BlackBerry, the smartphone maker that Apple edged out from the global market, couldn't resist taking one of the many jabs thrown at Apple with several reports from users saying they have their premium-priced iPhone 6 Plus phones bending or warping after being placed in their pants pocket.
Speaking at an event in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday, BlackBerry CEO John Chen introduced the company's latest smartphone, which it hopes will turn around BlackBerry's dismal sales and bring the company back to its glory days as a leader in the smartphone industry. Dubbed Passport, the unique device touts a squarish design with a 1440 x 1440 display resolution and BlackBerry's signature physical keyboard updated with better sensitivity and new features. The Passport, however, is not bendable.
"I would challenge you guys to bend our Passport," said Chen, without mentioning any names but clearly referring to Apple's iPhone 6 Plus.
Technology enthusiasts, who have gotten their hands first on the latest BlackBerry device since the unpopular BlackBerry 10, say not everyone will fall in love with the Passport, so named because it has the same size as a real passport. However, they all agree on one thing: The Passport looks and feels solid and durable, making it just right for its target market of high-end business professionals.
"Once I got past its awkward façade, I noticed that it's actually very solidly built," writes Engadget's Brad Molen. "Nothing on it feels cheap; it comes with a stainless steel frame along the side, with a black, soft-touch plastic on the back that, along with the fret racing across the top half of the phone, gives it an elegant look and feel."
The Passport is part of BlackBerry's strategy to win back its executive and government clientele, which the company believes makes up around 30 percent of the entire smartphone market. BlackBerry declined to post sales expectations, only saying that it expects the Passport to "exceed our expectations," although admitting that it is still a game of "wait and see for us."
BlackBerry Passport is currently available in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany and France. The square screen combined with BlackBerry's updated keyboard allows users to accomplish productivity tasks, such as edit documents and send email, on the touchscreen more easily, even if it sacrifices other functions such as viewing videos.
The keyboard is also touch-sensitive and allows gesture-based shortcuts that were only available in pure touchscreen BlackBerry phones. For instance, a user can delete an entire word simply by swiping a finger to the left on the keys. BlackBerry also added a predictive function, where users can choose one of three words on the screen instead of having to type the full word.
"It certainly made me respond more eloquently to emails rather than just triaging them with a 'Yes, no, I'll call you back or see you later'," says Shaun Collins, founder of CCS Insight telecoms consultancy firm. "However, it's going to divide opinion - it gives you the BlackBerry experience on steroids. But for a broader audience it will be a curiosity."
The phone comes powered by BlackBerry's newest operating system, the BlackBerry OS 10.3. Notable features on the new platform include BlackBerry Blend, something akin to Apple's SMS Continuity that allows users to do phone tasks on their computers, and BlackBerry Assistant to compete with Apple's Siri, Google Now and Microsoft's Cortana. The new OS also includes access to Amazon's AppStore, which contains up to 240,000 Android Apps.
On paper, the Passport's specs are impressive. It comes powered by a 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 chipset and 3GB of RAM and 32 GB disk space expandable to 64 GB. It has a 13-megapixel back camera with LED flash and optical image stabilization and support for NFC, Miracast, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, and 10 LTE bands. The phone also touts a 3,450mAh battery, giving it up to 30 hours of juice for a single charge.
The Passport is available for $599 without a contract and $249 on a two-year contract with AT&T.
