This week, transportation authorities from the United States and the European Union will discuss electronics regulation on international flights from the region to the U.S. The EU could apply a ban on all electronics bigger than a smartphone.
The in-flight electronics ban is a security measure first implemented on ten airports from Middle East countries, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates. U.S. authorities say the move seeks to prevent impending homeland security threats coming from these countries.
Terrorist cells have recently spread to European nations, and the negotiations this week could see some an increasing tendency of enforcing stricter rules as a result. Below are some alternatives to travelers who need to keep up their productivity, even during transatlantic flights.
Portable power banks
Considering the electronics ban forbids bringing anything larger than a smartphone onboard, it is rather ironic that carryable power banks don’t fall under these new rules.
The recent regulatory framework is often called the “laptop ban” because they have lithium-ion batteries that terrorists could use to carry out attacks during the journey.
With people now bound to use smartphones only, they need to keep their devices charged for as long as the flight lasts, which is usually more than a couple hours from either Europe or the Middle East.
Portable keyboard
If you are traveling to the United States for business, then you might find typing on a touchscreen for hours on end a little tiresome. For those of you who need to keep your productivity up, a portable keyboard might be the solution.
There are some options available on the market, ranging from corded to wireless, connecting to your phone via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. There are even foldable models or keyboards you can roll to a portion of their size.
Adapters and Dongles
Whether you have an Android device or an iPhone, chances are you will be hooking up your smartphone to a lot of peripherals, be them chargers, power banks, docks, or keyboards. If you run out of ports in your handset, you might need to get an adapter.
Apple fans will know it is true, particularly for those rolling with the latest generation of iPhones. The proprietary adapter or a third-party dongle may not be beautiful, but it will let you listen to music and charge your phone at the same time.
Wireless headphones
Of course, technology tends to create problems when a solution is already available or in development. For these situations where you don’t want to compromise one of your device’s ports, there are wireless headphones.
There is a broad range of these gadgets out there, from Apple’s AirPods to products by Beats, Motorola, Plantronics, JBL, Jaybird, and more. Of course, you might want to save a slot in your power bank because these headphones run out of battery fairly quickly.
Source: CNN
