With laptops and tablets banned on some flights, get more from your smartphone at 35,000ft
Inflight entertainment is dead. Or is it? It’s long been presumed that tablets and laptops were making seat-back screens on long-haul flights increasingly pointless, but new restrictions announced by the US and UK make flying with gadgets increasingly complex.
For leisure travellers, it’s mostly about keeping a tablet or smartphone charged, and propped up for easy viewing. For business travellers after some productivity at 35,000ft, if a laptop or tablet isn’t allowed, then it’s all about using a smartphone for work. Thankfully, that’s getting much easier, with portable keyboards, portable batteries, props and apps fast making unpredictable gadget bans less of a problem.
The recent ban on laptops and tablets on some flights from the Middle East – but also including ereaders, cameras and (rather oddly) ‘travel printers/scanners’ – is actually two bans; the UK is banning them from six countries (Egypt, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia and Lebanon) while the US is banning them from eight countries (Turkey, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates – which means Dubai – Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait), but that’s 10 countries in total. Only Egypt, Turkey, Jordan and Saudi Arabia are banned by both nations.
Why the discrepancies? No-one knows, but we do know that the maximum permitted size of a phone is 16 x 9.3 x 1.5cm / 6.3 x 3.7 x 0.6 inches. It’s the physical dimensions that matter, but for phones that calculates to a screen size of about 7.6 inches, which means almost all smartphones make it – but no tablets.
So the advice for frequent travellers after productivity while flying? Go for the biggest phone you can afford.
Can a keyboard and a phone really work together? You could just purchase the newly announced, massively retro BlackBerry KeyOne Android phone with built-in keyboard, of course, but there are several good quality – and exceptionally travel-friendly – portable keyboards for travellers.
The Kanex MultiSync Foldable Travel Keyboard is an ultra-slim bi-fold that’s ergonomically designed – and easily pocket-sized – just like the Microsoft Universal and the tri-fold Jelly Comb Bluetooth keyboard. Other options include the Ldex Wireless Foldable Portable Bluetooth Keyboard , which is bigger, but adds a shelf for supporting a phone.
