iPads in F on GMIS 777s - trial

Old May 16, 2011, 5:41 am
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iPads in F on GMIS 777s - trial

Apologies if this has already been covered. Excerpt from recent communication:

GMIS a/c will be retrofitted with the Thales IFE system, beginning November 2011. Meanwhile, we are aware of the restrictions and shortcomings of the IFE system onboard these a/c and a need to replace the DVD players supplied in First. From 18 May for approximately four weeks, there will be an evaluation of iPads onboard in First - on one of our GMIS a/c. The iPads will feature some movies, TV programmes and games. Through feedback from you and our customers, we will determine how successful these products are and if successful, hope to roll this out in First to all GMIS a/c.
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Old May 16, 2011, 5:45 am
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What is a GMIS a/c

Does this mean replacing the IFE with and iPads or just where DVD players are in use in F.

Given the screen with of an iPad, this will be a better screen size and resolution compared with existing IFE screens and DVD players
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Old May 16, 2011, 6:18 am
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Its the older entertainment system on some of the LGW fleet of 777's:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/briti...l#post13749011

These a/c carry DVDs for F pax, and I take the post to meant the DVD's are being replaces with iPad's on trial, as they fit the Thales system. Excellent news about the refit on the ent system
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Old May 16, 2011, 6:38 am
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It will be an interesting marketing line for Apple. Lots of business travellers who have never played with an iPad. Where better to show how easy the iPad works with a captive audience (being stuck in a metal tube) and everything is pre-loaded for ease of use.

It is far lighter than the DVD players; especially like the ones give out on US airlines (e.g. Hawaiian) without heavy charge equipment to load.
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:06 am
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Very interesting - the IFE should have been updated years ago on the GMIS 772s, when they fitted NGCW.

I hope the iPads will have the Apple or similar folding covers, so that they can be stood up rather than propped up.
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:12 am
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Originally Posted by Genius1
I hope the iPads will have the Apple or similar folding covers, so that they can be stood up rather than propped up.
Agreed. It would be fantastically tedious having to hold something for several hours while you watched a movie.
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:15 am
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Originally Posted by Sixth Freedom
Agreed. It would be fantastically tedious having to hold something for several hours while you watched a movie.
And the screens better be cleaned after each flight, or at least have a non-marking film over them!
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:25 am
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Thumbs up

I hope they make use of the full potential of those great devices:

- Putting on some games
- putting on some newspaper apps + latest update
- downloading some interesting podcasts + latest updates (my suggestion: 1-x of the latest podcast charts)
- Destination guide (lots of different good guides available)
- News in different languages (spanish, french, german, arabic)

Especially when keeping the devices really up to date while on the ground, they will be a very very good alternative to the old IFE (=DVD player + 2 channel mickey-mouse-cinema).


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Old May 16, 2011, 7:29 am
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Originally Posted by Sixth Freedom
Agreed. It would be fantastically tedious having to hold something for several hours while you watched a movie.


Exactly what kind of movie did you have in mind?
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:38 am
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It's a really good idea, iPad has a large clear screen and is easy to operate. I assume BA will install some kind of "kiosk" interface.

Also, something must be configured to stop a pax from simply copying all contents
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:42 am
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The iPad has been my 'AVOD of choice' for some time now and it is very easy to use in flight. Good move.
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:44 am
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Yuck.

I wouldn't be seen dead with an iPad, the embarrassment factor being too much to bear. I know plenty on this board love the things, but to me they are a demonstration of a person who has simply failed to think of anything useful to do with their money.

That's not an Apple rant, by the way. I have still yet to see the point of any of the Android tablets either. The question "what is it for?" (as opposed to "what does it do?") has never received a satisfactory answer.

Put these in F and I'll be asking for an OpDown and compensation in miles [tongue firmly wedged in cheek, FYI]
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:46 am
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Originally Posted by dark_horse
Yuck.

I wouldn't be seen dead with an iPad, the embarrassment factor being too much to bear.
Just because you don't understand modern technology is no reason to attack it so violently.
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:52 am
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Originally Posted by dark_horse
Yuck.but to me they are a demonstration of a person who has simply failed to think of anything useful to do with their money.

Put these in F and I'll be asking for an OpDown and compensation in miles [tongue firmly wedged in cheek, FYI]
A lot of people would say the same about people who travel in F.
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Old May 16, 2011, 7:55 am
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Wirelessly posted (iPhone 3G: Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

Originally Posted by dark_horse
Yuck.

I wouldn't be seen dead with an iPad, the embarrassment factor being too much to bear. I know plenty on this board love the things, but to me they are a demonstration of a person who has simply failed to think of anything useful to do with their money.

That's not an Apple rant, by the way. I have still yet to see the point of any of the Android tablets either. The question "what is it for?" (as opposed to "what does it do?") has never received a satisfactory answer.

Put these in F and I'll be asking for an OpDown and compensation in miles [tongue firmly wedged in cheek, FYI]
It's good that you aren't over-reacting to the news...
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