Skip to main content


Do you Have a Passport?



For
  • Great keyboard
  • Battery life
  • Premium build quality Multitasking is handled well
Against
  • Amazon appstore still can't compete
  • Hard to use one-handed
  • Not media friendly


Squaring up to the competition


BlackBerry's square-shaped new flagship is here, and it's just as weird in real life as it looks in the promotional pictures. It's a square, boxy little device with a metallic trim and a dumpy physical keyboard attached to the bottom. Ergonomics? Screw 'em
And yet, dig a little deeper and there might just be something there after all. The little 4.5-inch slab boasts a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor and 3GB of RAM. There's 32GB of storage, a microSD slot and a rear-facing 13MP camera.
BlackBerry's also confident that the new form factor best suits those business customers that are the unabashed target of this device. The company says the screen will incorporate 60 characters in a line, compared to the 40 on an average rectangular smartphone.
The former phone heavyweight has a long way to go to recapture past glories and previous handsets like the BlackBerry Z10 and BlackBerry Q10 failed to impress. This seems different though; it's not a case of following the crowd, it's a case of genuinely trying something different.
The Passport rocks a Gorilla Glass 3 screen display


Behold! A physical keyboard

Once you get past the...interesting...form factor, the Passport is an attractive handset. There's a stainless steel trim that runs along the edges of the phone while the back is a soft rubberised plastic that's comfortable to grip while you fire out emails from the keyboard.

Soft matte back keeps the phone from slipping
You'll find three physical buttons on the right hand side, used to control volume as well as pause music or video playback. The power switch meanwhile is on top of the handset (as is the 3.5mm headphone jack) and placed slightly right-of-centre.


 Power switch at 3.5mm headphone jack

Touchscreen and keyboard combined

BlackBerry Blend
The new BlackBerry Blend feature lets you effectively access your phone remotely via an encrypted Wi-Fi connection from any PC, Mac or Android tablets. All the content (messages, documents, media) stored on the Passport are accessible in real time and changes you make are reflected on the handset.
During the brief demo I was given, this looked to be a really useful feature and – as for the security requirements – I was told that none of the data remains on the login device after you close the software down. The principle behind it is that you can still access your phone even if you've left it at home or the office.
BlackBerry Assistant
Joining the ranks of Siri on the iPhone 6 and Microsoft's Cortana is the BlackBerry Assistant. Like the aforementioned digital PAs, you can use the Assistant to set reminders and prompt you with the weather as well as dictating search terms.
I gave it a quick try, and in most cases it picked up on my question. There's a bit of a wait time as the Passport casts around for the answer though. The Assistant currently recognises commands in English, German, Spanish and Italian.
Battery
BlackBerry is making a bold claim when it comes to the 3,450mAh battery. The company says that it will provide up to 30 hours of mixed use for a "very active user". That's in part due to the latest iteration of the BlackBerry 10 OS which, the company says, has made significant improvement when it comes to power consumption.
The company has a vested interested in being bullish about battery life as, given the target customer for the Passport, it's likely to be a chief concern. The handset charges via a microUSB port on the bottom of the phone and should take only a couple of hours to juice up completely.
194g Passport feels solid and resiliant in your hands   
BlackBerry has made the Passport the exact same size as a conventional paper passport


Unlike other prominent handsets, there isn't any kind of power saving mode that turns off the non-essential or intensive apps in order to save power. Presumably, BlackBerry is confident enough of the battery prowess of the Passport that it deems such things unnecessary.
Camera
BlackBerry has equipped the Passport with a 13MP rear-facing camera with an LED flash and a couple of extra features like panorama, burst mode and time shift. There's an LED flash as well as the option to take images at 16:9, 4.3 and the Passport's own 1:1 aspect ratio.


