I have used two Blackberry phones in the last few years, in addition to my Galaxy Note series Androids. The Curve 9360 which was a wee little delight to use and the Q10. I still use the Q10 along with my Note 3. I always find that I tend to use the Blackberry for almost all my communication requirements… email, instant messaging, texting… in fact, the Q10 IS my primary phone. Though when I need a multimedia powerhouse, I do need my Note 3. Nothing beats the S-pen and its intuitive ease of use.
Yesterday (24 September 2014), Blackberry launched the Passport. It looks smart, but it is till an odd size. Maybe it would be ok for me because I am used to large phablets. But, I happen to love that my phone, the Q10, with its physical QWERTY keyboard is perfect for single handed operation which I am sure the Passport isn’t. About carrying the phone… hmmm… that might be an issue if you are not carrying your handbag or purse or for men (who depend on pockets alone to carry their stuff.)
I would wait and see how the Passport fares in the market. I am a little disappointed with the treatment Blackberry meted out to the Q10 previously. They had focussed all their attention on the Z10 and that was quite a disaster. I think Blackberry devices are for the prosumer who perhaps doesn’t bother about the multi-media capabilities of a phone.
Anyway, the Passport looks good. And it has decent specifications. The keyboard on the device looks really smart. I would love to have a hands-on experience of the touch capabilities of the physical keyboard.
Specs at a glance (Courtesy: GSM Arena) –OSBlackBerry 10.3 OSChipsetQualcomm MSM8974AA Snapdragon 800CPUQuad-core 2.26 GHz Krait 400GPUAdreno 330Dimensions128 x 90.3 x 9.3 mm (5.04 x 3.56 x 0.37 in)Weight194 g (6.84 oz)DisplayIPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colorsDisplay Size1440 x 1440 pixels, 4.5 inches (~453 ppi pixel density)Internal Memory32 GB, 3 GB RAMExpandablemicroSD, up to 64 GBPrimary Camera13 MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, optical image stabilization, LED flashVideo Capability1080p@60fpsSecondary Camera2 MP, 720pWLANWi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspotBluetoothv4.0, A2DP, LENFCYesUSBmicroUSB v2.0 (SlimPort)
Another feature I am looking forward to is Blackberry Blend. From what I read, it should be useful and less gimmicky.
All considered, the Passport, in spite of its unique looks is more than a showy phone.
But, the SMARTphone I want my Q10 to be upgraded to is the Blackberry Classic. Oh yeah… the Classic would bring the trackpad back and I have missed it a lot on my phone.
Image Courtesy: Crackberry