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> 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 t

> 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.
skykooler 8y ago
> larger than any tablet available today. Not any tablet - I refer you to the 18" Samsung Galaxy View.

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.

skykooler 8y ago

> larger than any tablet available today. Not any tablet - I refer you to the 18" Samsung Galaxy View.