Inflight entertainment is hit or miss depending on what kind of flight you take and what kind of planes you get. For example flying on a newer plane would probably nab you slightly newer hardware, while taking an older plane might see you relying on entertainment units a decade old, but it looks like Samsung and Qantas wants to change that.
Both companies have recently announced a new partnership in which Samsung will be providing Gear VR virtual reality headsets to passengers who fly first class and on long-haul flights. The headsets will be available on Qantas’ A380 flights and will come with a specially developed Qantas app that is being run on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 handset.
The app will basically provide the wearer with a 360-degree view of the first class lounge at LAX, runway-side videos of the planes taking off and landing, and will allow passengers to experience a boat ride down a river (while flying in a plane, which is a little ironic we know). It does seem that the content is a bit limited at the moment, but for those who are sick of the usual inflight entertainment, hopefully the Gear VR headsets will help shake things up.
However like we said, this is limited to those flying the A380 in first class and on long-haul flights, but hopefully the program is receptive enough where perhaps Qantas (or any other airlines for that matter) will start to offer it to other passengers, maybe for a small fee as a deposit of sorts.
Filed in . Read more about Gear VR, Samsung, Virtual Reality (VR) and Wearable Tech.