Virgin to deploy Samsung tablets in-flight

Virgin Australia is the latest Australian airline to introduce tablets for in-flight entertainment, announcing its intentions to deploy the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 this year.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
(Credit: Samsung)

The Tab 10.1 will be pre-loaded with movies, TV shows and audio programming for passengers, and deployed across most of the airline's Boeing 737 and Embraer E190 aircraft by April this year.

The devices will be provided to all business-class passengers free of charge, while economy passengers will be able to rent the device for a fee on any flight that's over three hours long. ZDNet Australia is still waiting to hear back from Virgin Australia on prices.

These tablets will be complemented by Virgin Australia's proposed in-flight Wi-Fi system coming next year, which will stream content to personal entertainment devices, including the on-board fleet of Galaxy Tab 10.1 units, as well as laptops and mobile devices.

Virgin Australia now joins rival airline Qantas and its subsidiary airline Jetstar in offering Wi-Fi and tablets to passengers.

Qantas has most recently kicked off its QStreaming Wi-Fi trial, while Jetstar is offering iPads to in-flight passengers , complete with pre-loaded content.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 runs on the Android operating system, and nearly didn't make it on to Australian store shelves last year after it ran afoul of Apple's legal team for alleged patent infringement.