Friday, April 3, 2015
Blackberry Passport Review
Blackberry Passport
Blackberry Passport
Many, many articles have been written about BlackBerrys fall from grace; about how it completely failed to read and respond to a changing market, and the sequence of poor judgment calls that transformed its product line from a dominant cultural force into a vaguely unpleasant memory. This is a company that managed to alienate its core user base, eliminate the feature they loved most, and not understand for years what it had been doing wrong. The post-decline BlackBerry product line has had more misses than hits and the appeal of the platform has all but evaporated.
And still, the company isnt dead. Still, there are people who cling to their old phones or cry that the ones theyve had to move to just dont feel right. Still, there are people who desperately want the company to release a phone that feels and functions just like a classic QWERTY BlackBerry and will race to buy it as soon as that happens.
And still, the company isnt dead. Still, there are people who cling to their old phones or cry that the ones theyve had to move to just dont feel right. Still, there are people who desperately want the company to release a phone that feels and functions just like a classic QWERTY BlackBerry and will race to buy it as soon as that happens.
Our Reviews
The Passport is the best BlackBerry 10 device you can buy, and comes with a number of flagship-caliber specs. But its odd shape and size, as well as its weird keyboard, may be a turnoff for many. At 128 x 90.3mm, the phone really is as wide as it seems -- its wider than most large-screened phones on the market -- but BlackBerry insists this is a feature rather than a setback. Because its using a 4.5-inch square display thats 30 percent wider than an average 5-inch phone, the company claims youll read up to 60 characters per line and get a better viewing experience. In a way, thats true: I enjoyed reading articles and e-books on the Passport because text didnt have to wrap or get cut off as often, but the trade-off was an awkward one-handed fit and more frequent vertical scrolling. As I mentioned in the introduction, the Passport keyboard is unlike any other Ive tried on a smartphone. This isnt simply a matter of me going back to my roots as a BlackBerry owner years ago and getting reacquainted with the traditional layout used on the Bolds and Curves; I have to learn a brand-new design. Lets get the obvious out of the way: Nobody is moving to BlackBerry for its robust ecosystem of apps. To make up for the fact that developers simply arent rushing to make BB10 apps, the company has done the best it can to provide enough meaningful programs and content for its users. Now on version 10.3 of its OS, BlackBerry has come a long way from when BB10 debuted a year and a half ago, but its not far enough to be competitive. Unfortunately, its instead a hodge-podge of options that confuses most users: two app stores and a method of side loading Android 4.3 (or lower) apps. Look, if youre in the market for a smartphone with a great camera, BlackBerry has never been worthy of your consideration. Its simply been too focused on wooing corporations and productivity-minded customers to really put much effort in its imaging assets. Ever since BB10 came out, however, the phone maker has changed its tune and pushed out nicer cameras with higher resolution; the Q10 had an 8MP shooter when it came out last year, and BlackBerry is bumping up the quality here with a 13MP rear camera. (The 2MP selfie cam isnt worth writing home about, but it certainly could be worse.)
Specification
NETWORK-Technology-GSM / HSPA / LTE
2G bands-GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G bands-HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
4G bands-LTE 850 / 900 / 1800 / 2100 / 2600
LTE 700/800/850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100/2600
(Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 20)
Speed-HSPA, LTE
GPRS-Yes
EDGE-Yes
LAUNCH-Announced -2014, June
Status-Available. Released 2014, September
BODY-Dimensions-128 x 90.3 x 9.3 mm (5.04 x 3.56 x 0.37 in)
Weight-196 g (6.91 oz)
Keyboard-QWERTY
SIM-Nano-SIM
- Capacitive touch 3-row BlackBerry keyboard
DISPLAY-Type-IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size-1440 x 1440 pixels, 4.5 inches (~453 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch-Yes, up to 10 fingers
Protection-Corning Gorilla Glass 3
PLATFORM-OS-BlackBerry 10.3 OS
Chipset-Qualcomm MSM8974AA Snapdragon 801
CPU-Quad-core 2.26 GHz Krait 400
GPU-Adreno 330
MEMORY-Card slot-microSD, up to 128 GB
Internal-32 GB, 3 GB RAM
CAMERA-Primary-13 MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, optical image stabilization, LED flash
Features-Geo-tagging, face detection, HDR
Video-1080p@60fps
Secondary-2 MP, 720p
SOUND-Alert types-Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker-Yes, with stereo speakers
3.5mm jack-Yes
COMMS-WLAN-Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, hotspot
Bluetooth-v4.0, A2DP, LE
GPS-Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
NFC-Yes
Radio-FM radio with RDS
USB-microUSB v2.0 (SlimPort)
FEATURES-Sensors-Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Messaging-SMS, MMS, Email, Push Email, IM, BBM 6
Browser-HTML5
Java-Yes, MIDP 2.1
- BlackBerry Assistant
- BlackBerry maps
- Organizer
- Document viewer
- Photo viewer/editor
- Video editor
- MP3/WMA/WAV/eAAC+/FlAC player
- DivX/XviD/MP4/WMV/H.264 player
- Voice memo/dial
- Predictive text input
BATTERY-Non-removable Li-Ion 3450 mAh battery
Stand-by-Up to 432 h (2G) / Up to 444 h (3G)
Talk time-Up to 18 h (2G) / Up to 23 h (3G)
Music play-Up to 84 h
MISC-Colors-Black, White, Red
Labels:
blackberry,
passport,
review