BlackBerry Passport, the new weird looking smartphone launched by the Blackberry, which aims to cater mainly to the business market has been named so because it is almost the same size as a passport. This latest of its devices comes with a 4.5 inch square screen and sharp edges.
Blackberry, which was once the undisputed market leader in smartphones, is back in news after a long time. With the Apple iPhone 6 grappling to come over the “bendgate” scandal, the timing couldn’t have been more perfect for Blackberry.
This new handset has a 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon processor (making the phone almost as fast as an average laptop these days) , 3 MB RAM and 32 GB internal memory. Further, the phone has a slot for a microSD card which makes the memory expandable.
The rectangular set has a 4.5 inch screen with 1400X1400 resolution. Unlike the previous models, Passport has adopted the QWERTY keyboard, which adapts as you’re typing to allow for symbols and punctuation. Missing keys means the keyboard is smaller, and users can swipe up and suggest words as they type.
Passport comes with a 13 MP rear camera which focuses quickly and has optical image stabilization feature which means no more blurry pictures even for shaky hands.
The camera further as a time-swipe setting, allowing a user to take multiple images and move and back forward to select the best from a set. The battery life is good too. Blackberry promises a 25 hour battery backup which will make most other smartphone and iPhone users go green with envy.
Another new feature in this phone is the BlackBerry Blend, a program which permits the phone to connect to the computer easily. That, in effect, means that the messages, missed calls, spreadsheets, presentations and other notifications can be seen on a larger screen. A feature that is likely to go very well with most executives and in the corporate circles.
“When you come out of restructuring, when you come out of financial problems, once you stabilize the company, customers and the market will only respond if you’re innovating again,” said the BlackBerry Chief Executive Officer John Chen in an interview before unveiling its latest product on Wednesday.
This has been the first major device to be launched after Chen took over as the CEO and he is pitching aggressively to capture the business users back into the BlackBerry fold.
The new device may help BlackBerry bolster its financial performance, Chen said in an interview on Bloomberg TV today.
“I’ve told people we will be profitable by 2016,” Chen said. “If I could get some growth on the top line, I will be able to make it profitable sooner.”
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