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BlackBerry Hopes Square Passport Smartphone Enough For Comeback

By - Source: Blackberry | B 23 comments

Today, BlackBerry launched its rumored, almost-square-shaped Passport smartphone seemingly targeted at professionals and people who want to "get things done." The question is whether it actually succeeds in reaching that goal.

The new BlackBerry Passport has a square 4.5" screen with 1440 x 1440 resolution, which means it's quite sharp at 452 PPI. It has a tough plastic body typical of BlackBerry phones, reinforced with a stainless steel frame and Gorilla Glass 3 screen protection, so it should be quite durable.

It comes with a Snapdragon 800 processor, which is relatively old by today's flagship standards. However, it has 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal storage and a 13MP rear camera with OIS, which on paper are more competitive features.

The phone seems to have one of the largest batteries we've seen so far in smartphones, with a capacity of 3,450 mAh that should last for at least a full day of moderate to high usage (which should be expected from users who are focused on productivity).

The Passport runs BlackBerry 10.3, a revised version of the QNX-based BlackBerry OS we've seen for the past two years. It brings updated icons, a unified search bar, the BlackBerry Assistant (a competitor to Siri and Google Now) and the surprising addition of the Amazon Appstore.

It hasn't been easy for BlackBerry to promote itself as a solid alternative to the iOS and Android platforms when it has far fewer apps in its own BlackBerry World app store, but the Amazon Appstore should close the gap a little more and boost the Passport's appeal somewhat. BlackBerry's new CEO, John Chen, has mainly focused the company on mobile security and services that the company can offer even for competing platforms as its own customers adopt them and leave the BlackBerry platform. However, selling hardware can also bring significant revenue and profits to the company, if done right. With the BlackBerry Passport it looks like the company wanted to make a strong statement that it is still the company that focuses much more on its enterprise customers than any of its competitors.

It's not clear, however, whether the Passport is the right product to do that. Most people might find its almost square shape unappealing and strange. While the keyboard could be well built, it doesn't look like it's easy to use with one hand, which means even people who may prefer typing on a physical BlackBerry style keyboard may chafe at using it somewhat. Further, many smartphone owners have already gotten used to typing on touchscreen phones over the past few years, especially when swipe capabilities in some virtual keyboards can make one-hand typing even faster.

If BlackBerry is to make a strong comeback in the mobile market, it will likely need a product that has a much bigger mainstream appeal. Focusing on the small remaining market of hardcore BlackBerry users with a product like the Passport is probably not the best way to do that, even if those users really love the product – which is still something that we won't know until the company announces its next quarterly results.

BlackBerry will be selling the product for $249 on contract on AT&T's network and $599 unlocked from BlackBerry's online store in the U.S., Canada, UK, France and Germany. The phone should be available in 30 countries by the end of the year. BlackBerry 10.3 will also be coming to all BlackBerry 10 devices.

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  • 1 Hide
    gamebrigada , September 24, 2014 11:25 AM
    From WSJ

    "The square screen is the same size as a piece of American cheese. "

    http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/BN-ER441_STERN0_M_20140923181621.jpg

    Is that the new bunny with a pancake on its head? Or does it include cheese digitizing for later consumption?
  • 6 Hide
    tom10167 , September 24, 2014 11:32 AM
    I love the idea of a serious phone for serious business people. Hope it works out for them.
  • 0 Hide
    iknowhowtofixit , September 24, 2014 12:14 PM
    Too little too late, unfortunately.
  • Add your comment Display all 23 comments.
  • -2 Hide
    jedik1 , September 24, 2014 12:31 PM
    WOW a company promoting security uses Amazon App Store where 90% of the apps are fake, fraud and malicious. Good Judgement. Way to go to spread malware and fakeware.

    Anyways what can you expect from BlackBerry who are like 10 years behind.

    At $599...this is a joke. I will happily buy a One Plus One for $359 and add every security feature from Playstore.
  • 0 Hide
    fimbulvinter , September 24, 2014 12:59 PM
    It's kind of sad to watch them die this slow death.
  • 0 Hide
    Dorosh , September 24, 2014 2:25 PM
    I think the person who wrote this article is jealous because they probably own a POS iPhone 6 with only a dual core 1.4 GHz processor.
    "Relevantly old hardware" he says? I think that fact is useless considering it's a quad core 2.26 GHz processor - still much faster than most cell phones and blows away the iPhones... Not to mention 3GB of RAM which is a plus for multi-tasking and being able to leave apps running in the background for added speed. I hope they do well and I want to buy one.
  • 2 Hide
    edivalentin , September 24, 2014 3:18 PM
    today's specs smartphone with best keyboard there is, plus secure mobile os
  • -2 Hide
    amk-aka-Phantom , September 24, 2014 3:37 PM
    Quote:
    I think the person who wrote this article is jealous because they probably own a POS iPhone 6 with only a dual core 1.4 GHz processor.
    "Relevantly old hardware" he says? I think that fact is useless considering it's a quad core 2.26 GHz processor - still much faster than most cell phones and blows away the iPhones... Not to mention 3GB of RAM which is a plus for multi-tasking and being able to leave apps running in the background for added speed. I hope they do well and I want to buy one.


    As an avid Android user: GARBAGE. Have you seen benchmarks of Apple SoCs? Do you understand that you can only compare CPUs by clock and cores if they are using the same architecture? According to your logic, today's Pentium G620 loses out to an old Pentium 4 HT because the latter runs 400 MHz faster. (Newsflash: it doesn't, because G620 is built on far superior arch.) As for RAM, blame Android's RAM-hungry Java. I personally don't mind it - I like Android a lot more than iOS and don't mind getting a device with 2-3 GB RAM (although unless your firmware is some Samsung TouchWiz bloated rubbish, 1 GB is enough, ask Motorola Moto G) at same or lower price to get similar multi-tasking, but I assure you, 1 GB is enough for iOS. It's optimized, the same way my Ubuntu 14.04 is happy with 2 GB RAM max usage while Windows 7 goes "ho ho ho, look at that 8 GB, let me eat up 3 of that just for having Firefox and file explorer open!" If you don't know what you are talking about, do not post. Simple.

