[LINK] Experts criticize US electronic devices ban on some flights from Middle East

[Tom Worthington]

On 22/03/17 15:24, Antony Broughton Barry wrote:
> https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/21/us-electronic-devices-ban-flights-tsa-airports

Perhaps airline check-in counters need a gauge, like the one for 
carry-on luggage. Or weight alone would be sufficient.

It is not clear what the threat from laptops and tablets is. There could 
be good reasons for authorities are not wanting to make this clear, but 
I don't know what they are.

The Guardian article mentions the risk of bombs and of lithium 
batteries. The bigger and heavier the device is, the bigger the bomb or 
battery it can hold. So it would make sense to limit the size of 
devices, but to do that an actual size needs to be specified, not just 
“larger than a cellphone”.

Large phones ("phablets"):

* iPhone 7 Plus, with a 5.5 in screen is 158.2 mm x 77.9 mm x 7.3 mm and 
weighs 188 g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_7

* Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge with a 5.5 in screen is 150.9 mm x 72.6 mm x 
7.7 mm and weighs 177 g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S7

Are not that much smaller than a small tablet:

* Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 with a 7.0 in display is 190.09 mm x 120.45 mm 
x 11.98 mm and weighs 380 g.

A reasonable limit for devices might be that their height, width and 
depth added (the way baggage sizes are set), must be no more than 300 mm 
and the weight no more than 200 g. That would allow the phablets, but 
not tablets.

Just to check, my chunky old Lenovo A588T Android Flip Phone is 120.6 mm 
+ 62.5mm + 16.8mm = 199.9 mm at 178.4 g, so would pass: 
http://blog.tomw.net.au/2015/11/lenovo-a588t-android-flip-phone.html


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