Snappy, snappy. There's a 13MP rear-facing camera
Full HD 1080p video is supported, and you'll be able to get 720p video calling from the Passport's 2MP front-facing camera. Interacting with the camera is done via the touchscreen, as you pinch to zoom in and out and tap to set the focal point.
First impressions are that the camera is solid without really offering much of a challenge to the established smartphone titans. There's built-in intelligence for suggesting the best shooting mode for the conditions you're in and the Passport also boasts HDR for capturing light and dark contrasts.
Additionally, BlackBerry has built optical image stabilisation (OIS) into the Passport's camera to eliminate judders. It's a feature become adopted elsewhere (like the Apple iPhone 6 Plus) and really helps when taking pictures quickly.
A nice touch is that you can use either the volume keys on the right hand side of the device, or the space bar on the keyboard, to take a picture. There's also BlackBerry's dedicated Pictures app for adding filters and effects to your shots after you've taken them.
Performance
Make fun of the boxy screen all you want, but BlackBerry has put some serious muscle into the Passport. It runs on a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with a massive 3GB of RAM. Combine that with the integrated nature of the operating system and you've got a very smooth, very quick device.
There's 32GB of native storage on board, but you can boost that up that to 128GB thanks to the microSD card nestled next to the nanoSIM slot.
Connectivity-wise, you're looking at Bluetooth 4.0 LE, NFC, Wi-Fi and LTE in terms of wireless and a single physical microUSB port. BlackBerry provides a SlimPort HDMI adaptor that plugs into the port and lets you hook the Passport up to a monitor or TV.
On paper, the Passport has enough under the hood to go up against some of the best smartphones out there and, while it's got a tailored audience, any user is going to appreciate the power.
Multitasking in particular works well, given the amount of RAM on offer and the tiled homescreen that shows currently running apps lets you quickly dive in and out of active programs.
Interface
BlackBerry's newly updated BB10 OS is as much a USP of the Passport as it's interesting design. It's focused around BlackBerry Hub that compiles all your notifications from various email and social network accounts.
Swiping right takes you to the aforementioned open apps screen and a second right swipe takes you to the grid layout for app shortcuts.
Screen
Some apps I tried, like Wikipedia or Yahoo Mail, adapt well to the 1:1 screen while others (notably gaming and media) like Sonic Racers suffer from the shift from widescreen. Gaming is far from the Passport's strong point.
There's no way of using the physical keyboard with the games and trying to tilt the device to steer/move is really hampered by the shape of the chassis. I won't dwell on it though, because this is not a device meant for gaming - although a modern smartphone should be able to cope with any task thrown at it.
Early Verdict
The BlackBerry Passport is a phone that'll receive interest and dismissal in equal measure. It's a strange-looking animal that can't help but draw the eye even though most people probably won't want to use it – too enshrined are they with the 16:9 landscape touchscreen form factor.

Taking into account what BlackBerry is going for though, and it's a very useful device. Web pages and documents look good, and for keyboard junkies, the return of physical buttons will really appeal. There's also the fact that it's got some decent specs on board – including impressive battery life - that'll see it lasting well through a 24-month contract.
I'm looking forward to even more time with the Passport but in terms of an early verdict, this strikes me as an excellent secondary device for the office warrior.
You won't be reaching for it over an iPhone 6 or HTC One M8 to watch movies, play games or snap pictures. But then again, if you need a centralised space for work-based emails and need to edit or compile reports during the commute, you're going to appreciate the 1:1 HD screen and physical keyboard.
It's BlackBerry doing what it's always done, but doing it well and with a renewed focus on who actually wants a device like this.

Blackberry Passport. Is this the deal breaker for RIM?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

10 Important Cybersecurity Practices for your Business

  10 Important Cybersecurity Practices for your Business 1. EDUCATION  It’s much easier to prevent a hack than it is to recover from a hack. Once your company’s sensitive data is stolen through a ransomware attack, recovering it is often a long and arduous process. Teaching employees about basic security, personal cybersecurity, and the prevalence of cyber threats goes a long way in stopping ransomware attacks before they can really do damage. Your employees should understand that they might be targets of malicious actors, eager to exploit any entry they can find in your company. The average cost of a cyberattack is 3.86 million and the cumulative total for global cybercrime is expected to cost $6 trillion. If you don’t pay to train your employees about cybersecurity best practices eventually you may end up paying more in the long run. High quality and free trainings for your employees are available from several government resources including Department of Homeland S...
Post a Comment
Read more
Top 20 Most Asked Third Party Risk Questions for Vendors  These questions help organizations assess the overall risk posed by third-party vendors, covering critical areas like data protection, regulatory compliance, and incident response. Here’s a list of the Top 20 Most Asked Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) Questions for Vendors in TPRM questionnaires: 1. What types of sensitive data do you handle for our organization? Vendors should clarify the types of data they collect, process, or store, such as personal information, financial data, or intellectual property. 2. How do you protect data at rest and in transit? This question probes into the encryption methods, protocols, and security controls in place for safeguarding data during storage and transmission. 3. Do you have a formal Information Security Program in place? Vendors should describe their overall cybersecurity framework, including policies, procedures, and governance. 4. How do you manage user access to our data and s...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nearly 500,000 workers are needed in cybersecurity roles around the country

The push to work from home during the coronavirus pandemic is straining cybersecurity professionals around the country tasked with ensuring workers are able to not only work efficiently from remote locations — but to do so safely. This rapid shift is a tall order for an industry that was already in need of skilled professionals long before the pandemic took hold.  Cybersecurity workers were taken off some or all of their typical security duties to assist with other IT-related tasks, including equipping mobile workforces, according to an April survey from global nonprofit (ISC)2, the largest association of certified cybersecurity professionals. The survey of 256 cyber pros found nearly half were re-tasked and that a quarter said cybersecurity incidents increased since the transition to remote work, with some seeing as many as double the number of incidents. Separate data from another nonprofit cybersecurity group, the Information Systems Security Association, found a 63% increase in...
Post a Comment
Read more