Sorry to resurrect such an old post. Saw this post after using the search function for another topic.
As John Clark said, ALL electronics have to off during critical phases of flight. Simply telling a flight attendant (after climbing through 10,000 ft) that your cell phone is in "airplane mode" is enough to end that story. Most flight attendants will be cool with that. With the two carriers I've been with, our manual stated that cell phones are ok for use inflight so long as they're in airplane safe mode. You'll come across an old crotchety flight attendant sometimes who will make you turn it off. Do what he/she says and after they walk away, turn it back on discretely. We all know you do that anyway with your other electronics on takeoff and landing anyway.
The problem comes from passengers using electronics when they're not supposed to (e.g., during taxi, during the demo, etc.) and they're OBVIOUS about it, as if to say F.U. When it comes down to it, we hate taking your fun away, but we have a job to do. It gets quite frustrating to see someone on their iPods after I've made three separate announcements telling everyone electronic devices have to be turned off.
Sorry I just had to respond to a post that I happen to be an expert in. Lord knows I'm not an expert on RIM devices.
