Okay guys, clearly the mobile phone is a bone of contention. There is obviously more that can be said on both sides of the argument and I don't want it to derail this thread so lets drop it.
To put it simply, Qantas along with numerous other companies have a policy requirment for personal electronic devices including mobile phones to be
switched off (not just flight mode) during the
take off and landing phases of flight.
Straight off the Qantas website:
Note: All types of mobile phones must be switched off during take-off and landing.
and...
All electronic devices, including PDAs, laptop computers, handheld games, iPads, Ebooks and toys must be switched off during take-off and landing.
There was a passanger on this flight who recorded the
landing using his
iphone with flagrant disregard for this direction. I do not agree that his behaviour should be either promoted or rewarded by the media. End of story.