CABIN ATTENDANT RPT; B727-200; IAH-ORD; ON BOARDING; PUSHBACK AND TAXI; PAX REFUSED TO TURN OFF CELL PHONE AND GPS. FE WARNED HIM; BUT DID NOT HAVE HIM REMOVED.

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WHILE WORKING FLT XY; IAH-ORD; WE NEARLY HAD TO RETURN TO THE GATE TO OFFLOAD PAX. MR XX SEATED IN ROW X (EXIT ROW) WAS BOTH DEFIANT AND NON COMPLYING TO FLT ATTENDANT. AT PUSHBACK (SEATBELT SIGN ON; ELECTRONICS PA HAVING BEEN MADE); I OBSERVED MR XX STILL ON HIS CELL PHONE. NOT ONLY DID HE NOT TURN IT OFF WHEN I ASKED HIM TO; HE CONTINUED TO TALK AND EVEN INCLUDED MY PRESENCE AND REQUEST TO TURN THE PHONE OFF IN HIS CONVERSATION. HE DID FINALLY TURN OFF THE PHONE. BOTH HIS PHONE CONVERSATION AND BACK-TALK TO ME AND ACTIONS WERE WITNESSED BY 2 PAX. HE AGAIN IGNORED FLT ATTENDANT INSTRUCTIONS; BY USING A HANDHELD GPS UNIT DURING TAXI OUT. I OBSERVED MR XX USING THIS DEVICE WHILE DOING MY SAFETY DEMO. I AGAIN ASKED HIM TO STOP AND PUT IT AWAY. HE WAS EVEN MORE DEFIANT. SO I SPOKE TO THE COCKPIT; CAPT; FO; AND FE ABOUT HIS ACTIONS. THE FE SPOKE TO MR XX AND RPTED THAT MR XX SAID HE'D BEHAVE. THE DECISION TO GO TO ORD OR NOT WAS HEAVILY WEIGHED. WE DECIDED TO GO TO ORD RATHER THAN PUT OUT OR DELAY THE OTHER PAX DUE TO PAX'S MISCONDUCT. THE INCIDENT WAS TO BE RESOLVED IN ORD; PER MY REQUEST. IT WASN'T; HOWEVER - NO ONE MET THE FLT UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE; AND I COULDN'T LOCATE THE CAPT IN TIME TO GET HIS SIGNATURE ON A PAX MISCONDUCT FORM. I FOLLOWED WHAT COURSE I COULD.