SPICENGAGE: Review of the LCCs IFE

This post was first published as Review: SPICENGAGE . Network Thoughts has re-published this post with permission.

Backgound

SpiceJet launched its new inflight entertainment system —SpicEngage, middle of August 2018. This system is presently available in all SpiceJet domestic and international flights and allows travellers to use their hand-held devices to connect to SpicEngage.

I had booked SpiceJet to travel between Delhi and Guwahati on 02 September 2018 and I was lucky that the aircraft which was operating this sector, VT-SGQ a Boeing 737-8GJ, was equipped with the hardware for SpicEngage.

Aircraft which had this in flight entertainment, has the advertisement prominently displayed at the back of headrest. However, there was no mention on how to connect to this in flight entertainment system mentioned anywhere. It wasn’t there on their in flight magazine nor on their menu cards.

Connectivity

The hardware was Lufthansa’s BoardConnect. To connect to this system, you will have to switch on your wifi on your portable device i.e Mobile phone or Tab or a Laptop and scan for the networks. A wifi network called “SpicEngage” will show up and you will have to connect to this network. Its not a password protected network and, as per my device, worked on 5 Ghz band. Once connected, just open your web browser to browse the contents. There is no need to download any app to view any of the contents.

Contents

Once connected, the browser automatically redirects to http://www.broadconnect.aero for the content. The entertainment content is grouped into five categories- Watch, Explore, Read, Play and Eat.

The shortcut to various categories was available by swiping from left to right.

Watch: This segment had Stand up comedies, web series, short movies and Cartoons. The important thing to note here was that none of the content looked like a paid content. It consisted mostly of content which was royalty free. Look at the short movies which were on offer:

However, the movies, although not from big banners like Dharma Production or UTV etc, were entertaining and got the job done.

The cartoons section had few known names, although at this point, I am technically not qualified to comment on this section.

Play:  The play section had just 3 games as of now. I liked Sudoku and hence ended up playing that.

Read: The read section only had SpiceJet’s inflight magazine. Issues of past one year was available. These were in PDF format, appx 5MB and once you clicked on the link, the PDF downloaded on to your device and opened up on your app.

However, on the connectivity front, i did face frequent disconnection. I am not sure why this happened, but it did reconnect after few seconds on its own.

Moving Map:  Yes, AvGeeks, it did have a moving map. However, it was rudimentary and gave just 4 values. The flight no, Date, ground speed and Altitude. AvGeeks can kill unlimited no of hrs just by watching this.

Eat: Eat section basically had the inflight catering menu in PDF files. It was subdivided into Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner and Hot meals etc. Once you click on the link, the a PDF would be downloaded on to your device and viewed from there.

Overall impressions

The carrier is the first and only Indian low-cost airline, as of now, to introduce complimentary in-flight entertainment. The in flight entertainment system is basic, doesn’t have a lot of options to play around with but gets the job done. Considering that SpiceJet is an LCC, I do not see that it will have any paid content on SpicEngage soon. Having said that, the current system is enough to keep you entertained for the duration of the flight. Except the occasional disconnect, the system worked well.

SG should advertise this service more, specifically on how to connect and use the service.

That’s it for this time….