The US movement to lift the ban on in-flight phone calls just hit some turbulence.

Hours before the US Federal Communications Commission held a 3-2 vote in favor of considering allowing calls, the nation's Department of Transportation announced it will look at banning them all together.

A myriad of stakeholders - fliers, flight attendants, lawmakers and more - have reached out to the DOT, and the consensus is they are "troubled" by the idea of in-flight cell phone chit chats.

"[A]nd I am concerned about this possibility as well," said Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx to the Wall Street Journal.

The FCC can only determine if the ban on in-flight calls is technically sound, while it's up to the DOT to determine whether mid-air calls are fair to consumers, Foxx said.

If the DOT bans calls while the FCC passes its proposal, connected activity like text messaging and browsing would be feasible, but not calls. If the DOT decides not to move forward with a ban, it would still be up to individual airlines whether to allow them.

Well if you don't want it...

The issue has become a decisive and emotionally charged one as consumers, regulators and airlines debate the merits of allowing calls on technical grounds versus common courtesy.

In prepared remarks before a US congressional oversight committee today, FCC Chair Tom Wheeler said, "I do not want the person in the seat next to me yapping at 35,000 feet any more than anyone else. But we are not the Federal Courtesy Commission."

He said the ban is out of date - it's from the 1990s - and must be lifted if the aim is do away with "regulations that serve no purpose."

The US Federal Aviation Administration recently announced that airlines can allow the use of personal electronics during all stages of a flight, though it expressly forbade in-flight calls.

As for the FCC's proposal, it is only at the public comment stage, with no impending action.

The Hill reported Wheeler said he was pleased with the DOT's potential action, but we have a feeling this trip could get bumpy before all is said and done.

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Even though SwiftKey remains the top paid app in the Google Play store, a new beta proves its creators haven't put a predictive period at the end of its Android keyboard's development.

The SwiftKey 4.5 beta adds over 500 emoji faces to the letters, numbers and symbols that users are used to seeing from the keyboard app.

"Users can choose from hundreds of emoji images including smileys, fun characters, sports images, food, animals, weather symbols, transport and traffic signs, and musical references," said SwiftKey in a press release.

The emoji icons can be access through a popup panel. Tabs split the fun little pictures into five categories: people, objects, nature, places and symbols.

Predictive emoji

As you might expect from the minds of SwiftKey, the emoji in today's beta are just as much a part of the predictive candidate bar as any matching word.

"If a user starts typing 'pizza' they might see a tasty slice being served up on the candidate bar," illustrated SwiftKey.

Even more timely for the holiday season, entering in the letters for the word "Santa" suggests a Christmas emoji.

SwiftKey is even poised to learn which emoji icons you usually type after words and names.

"If someone regularly uses a particular emoji next to a specific word, such as their girlfriend's name and a heart symbol, it will learn to suggest it in future," noted the press release.

Optional numbers row

More productive than exciting, the SwiftKey 4.5 beta introduces an optional dedicated number row, which the company said was added by popular request.

It appears at the top of the keyboard instead of forcing users to hold down the top row keys or toggle between numbers and letters.

SwiftKey 4.5 can be downloaded in beta form through this APK right now.

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There's an ironic power struggle when it comes to charging your favorite devices wirelessly, and one of the three standards vying for the without-wires job just rebranded itself as Rezence.

The Alliance for Wireless Power, or A4WP, thinks Rezence is a more consumer-friendly brand name and that its new lightning bolt logo will strike a chord.

"The name Rezence was derived from the words resonance and essence," said Geoff Gordon, A4WP marketing committee chair, in a press release.

"The Rezence logo includes a simple, iconic mark in the form of a Z that can also be used as a standalone mark on a variety of applications."

You'll be seeing the new name and logo on boxes of smartphones and tablets that can be charged wirelessly - eventually. Rezence-enabled products are due to launch in early 2014.

Rezence vs Power Matters Alliance vs Qi

Rezence is waiting for early next year to make its presence, but you can wirelessly charge electronics through the already-launched Power Matters Alliance and Qi standards.

Plenty of major companies are playing all sides of the charging field including Samsung, LG, Sony and Qualcomm. But it may be the exclusives that matter.

The Power Matters Alliance is being proliferated by companies like AT&T, Otterbox, Sharp and Duracell.

Qi (pronounced "Chee") inductive charging, is being backed by the Wireless Power Consortium and has Nokia, Motorola, Panasonic and Verizon on its side.

Rezence has Intel in its corner and the advantage that it can charge multiple devices at once. This is a new feature that the Power Matters Alliance and Qi are working on.

Problems and solutions for consumers

This problem with this external power struggle is that it's confusing for consumers if they buy a new device that promises to wirelessly charge, but it's meant for "the other charging mat."

Google, for example, recently launched a Qi charger for its Nexus 5, Nexus 4 and new Nexus 7. You're out of luck if you already bought into a Power Matters Alliance mat, however.

It's Blu-ray vs HD DVD and VHS vs Betamax all over again. Hopefully it won't be too long before there's a Blu-ray or VHS to declare a winner.

For being wireless, it's awfully messy. It's best for consumers to avoid getting tangled until a winner is being primed.

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Just in time to meet the Christmas rush, the HTC One family of smartphones can safely return to sale in the UK after the company won a legal stay on a court-imposed injunction.

Last week the HTC One, HTC One Mini and HTC One Max, faced expulsion from Britain after the High Court court ruled favour of Nokia's assertions that the devices impinged upon its patents.

HTC immediately vowed to fight the ruling and this afternoon the Court of Appeals gave the Taiwanese company the all clear to push the popular handsets back onto UK shelves.

A company spokesperson said: "HTC is delighted that the Court of Appeals has granted a stay on the injunction against our products. We will immediately resume shipment of all of our devices into the UK, including the entire HTC One family."

Continuing the fightback

The company also stated it would continue to fight the "validity" of the court's decision, but would also seek different solutions with its chip-makers to avoid a repeat of this month's situation.

"Similarly, our customers should feel confident in their ability to promote and sell all HTC devices," the company said.

"Even though we plan to aggressively appeal the validity decision of Nokia's EP 0 998 024 patent, we will continue to work with our chip suppliers on alternative solutions to ensure minimal disruption to our business in the future."

The patent EP 0 998 024, which HTC had infringed, according to the court, relates to the way the smartphones are able to transmit data.

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US customers waiting to receive their Motorola G will have to wait a little longer as winter storm Dion has delayed shipments.

The storm has stopped Motorola's Fort Worth depot in Texas from operating, which has subsequently put back the delivery date on some orders.

In a letter to a customer, Motorola openly blames the storm on the delay and promises to ship the phone by the 14th December, via overnight courier.

It's not clear exactly how many customers have been affected, but it appears to be an issue that only affects the US.

Comeback kid

This obviously won't be welcome news for Motorola as it attempts to reassert itself in the smartphone market after losing so much ground to big boys Apple, Samsung and Google.

The low-priced smartphone was released this month and touts some pretty impressive specifications, including a 4.5-inch edge-to-edge 720p display (329pp), a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor, 1GB of RAM and up to 16GB in storage.

• Check out our Motorola G review