After such a long time, Blackberry released a flagship that excites me a lot. They got back to where they're good at which seems to be a great move. Earlier, they just announced the availability of the Blackberry Passport as the company's latest flagship device to hit the Philippine shores at the price tag of PHP 35,790.00! We we're quite lucky to have a few minutes to play with it and now happy to share with you our thoughts with this device.
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| Meet the Blackberry Passport |
The comeback of Blackberry!
Everybody loves a comeback, basically this passport sized flagship smartphone is Blackberry's attempt to be relevant in the market again. Based on the event earlier they seem to be doing fine by selecting the right target market for them by offering top notch productivity and security features.
Design and build
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| That stainless steel frame looks and feels great to hold! |
Okay the Blackberry passport is not your ordinary device! It has an unconventional design that's for everyone. At first sight I didn't have much interest on it, but when I had a closer look at the device that's where I appreciate its beauty. It feels that this BB device is one of the solid looking smartphones out there.
Note: There are several ridiculous abuse test via YouTube that shows the extreme durability of this phone.
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| At the back |
The aspect ratio of 1x1 is something new and refreshing!
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| It's easy to read things on this device |
The viewing feel is a little bit different but it works great while reading documents, using office applications, creating contents and even web browsing. Then I just had this idea on mind that this might be a perfect phone for Instagram people as they have the same aspect ratio which might result to a better viewing experience. Overall even if the screen display is unusual, it works great and seems to be a good innovation by Blackberry.
Note 1: The keyboard is excellent when used with 2 hands
Note 2: It's hard to type with a single hand
Note 3: It has a physical keyboard which is touch enabled that have several useful gestures for easier navigation
Note 4: The browser has a reading mode that focuses on the content of the article
The camera view
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| Mood light condition |
Unfortunately I had a very short time with the Blackberry Passport camera, but based on this photo it looks like the Passport can take decent photos even with just a little lighting. And if can take decent photos with this type of lighting, I'm quite sure that this camera can perform really well in other conditions.
Specifications
- Display: 4.5-inch Square touch display, 1440 x 1440 resolution (453 ppi)
- Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801, Quad-core 2.26 GHz Krait 400
- GPU: Adreno 330
- RAM: 3 GB
- ROM: 32 GB, expandable up to 128 GB va microSD
- Rear Camera: 13 MP AF OIS camera with LED flash
- Front Camera: 2 MP
- Battery: 3450 mAh non removable battery
- OS: BlackBerry 10
- Connectivity: 802.11 b/g/n for 2.4GHz, 802.11 a/n for 5GHz, 802.11 ac for 5GHz, 4G Mobile Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE)
- Sensors: Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, Time of Flight (ToF), Ambient light
- Others: 1080p HD video recording at 60 fps, Capacitive touch 3-row BlackBerry® Keyboard, USB 2.0, Miracast
- Dimensions: 128 x 90.3 x 9.3 mm
- Weight: 196 g
- Price: PHP 35,790.00
As of the moment...
The specifications of this phone is flagship worthy, then add the security and enterprise level productivity it can bring. In result this device seems to be really built for those who wanted to have more productivity at work. Even with a little add on to its price tag, this device has a flagship specs, features and usability that should appeal you, your dad or your boss.
Hopefully we'll get a chance to do a full review of this product in the near future to dig deeper on the other features and capabilities of this good flagship phone for the enterprise people.
