The BlackBerry Passport: A Homage to BlackBerry’s Roots

It looks like BlackBerry is ready to jump back into the fray.

The company has recently launched the BlackBerry Passport, a new phone that veers away from the ring where Apple, Android, and even Windows Mobile devices are duking it out. It now plays its own game by going back to its roots — productivity.

The BlackBerry Passport is not for the person who uses their phone mainly for entertainment. It’s for the serious executive who has no time to check in on Swarm or post selfies on Instagram. It even looks the part: it’s probably the squarest (no pun intended) phone out there, and the sturdy steel frame shows the market that it means business. It’s also hefty, measuring about 5 inches tall and 3.55 inches wide, which makes it even wider than the iPhone 6 Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. This very unusual size is brought about by its 4.5-inch, 1440×1440 pixel display and its physical keyboard that seems to have gotten a lay-out overhaul.

Under the hood, it runs on BlackBerry 10.3 on a Quad-Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. It’s backed up by a 3450mAh battery which promises a day or two of uninterrupted multitasking. The company has even addressed the the lack of compatible apps by allowing the device to run Android apps and providing it with a preloaded Amazon Appstore. BlackBerry App World is still a mainstay, but seems to be more focused on productivity tools. Developers have also included a new voice-triggered virtual assistant similar to Siri, Google Now, and Cortana for hands free task management.

There’s still no word on the Passport landing in the Philippines, but an unlocked version would cost $599, which is roughly about Php26,800. If it does make its way here, how do you think will it fare locally?

Photo courtesy of BlackBerry.com
Sources: BlackBerry.com, The Verge, Forbes

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