Blackberrys and SLF

[The late XV105]

Prompted by the Pearl thread I just added to.

SLF last week. Cabin announcement about hand held electronic devices made a point of specifically exempting Blackberrys by brand name when it comes to "you can't use your transmitting device even if in flight safe mode".

Have RIM subjected their devices to tests that other's haven't to prove that when set "off" the transceiver really is "off" or is this a nice bit of marketing?!

I don't want to get in to the debate about whether it makes any practical difference anyway. I'm just casually curious.

I think it was KLM (I take many flights and they all merge in to a blurr).

[bnt]

Well, when someone is carrying a single electronic device that does everything, they're going to want to use it on the plane. Besides the Blackberry, you have the likes of the iPhone or Android devices, which are MP3 players, book readers, games platforms, etc. They have Bluetooth, and WiFi, and 3G cell service. Flight Mode is just a way of being sure that all the radio bits are turned off, with a little "plane" logo you can show the flight attendant.

From a bit of searching, it appears that the problem is not really one of RF leakage, but that it's a usability problem. I found this (http://www.brighthub.com/mobile/blackberry-platform/articles/13023.aspx):
Nevertheless, on a Blackberry, this can be even more confusing because no specific setting titled airplane mode exists. Even without the exact label of Airplane Mode, please note that the option still does exist on your device. By simply going to the main screen on your Blackberry and selecting the “Manage Connections” icon (looks like an antennae), you can then click on the heading that says “Turn All Connections Off” and your phone will be set for use in airplane mode.
How does a flight attendant check that, on every Blackberry model?

[The late XV105]

Flight Mode is just a way of being sure that all the radio bits are turned off

Gosh, I'd never have guessed. :ok:

Back to the point: I still don't get why I can use a Blackberry (any Blackberry) to read my mail, listen to music, watch a video, play a game, or just plain fiddle with out of boredom but my seat neighbour cannot do likewise with their smartphone of brand X or the guy over the isle theirs of brand Y.

All smart phones I've come across are a complete doddle to switch in and out of "antenna off" mode and this works both ways (deliberately switching out and accidentally switching back in)

[mad_jock]

I suspect its because most if not all of the KLM managment have Blackberry's.

And they want to use them while flying with KLM.

They don't want cav's etc playing games listening to music etc so they banned the rest because they couldn't only ban I-phones.

Simple really