Blackberry gives birth to an oddball

Blackberry in a move that makes more sense than ever, has gone back to a strategy that it is well known for – to cater the business folk. This, is a smart move as these are the customers that would not mind compromising on the App ecosystem and the games for some enterprise functionality and security.

There is also another bunch of Blackberry fans - the physical QWERTY keyboard crazy lot. Well, Blackberry has good news for these folks, as Blackberry has released the Blackberry Passport.

Design:

The phone is the size of a passport. It sports a 4.5 inch square display. The design, seems to be different but is a oddity to the most extent. The 3.5 inches width of the phone, makes it wider than the biggest phablets out there.

The Blackberry Passport looks serious and seems to business with its crisp display of 1,440 x 1,440-pixel resolution, with a pixel density of 453 pixels per inch and a sturdy stainless-steel frame.

Keyboard:

How can we talk about Blackberry without talking about its QWERTY physical keyboard?

Here, one of the major changes is the introduction of a capacitive touch enabled 3 lined physical keyboard. It still withholds the previous features of predictive text. A swipe to the left will delete the last word you typed. The idea has been implemented well and we have an amazing keyboard.

But, on the downside the width doesn't allow single hand usage and that may act as a hindrance for most users.

Software & Ecosystem:

The other introduction is the usability of android apps on Blackberry via the Amazon app store. Though this means a wider range of apps, it’s a tedious job to install them and also Amazon app store does lack some of the regular Play Store apps.

Moving on to the Blackberry OS 10.3 on board, it is a breeze (if you are used to the blackberry ecosystem) for most of the tasks. Emails and Messages are still a winning point as usual for the phone.

If you are new to the ecosystem then there is a good learning curve to the device's OS, with the one Hub for everything and other gestures to reach around.

The OS now has a virtual Assistant which is no Siri/Google Now/Cortana. It’s slow and has a long way to go.

Hardware & Performance:

It runs on a 2.2GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU coupled with 3GB of RAM, and absolutely fast in all tasks.

It includes Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and 802.11 b/g/n+ac Wi-Fi. and also supports Miracast and Wi-Fi direct.

There are hardware features like the microphone in the phone's earpiece are amazing as it allows the phone to dynamically adjust the call volume according to the sound pressure in your ears. This could lessen the damage done to your ears with a lot of calling.

Battery Life:

The Passport is rated at up to about 18 hours of talk time, and 12 hours of video playback time. With a generous 3450mAh battery it should be a breeze for the phone.

Camera:

The 13MP is a capable camera with Optical Image stabilization (OIS). Nothing too great about this camera to talk about, except features like "Time Shift" that is suggested by the phone on seeing faces in the frame. It takes a burst of photos for the best click.

Conclusion:

Blackberry has created a well-dressed monster catering to the Business folk. I love the premium looks, security, the more than capable keyboard and the ease in communication in general. But, the width of the phone is just undeniably its own killer.

We have other ecosystems that offer better phones that are more comfortable to use on a day-to-day basis.

But, like I mentioned earlier, if you are comfortable with the Blackberry ecosystem, love QWERTY (I am not a fan myself), and don't mind using both hands to use the phone, then look no further - this is the Blackberry you had been looking for.