4 ms·

Most of these are just COTS Android tablets. When they reboot the IFE, you sometimes see the Android soft home/menu button on the bottom. It's easy enough to r

by cbhl 8y ago

Most of these are just COTS Android tablets. When they reboot the IFE, you sometimes see the Android soft home/menu button on the bottom. It's easy enough to repair, too -- just apply some opaque tape to the camera.

52-6F-62 8y ago
I appreciate your use of the word "repair" in this instance.
Someone1234 8y ago
Indeed. What's interesting is that they used to be Linux tablets (i.e. non-Android) but newer generations have all been Android. I'm guessing economies of scale precipitated the move. It has also come with a significant improvement in touch screen quality which is welcomed (the old Linux based ones had resistive screens).
- filmgirlcw 8y ago
  I think part of this is exonolies of scale, but also the basis of how much faster/cheaper it is to build/maintain an Android-based interface is my thought. Delta and GoGo just launched a “wireless IFE” on the new A220 that is basically just a customized Android tablet sucking down/streaming the IFE stuff from a server either in the back of the plane or from satellites using the 2k WiFi system (likely the server on the plane, but admittedly I haven’t looked into the tech specifics), which is designed to be modular for this reason. Plus, if you’re not reliant on the IFE boxes under the seats (which the Linux/BusyBox units were), you can do a lot of the processing and serving and network stuff on the device rather than having to have those outated and expensive to upgrade computers in each row. Probably just a cheap to get a capricituve screen 10” tablet screen with a Mediatek quad-core professor and 2GB of RAM as if would be to get one “naked” too.
  - bpye 8y ago
    Using WiFi would be very surprising for most content, but it would be interesting to have live TV on aircraft.
    - bpye 8y ago
      Just realised I said WiFi here. Yeah the in built WiFi network isn't what would be surprising but using satellite internet would be. Streaming from a cache on the plane, that makes a lot of sense. I kinda fancy the idea of Netflix partnering with an airline to offer the IFE, wonder if that will ever ever happen.
    - stevehawk 8y ago
      How so? United's IFE is an app you install on your phone/tablet or website you use on your laptop to watch media and it's all wifi.
      - kortilla 8y ago
        But it’s not clear if that comes from a local cache on the plane or if it uses the actual uplink. I doubt it’s the latter because a satellite connection isn’t going to support 300 concurrent video streams.
    - reaperducer 8y ago
      Using WiFi would be very surprising for most content, but it would be interesting to have live TV on aircraft. There are a few airlines with live TV. I think Southwest and JetBlue, but I could be wrong because mostly I sleep on planes.
    - kortilla 8y ago
      Delta has live tv but I think it comes in from a non-WiFi path because it seems to come and independently of the WiFi service.
      - roywiggins 8y ago
        It's definitely satellite TV. Some planes have been outfitted with it since JetBlue debuted it in like 2000.
saagarjha 8y ago
Some of them allow you to get to the home/menu button by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.
kgwxd 8y ago
I assume that means they have a mic as well.
brlewis 8y ago
What's a good translucent thing to apply in case the brightness is auto-adjusting based on camera light?
- snazz 8y ago
  I currently use translucent tape on my phone camera, which works well enough. I have to replace it quite often, though, because it is much more fragile than the electrical tape I have on my laptop.
- scrumbledober 8y ago
  scotch tape
objclxt 8y ago
> Most of these are just COTS Android tablets This isn't quite true. They're not off-the-shelf (COTS) Android tablets - the hardware is custom, especially in terms of industrial design (although the chipset is pretty standard). IFE manufacturers aren't going to OEMs and re-purposing commercial tablet designs. You couldn't use off-the-shelf tablets anyway, because they have lithium batteries in them - and whilst the form factors might work for economy seating, in business and first class you often see very large units, larger than any tablet available today. IFE systems also need a much wider variety of I/O than "consumer" Android tablets provide. There are also requirements vis a vis safety and impact that make commercial tablets unsuitable. For example, the display is usually made of plastic rather than glass, since these units have to survive a lot of abuse. Some example components from one of the two big manufacturers: https://www.panasonic.aero/inflight-systems/x-series/key-components-2/ https://www.panasonic.aero/inflight-systems/x-series/key-com... Source: I worked in the IFE industry when they were transitioning from Linux based systems over to Android. One of the primary drivers for doing so was software, rather than hardware.
- freeflight 8y ago
  Thank you for the more detailed explanation! But if this is custom hardware then somebody must have wanted these cameras on there? To what end?
  - nordsieck 8y ago
    > But if this is custom hardware then somebody must have wanted these cameras on there? I mean, the explanation could be as simple as "it's semi-custom hardware with the minimum number of changes from a commercial tablet". In that case, it has a camera for the same reason brown sugar is refined sugar with molasses added back in: it's cheaper to stay on the path of high volume as much as possible. Of course, it could also be a more nefarious explanation. Short of mass surveillance by the government, I can't think of one: it's not like the airlines don't know exactly who is in which seat.
- BoorishBears 8y ago
  I worked with commercial embedded Android devices and they were literally internal circuit boards for Chinese off-the-shelf consumer Android tablets with the battery ripped out and a metal frame. The boards still had markings for the tablet parts and even reported themselves as some random consumer tablet you can find on Alibaba over ADB. Not much of a difference from an end-user perspective And for those wondering, we also got cameras for "free" depending on the model. It's not that we needed a camera, but some screen sizes already came with a camera embedded in the screen and their pricing was not out of line with the ones that didn't have cameras so we'd get them for other reasons.
cimmanom 8y ago
What seems more likely to me is just that the frames they put these things in cover the cameras anyway.
leovander 8y ago
Yup, most of them are Android tablets and I believe all the media that is served is stored on a central server via SQLlite on the aircraft. Knew someone that worked for a company that builds those in flight experiences, and that's where everyone would get their dump of "insert airline" watermarked movies for the month.

by cbhl 8y ago

52-6F-62 8y ago

I appreciate your use of the word "repair" in this instance.

