’s still a whole raft of regulations that you’ll need to follow. For example, a drone can’t be flown within 50m of a person, vehicle, building or structure. Luckily, my gutter check was okay because this rule doesn’t apply to buildings or vehicles you own. You’re also not allowed to fly higher than 112m or more than 500m away horizontally, and you can’t fly over built-up areas. In addition, you need to keep the drone within sight at all times. There’s a long list of rules and regulations, but if you look at much of the drone footage posted online, you’ll see all of them being broken on a regular basis. There are also various places around the UK where you’re not allowed to fly drones. Obviously, this includes the areas around airports and military bases, but many people don’t realise that flying isn’t allowed in the New Forest, the Peak District, and
“I flew the Spark around the top of my home to check the gutters – easier than getting the ladders out”
around London’s Royal Parks, the House of Commons and the Square Mile. Some London boroughs such as Chelsea, Barking and Lewisham are classed as “congested” and so drone flying is totally prohibited in those areas. There are even temporary exclusions related to the royal family and any trips they might be making.
There’s a really good app that shows both the restricted areas and those without flying bans but where you need to take extra care. On iOS it’s called “NATS Drone Assist”, while the Android version is “Drone Assist from NATS”. (It’s the same NATS that runs the air traffic control system.) You’ll need to register your email address to get the most from it, but it’s most useful. You may even find that you live in a restricted area, in which case test flights from your back garden won’t be an option.
Anyway, back to the DJI Spark. It’s unusual inasmuch as you can control it using just your hands. The onboard camera, sensors and control logic allow you to launch it from your hand, and then get it to perform various tasks by just waving at it. It’s all a bit Jedi, and frankly, a bit silly. It’s fun to try this once or twice, but I doubt many users will progress much beyond that.
You’re much more likely to want to control the device from either your phone or, better still, the optional remote control, which is available at additional cost. Using just your phone, a Wi-Fi link is established between the Spark and your handset, and this is used for both video and the flight control signals. Your Spark generates its own Wi-Fi network, so you’ll need to search for this on the phone, and connect to it. Some people have reported that when flying in areas where there’s also a saved Wi-Fi network on the phone (their back garden, for example), the phone will see the drone Wi-Fi signal weaken at extreme range and then reconnect to another, stronger network. I’ve not seen this behaviour myself on either iOS or Android, but if it does happen then the Spark should notice that the connection has dropped and enter the automatic “Return to Home” mode.
Even if you buy the optional remote controller, you’ll still need to use your phone to view streamed video, and also for various control functions. The phone slots neatly into a fold-out bracket beneath the controller – it’s a good setup. The controller then establishes a radio link between itself and the Spark, and it also talks to your phone over Wi-Fi, relaying video. In much the same way as when talking directly to the drone, the remote controller acts like a wireless access point, establishing its own Wi-Fi network.
This means that the remote controller is effectively having to manage two separate wireless connections, and it does so surprisingly well. But a great little tip is to use an OTG table to connect the phone to the controller rather than Wi-Fi. It’s an undocumented way of working, but the socket is right there on the controller and it works well, bypassing that wireless link between the phone and the controller.
Normally, an OTG cable presents a full-sized USB socket, but this isn’t what we need here. Instead, it’s a special Lightning, USB-C or microUSB OTG cable that you’ll need to get hold of. I’ve successfully used both the Lightning and USB-C cables from RCstyle, both available from Amazon ( pcpro.link/279usb). Not only do they avoid possible Wi-Fi disconnection issues, they also seem to improve the slight lag that’s always present in the live video feed when the controller acts as a wireless relay.
I mentioned earlier that the remote controller is an optional extra – it costs £130. My suggestion is that when you originally buy the Spark you should get the Fly More Combo bundle. It’s £180 more than the Spark alone, but in the box you’ll get an additional battery, a batterycharging hub (which charges up to three batteries at one time), some extra propellers, a set of propeller guards, a carrying case and, of course, the remote controller. All of those bits are useful and the Combo kit offers a significant saving over buying each of the items individually.
