2000nits 
Puts it on par with the CrystalSky Ultra 
This appears to be a common approach within the commercial/enterprise market. HereLink and Skydroid, and probably a few others, are manufacturing similar systems.
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It’s what I’ve been waiting for,
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I emailed Autel, asking when this will be released.
I thought they’ll either deny it exists completely, or they’ll ignore my email.
They replied with:
On 10 Apr 2021, at 22:59, Evan Applegate support@autelrobotics.com wrote:
Hello Rich
Thank you for contacting Autel Robotics. Unfortunately, we do not have even a soft release date for the smart controller quite yet. We appreciate your continued patience.
Best,
Evan Applegate
Outreach Specialist
AUTEL ROBOTICS
They didn’t deny it 
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Did you offer beta testing, I’ve tried lots, some do most don’t, but of you don’t ask you don’t get
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Wow! I’m now in line for one - as long as it can support my EVO 1. I so nearly bought a Yuneec Typhoon H for its spectacular controller (and retracting undercarriage) but reluctantly forsook it for the superior camera on the EVO.
Lol 
No, I didn’t.
But I’ve just replied to Evan and asked the question 
It’s great, isn’t it?
@stevesb brought his to a north west meet last year and I fell in love instantly.
With the controller.
Not Steve.
(soz mate)
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@PingSpike - maybe you could ask him to look at a retracting undercarriage too? Oh, and a UK branch.
Incidentally, I was corresponding with Evan last week about accessing the flight log of my crashed zone and he told me I couldn’t unless I had registered an account with them, which I hadn’t. But when I registered my new drone yesterday, I found I could also access the flight logs of my old drone so maybe he was just brushing me off and limiting his liabilities.
Alas:
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Gutted.
Great bit of kit the controller just needs better connectivity.
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Looks very nice, love that big screen!
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Autel Smart controllers started shipping this week.
A few people on the Autel Pilots forum have received them today.
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It’s here 
It absolutely dwarfs the DJI Smart Controller 
Quite literally twice as bright too.
Will post more details later tonight
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Some more pics for you.
The SC fills the box, it’s huge
Under the SC is lower tray which contains the accessories.
In here we have a, well, not sure what you’d call it really. A “casing” which you can attach to the currently-smooth rear of the SC to provide it with some comfy hand-grips, much like the DJI SC has. There is also a screen cloth, quick start guide, 4x joysticks, a USB-C to USB-C cable, an American plug 
and a chest strap which I’ve not opened, but the picture in the quick-start guide makes it look like the DJI Inspire chest harness.
Shame the plug is American as it has two USB-C and one USB-A outlets on it. It also has folding pins. Would be a nice little charger 
The antennas unscrew from the SC (as well as fold). This will be interesting for me as it means I could probably use this SC with my Ground Station
More pics to follow…
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The rear of the SC. There is a tripod mounting hole right in the centre, could be useful. The “handle” unscrews too, if needed.
I might need to unscrew it to store it in the lower section of the Evo rugged case, and if so I’ll probably just leave it off, it’s not a handle I’d actually use 
Across the top, with the antennas removed.
- C1 + C2 button on each end (these mimic the DJI buttons on the base of some of their controllers).
- Thumb wheels on the outer-most edges (both sides)
- Also has photo + video buttons on the outer most edges too (lower down in this pic)
- Power button is the one with the red dash
- Dust flap hides a USB-A socket (pen drive, external SSD, etc), a USB-C socket (for charging) and HDMI-out
With the “casing” thing fitted. Much more ergonomic, I shall leave this on. Also visible at the bottom is the lanyard clip.
The “handle” on the top also has threaded holes for you to screw the joysticks in to for storage purposes, or to store your spares in.
Side by side with the DJI SC. It makes it look tiny
Not sure what kinda babies these two would make, but the entire DJI SC is the size of the viewable area of the Autel SC.
The front of the SC has just two buttons, RTH on the left and Pause on the right. Four green LEDs signify the internal battery level.
First impressions?
Much like the Evo II, this is very well built. It’s an exceptionally solid bit of kit, there’s nothing flimsy or delicate about it at all. The downside of that is therefore the weight. It feels heavy in your hands. The lanyard clip on the back won’t be of any use whatsoever during flights. Fine while you’re not flying if you want it just dangling on your chest. I’ll see what options are available for a front-mounted lanyard point (assuming it gets too heavy to hold for 40mins per flight).
It’s naturally crazy-bright, 2000nits so it’s double what the DJI SC is (1000nits) and puts it on par with the DJI CrystalSky in terms of brightness.
The other thing that struck me was the speed. It’s very fast to boot from cold and it’s also very fast in use. Excellent capacitive touch screen for pinching / zooming and just generally very responsive in use, no lag whatsoever.
It comes with the Google Chrome browser installed which makes it instantly better for web browsing too. There is no Google Play app store on it though, interesting. Regular APK files can be side loaded with ease though, the Android OS is not locked down at all.
Will post some more observations over the coming days.
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