Someone1234 8y ago

Indeed. What's interesting is that they used to be Linux tablets (i.e. non-Android) but newer generations have all been Android. I'm guessing economies of scale precipitated the move. It has also come with a significant improvement in touch screen quality which is welcomed (the old Linux based ones had resistive screens).

filmgirlcw 8y ago
I think part of this is exonolies of scale, but also the basis of how much faster/cheaper it is to build/maintain an Android-based interface is my thought. Delta and GoGo just launched a “wireless IFE” on the new A220 that is basically just a customized Android tablet sucking down/streaming the IFE stuff from a server either in the back of the plane or from satellites using the 2k WiFi system (likely the server on the plane, but admittedly I haven’t looked into the tech specifics), which is designed to be modular for this reason. Plus, if you’re not reliant on the IFE boxes under the seats (which the Linux/BusyBox units were), you can do a lot of the processing and serving and network stuff on the device rather than having to have those outated and expensive to upgrade computers in each row. Probably just a cheap to get a capricituve screen 10” tablet screen with a Mediatek quad-core professor and 2GB of RAM as if would be to get one “naked” too.
- bpye 8y ago
  Using WiFi would be very surprising for most content, but it would be interesting to have live TV on aircraft.
  - bpye 8y ago
    Just realised I said WiFi here. Yeah the in built WiFi network isn't what would be surprising but using satellite internet would be. Streaming from a cache on the plane, that makes a lot of sense. I kinda fancy the idea of Netflix partnering with an airline to offer the IFE, wonder if that will ever ever happen.
  - stevehawk 8y ago
    How so? United's IFE is an app you install on your phone/tablet or website you use on your laptop to watch media and it's all wifi.
    - kortilla 8y ago
      But it’s not clear if that comes from a local cache on the plane or if it uses the actual uplink. I doubt it’s the latter because a satellite connection isn’t going to support 300 concurrent video streams.
  - reaperducer 8y ago
    Using WiFi would be very surprising for most content, but it would be interesting to have live TV on aircraft. There are a few airlines with live TV. I think Southwest and JetBlue, but I could be wrong because mostly I sleep on planes.
  - kortilla 8y ago
    Delta has live tv but I think it comes in from a non-WiFi path because it seems to come and independently of the WiFi service.
    - roywiggins 8y ago
      It's definitely satellite TV. Some planes have been outfitted with it since JetBlue debuted it in like 2000.

saagarjha 8y ago

Some of them allow you to get to the home/menu button by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.

kgwxd 8y ago

I assume that means they have a mic as well.

brlewis 8y ago

What's a good translucent thing to apply in case the brightness is auto-adjusting based on camera light?

snazz 8y ago
I currently use translucent tape on my phone camera, which works well enough. I have to replace it quite often, though, because it is much more fragile than the electrical tape I have on my laptop.
scrumbledober 8y ago
scotch tape

objclxt 8y ago

> Most of these are just COTS Android tablets This isn't quite true. They're not off-the-shelf (COTS) Android tablets - the hardware is custom, especially in terms of industrial design (although the chipset is pretty standard). IFE manufacturers aren't going to OEMs and re-purposing commercial tablet designs. You couldn't use off-the-shelf tablets anyway, because they have lithium batteries in them - and whilst the form factors might work for economy seating, in business and first class you often see very large units, larger than any tablet available today. IFE systems also need a much wider variety of I/O than "consumer" Android tablets provide. There are also requirements vis a vis safety and impact that make commercial tablets unsuitable. For example, the display is usually made of plastic rather than glass, since these units have to survive a lot of abuse. Some example components from one of the two big manufacturers: https://www.panasonic.aero/inflight-systems/x-series/key-components-2/ https://www.panasonic.aero/inflight-systems/x-series/key-com... Source: I worked in the IFE industry when they were transitioning from Linux based systems over to Android. One of the primary drivers for doing so was software, rather than hardware.

freeflight 8y ago
Thank you for the more detailed explanation! But if this is custom hardware then somebody must have wanted these cameras on there? To what end?
- nordsieck 8y ago
  > But if this is custom hardware then somebody must have wanted these cameras on there? I mean, the explanation could be as simple as "it's semi-custom hardware with the minimum number of changes from a commercial tablet". In that case, it has a camera for the same reason brown sugar is refined sugar with molasses added back in: it's cheaper to stay on the path of high volume as much as possible. Of course, it could also be a more nefarious explanation. Short of mass surveillance by the government, I can't think of one: it's not like the airlines don't know exactly who is in which seat.
BoorishBears 8y ago
I worked with commercial embedded Android devices and they were literally internal circuit boards for Chinese off-the-shelf consumer Android tablets with the battery ripped out and a metal frame. The boards still had markings for the tablet parts and even reported themselves as some random consumer tablet you can find on Alibaba over ADB. Not much of a difference from an end-user perspective And for those wondering, we also got cameras for "free" depending on the model. It's not that we needed a camera, but some screen sizes already came with a camera embedded in the screen and their pricing was not out of line with the ones that didn't have cameras so we'd get them for other reasons.

cimmanom 8y ago

What seems more likely to me is just that the frames they put these things in cover the cameras anyway.

leovander 8y ago

Yup, most of them are Android tablets and I believe all the media that is served is stored on a central server via SQLlite on the aircraft. Knew someone that worked for a company that builds those in flight experiences, and that's where everyone would get their dump of "insert airline" watermarked movies for the month.