Blackberry Passport

The Blackberry Passport is emblematic of the ‘new’ Blackberry’s strategy to pivot back to focusing on productivity users and to be ‘unconventional’ and ‘disruptive’. The Passport ignores what is now considered standard for smartphones- a candy bar design, a large 16:9 screen and no physical keyboard. As a result, the Passport is unlike any smartphone in the market both in terms of looks and usability.

Design:

The Passport is not slim and measures 9.3 mm in thickness which would be manageable if it wasn’t such a broad phone to begin with (3.56 inches across). In comparison, the Sony Xperia Z3 is 7.3 mm thick and 2.83 inches wide, the massive Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is 8.5 mm thick and 3.09 inches wide while the iPhone 6 Plus is a mere 7.1 mm thick and just over 3-inches wide. As a result, the Passport immediately culls a large portion of the prospective buyers market. While older Blackberry smartphones, still meant for business users, didn’t outright turn off non-business users, the Passport appears like it was built with the express intent to do so. The Passport also tilts the scales at 196 grams which is on the higher side when compared to modern high-end smartphones.

Screen:

the Passport’s 4.5-inch IPS display is very sharp and boasts of a resolution of 1440 x 1440 pixels and pixel density of 453 ppi. The display has excellent viewing angles and accurate colour reproduction. Outdoor visibility is also very good and at full brightness you will have no problems using the phone under bright sunlight.

Software:

The Passport runs on Blackberry 10.3 OS which brings in some changes to BB10 but nothing that can be categorized as revolutionary. BB 10.3 still uses a combination of swipes and gestures to navigate the interface and includes the very useful Blackberry Hub, which is a central repository of all ‘communication’ on your phone including messages, social media updates, chats and emails.