Originally Posted by
GinFizz
??
How about taking photographs (already mentioned by the OP in fact), as a music player, playing a downloaded game, using translation software, looking at an offline map of the place you are flying to, etc.
OP: There was a rumour towards the end of 2016 that this policy would be changed in 2017, but since then still no further signs of this on the horizon (and similar rumours have come and gone in 2015 and 2014 ...).
I'm pretty sure your phone is 100% safe when switched on during flight. However, there are few cheap Chinese phones has the "fake" flight mode. i.e. to save cost, those phones will never work at flight mode, just showing "flight mode" on the screen. Those phone will still be transmitting, which is banned by all airlines. That's the reason Chinese government has to force all phones to remain off during flight.