BlackBerry Shows Off the Passport for Mobile Pros
Sep 24, 2014, 9:04 AM by Eric M. Zeman
BlackBerry today fully revealed the Passport, its first smartphone to debut since February. The Passport has a unique shape, providing a large, square screen with a full, physical QWERTY keyboard below. The phone has a steel frame that BlackBerry claims lends it great strength. The screen measures 4.5 inches across the diagonal and has 1,440 x 1,440 pixels. BlackBerry says the square aspect ratio helps fit more content across the screen when compared to 16:9 displays. The company took special care to develop the keyboard, which it claims is faster and more reliable than software keyboards. The keyboard is touch-enabled and lets users brush their fingers over the keys to scroll through information on the screen. Users can also flick up on the keyboard to use next-word suggestions, and swipe from right to left on the keyboard to delete the full last word. Under the hood, the Passport has a 2.2GHz Snapdragon processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. It supports microSD memory cards and has a 3,450mAh battery. The phone comes with a 13-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization. The device runs BlackBerry OS 10.3 with support the Amazon App Store for applications. Alongside the Passport, BlackBerry also introduced BlackBerry Assistant, a voice-activated tool similar to Siri, Google Now, and Cortana that can perform select actions on the Passport. BlackBerry claims Assistant is more powerful than rivals because it can access information behind corporate firewalls. BlackBerry is selling the Passport directly to U.S. consumers from its web site. The phone costs $599 and is being sold without a contract. It is compatible with HSPA/LTE networks, such as those operated by AT&T and T-Mobile.
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Comments
Let Blackberry Die Already
Blackberry could have just stopped making phones and brought back its brand equity a few years down the road, but instead they're tarnishing the legacy churning out round after round of total crap.
Stop it.
Looks like another miss by BB
even with that i agree on most points there just dont see the phone seeling just because the look of it...looks horrib...
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Honestly
With that being said, this looks like a really solid device from BlackBerry with great specs. I'm sure the keyboard will surpass any on a mobile device, and that's something I really miss having on my phone is a physical keyboard. Give me a Note 3 (or 4) with a slide out keyboard and I'm sold.
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reading the critics here
Wider screen for easier document reading (think spreadsheets).
Keyboard is touch-enabled and lets users brush their fingers over the keys to scroll through information on the screen (you don't actually press the keys)
The camera, battery life, and onboard memory are on par with the Note 3. Only instead of tall and needing to turn sideways, you just keep going as normal.
No bloatware either!!!! 😳
Between BB World and Amazon's App Store, you can find what apps you need. If you have an Amazon account, you can access Prime Music as well.
As the BGR article on it said months ago, "it's not for iSheep and Fandroids to play ...
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I wish I could afford to buy this....it would fix all of the problems I had with my Z10 which forced me to start using a Galaxy Note 3,