    As for the new Blackberry: unfortunately, the author is right. Why buy it? "Security" is already sold out to governments who demanded access for it, hardware and features are inferior to iPhones and Android flagships, price is high. It's kind of sad, but this is probably going to be the last Blackberry phone. I never liked them (too many "security" gimmicks and marketing) but when a company dies, it's always sad to watch.
  • 0 Hide
    edivalentin , September 24, 2014 4:17 PM
    the fact that uses latest cpu/gpu from qualcomm isn't enough?and has 3GB RAM on an OS that is not as RAM hungry as Android isn't enough? and runs Android apps if you wish to install on it? in security terms is the only mobile os that is certified by the military/government use.i am sure BB brand will not die soon, at least as an software company...
  • 0 Hide
    spentshells , September 24, 2014 5:57 PM
    Look at the photo, it's awkward to hold and type with, what a bomb.
  • 0 Hide
    MarkFrom NZ , September 24, 2014 10:38 PM
    I jut bought my first blackberry, a q10, and its a best phone I've ever owned..Android is a very badly desinged OS its cumbersome...if more people knew how great Balckberry was it would be far more popular than Android phones...the only thing that has made Android phones popular is cheap Chinese samsung rip offs....
  • 0 Hide
    rawoysters , September 25, 2014 12:19 AM
    I've burnt PopTarts that looked better than this phone.
  • -1 Hide
    spentshells , September 25, 2014 12:35 AM
    Quote:
    I jut bought my first blackberry, a q10, and its a best phone I've ever owned..Android is a very badly desinged OS its cumbersome...if more people knew how great Balckberry was it would be far more popular than Android phones...the only thing that has made Android phones popular is cheap Chinese samsung rip offs....


    Korea, Samsung is from South Korea. Yes the q10 is pretty sweet but this phone is truly the nail in the coffin.
  • 0 Hide
    edivalentin , September 25, 2014 12:48 AM
    Samsung and about every cheap android phone îs made in China
  • 0 Hide
    spentshells , September 25, 2014 12:52 AM
    You will actually want to look at the phone, samsung makes phones in korea as well as china, but just like everything else you buy something on or in it was made in china.
  • -3 Hide
    NightLight , September 25, 2014 2:42 AM
    i can think of noone who would want this phone. oh blackberry, death is upon you
  • 2 Hide
    icemunk , September 25, 2014 3:36 AM
    I heard it doesn't bend like new iPhone either :p 
  • -1 Hide
    Dorosh , September 25, 2014 7:10 AM
    Quote:
    Quote:
    I think the person who wrote this article is jealous because they probably own a POS iPhone 6 with only a dual core 1.4 GHz processor.
    "Relevantly old hardware" he says? I think that fact is useless considering it's a quad core 2.26 GHz processor - still much faster than most cell phones and blows away the iPhones... Not to mention 3GB of RAM which is a plus for multi-tasking and being able to leave apps running in the background for added speed. I hope they do well and I want to buy one.


    As an avid Android user: GARBAGE. Have you seen benchmarks of Apple SoCs? Do you understand that you can only compare CPUs by clock and cores if they are using the same architecture? According to your logic, today's Pentium G620 loses out to an old Pentium 4 HT because the latter runs 400 MHz faster. (Newsflash: it doesn't, because G620 is built on far superior arch.) As for RAM, blame Android's RAM-hungry Java. I personally don't mind it - I like Android a lot more than iOS and don't mind getting a device with 2-3 GB RAM (although unless your firmware is some Samsung TouchWiz bloated rubbish, 1 GB is enough, ask Motorola Moto G) at same or lower price to get similar multi-tasking, but I assure you, 1 GB is enough for iOS. It's optimized, the same way my Ubuntu 14.04 is happy with 2 GB RAM max usage while Windows 7 goes "ho ho ho, look at that 8 GB, let me eat up 3 of that just for having Firefox and file explorer open!" If you don't know what you are talking about, do not post. Simple.

    As for the new Blackberry: unfortunately, the author is right. Why buy it? "Security" is already sold out to governments who demanded access for it, hardware and features are inferior to iPhones and Android flagships, price is high. It's kind of sad, but this is probably going to be the last Blackberry phone. I never liked them (too many "security" gimmicks and marketing) but when a company dies, it's always sad to watch.



    The reviews I've seen so far prove the speed of the device. The difference in "Architecture" isn't enough to make a big enough difference. We're not talking 6 generations of architecture difference here - 800 MHz faster WILL by far make up the speed difference in Arch. Also, now a days, 4 cores are better than 2 because the OS's have no problem using up 4 threads for any application or multiple at the same time. 2 isn't enough for long term anymore. We're not talking 8 cores here that would never be used.
    I like how you say "good enough." Do you really want to be walking around with a phone that you over paid for that is "good enough?"
  • 0 Hide
    Dorosh , September 25, 2014 7:15 AM
    Quote:
    I heard it doesn't bend like new iPhone either :p 


    LOL!
    No, i'm sure it doesn't.
    Plus the phone is made a lot tougher, so it would likely rip your pocket before bending enough to damage it.
  • -1 Hide
    firefoxx04 , September 25, 2014 9:39 AM
    Give me a larger resolution and a keyboard that actually displays a large amount of keys.

    Productivity is not a display that is oddly shaped and a keyboard (from the pictures) looks too small.

    Blackberry needs to take a hard look at the Note series.
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