I also suggest investing in a few other, cheap extras. First, a lens cap to protect both the camera and the gimbal while the Spark is being transported. I paid £6 for mine ( pcpro. link/279lens) link/279lens – and, frankly, it’s mean of DJI not to include one of these with the drone. Plus, I like to use a protector for the remote control joysticks ( pcpro. link/279joy) link/279joy and a prop stabiliser ( pcpro. link/279prop link/279prop). These aren’t essential, but help to keep items well-protected in a bag that may get chucked around. And that bag – the one that comes in the Combo kit and into which you can pack the Spark, controller, batteries, spare props, and so on – is really small; 250 x 180 x 105mm to be exact. That’s much smaller than a typical DSLR bag. One thing to be aware of if you buy the Combo kit is that the remote control and the Spark come prepaired out of the box. If you follow the usual instructions for pairing the drone to your phone, it won’t work because the SSID from the Spark is hidden. The way to tackle this is to switch on the Spark, then press and hold the power button for nine seconds. You’ll hear the drone beep three times, and the SSID will reset to the default factory value, so you’ll be able to connect to it. The Wi-Fi password is on a sticker beneath the battery (so it
makes sense to write it down before you begin).
As you can probably tell, I’m really chuffed with the Spark. I’ve owned several DJI drones, as well as kit from other manufacturers, but the Spark is pretty much the only one I fly now. Yes, the video is only 1080P, rather than the 4K available on more expensive drones, but the quality is perfectly acceptable. For still images, the resolution is 3,968 × 2,976 pixels. And, yes, the battery only lasts about ten minutes, but given the legal restrictions about how far away you’re allowed to fly, ten minutes is fine. When the power becomes low, the unit simply returns back home and you can swap out the battery. It’s really no hassle. But the main reason I love the DJI Spark is because it’s such fun. I have a Mavic Pro and a Phantom 4 in the cupboard, too, but it’s the Spark that’s used. Perhaps I really should do that CAA training!
Since writing nice things about the Samsung Galaxy S8 (and S8+) a few months back, a couple of you have been in touch to ask whether I’ve noticed a problem with the phone in terms of the hours it takes for notifications to come through. And when they do finally arrive, they’ll often be batched up, with several “pings” sounding off one after another.
It’s something that a few people have reported, and my investigations have shown that it’s the result of the aggressive batterysaving techniques the phone uses. The handset only sports a 3,000mAh battery, which given the hardware spec and insanely bright screen, might be considered somewhat on the mean side. Engaging various powersaving techniques enables a full day’s use of the phone by the average user. In fact, the main group of people who complain about the battery life are those who have switched off all of the battery-saving trickery!
One consequence, though, is that the phone has a tendency to put background tasks to sleep. There appear to be two levels to this: a “mild sedation” level of sleep that’s recoverable, and a full sleep, which is more like putting the apps into a coma! These two levels of sleep aren’t actually exposed via the settings interface, so the phone gives the impression that apps are either awake in the foreground, running in the background, or fully asleep.
Delayed notifications happen when messaging or alerting-type apps are put into this mild sedation mode – when they next wake up, they suddenly see a whole load of waiting notifications in a queue, ready to be processed.
The Samsung version of Android offers full control over which apps are put to sleep, but you’ll need to dive into the depths of the phone to find the option. Start by tapping the cog in the top bar to get to the main settings screen, then go into Device maintenance. From there, click the battery button, which you’ll find on the bottom left. On the next screen, just below the estimated usage time, you’ll see the words “Battery Usage” – that’s actually a button, even though it doesn’t look like one. This will take you to that familiar battery usage screen you’ll find on pretty much every Android phone (all those previous screens were Samsung additions). Now press the three dots in the top-right to open the sub-menu, where you’ll find “Optimise battery usage”; press that. Finally, we’re at the screen we need. Make sure “All apps” is selected from the toggle at the top. You’ll now see a list of all the apps on the phone, as well as a number of system-level components, and a switch beside each one.
Look down that list of apps and pick out the ones where instant notifications are important. This might be an email app, if you’re a business user; or Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat, if you’re a social-media junkie. Take care not to switch battery optimisation off for too many apps, or else you’ll compromise your phone’s battery life. There’s no Save button to hit when you’re done; just back out of these screens (or press your home button).
Of course, you might be suffering from the reverse: apps that keep bugging you with notifications and where there’s no obvious way to switch them off from within the app itself. Head to settings again, and go into the Notifications screen. Like before, you’ll see a list of apps with a switch beside each one, which you can use to turn off all notifications for that app.
What’s not immediately obvious is that if you press the app name, just to the left of the switch, it takes you into a more advanced set of controls where you’ll find a much finer level of customisation available. Here, for example, you can set the app to use silent notifications, where you’re still notified but without the sound or vibration. You can also assign apps to have priority notifications here, so that they always appear at the top of the list.
It’s well worth digging around inside the settings screens on any phone or tablet. Most of them have many such hidden gems that offer assistance with those minor annoyances.
“The phone puts background tasks to sleep – the full sleep mode is more like putting apps into a coma”