BlackBerry Passport Now Official: 4.5-Inch Square Display, BB10.3 OS, 13 MP OIS Camera and More

| Published: Thursday, September 25, 2014, 1:11 [IST]

After months of rumors, BlackBerry on Wednesday - finally launched the BlackBerry Passport in an aim to win over the enterprise market. The square shaped BlackBerry Passport has a 4.5-inch touchscreen display with touch-sensitive keyboard.

The newly launched handset is primarily meant to cater high-profile senior executives and elite business class. The BlackBerry Passport is now available in the U.S and other prominent markets, including Canada, the UK, France and Germany.

BlackBerry Passport Now Official: 4.5-Inch, BB10.3 OS, 13 MP And More

The unlocked version of the BlackBerry Passport is priced at $599 or Rs. 36,000. The company says the BlackBerry Passport is coming to 30 more countries later this year. Apparently BlackBerry is hosting an event in India early next week, where the firm might showcase the BlackBerry Passport. The odd-looking handset is expected to cost upwards of Rs. 45,000.

BlackBerry has been struggling in the consumer market for quite long. Its last few flagship handsets, including the Q10, wasn't been a huge success. But at the press conference held in Toronto, London and Dubai simultaneously, the company to some extent clarified that they would be entirely focusing on enterprise market. BlackBerry is betting big on the device's extra large screen, long battery life and dedicated keys.

BlackBerry Passport - Key Specifications

Specs-wise, the BlackBerry Passport has a 4.5-inch diagonal display with a resolution of 1440 x 1440-pixels. The phone's display is designed in such a way to make more room for editing texts or spreadsheets. Like previous generation BlackBerry phones, this very handset does come with a physical keyboard with touch capability.

Other highlighted specs of the BlackBerry Passport include a 2.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of native storage, BlackBerry 10.3 OS, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, a microSD card slot, a 3,450mAh battery.

Software is still a big issue in front of BlackBerry. The firm has failed completely to revamp the BlackBerry store. To date there are few apps made available on the store.

It seems that the BlackBerry Passport is a premium device, with more focus on select business class rather than the consumer market.

Stay tuned to GizBot for more updates on the latest smartphone.

Highlight features of the BlackBerry Passport include: (Press Release)

Large High-Resolution Square Screen - The BlackBerry Passport includes a 4.5" square screen with a 1:1 aspect ratio, 1440x1440 pixel (453 dpi) HD display and Corning Gorilla Glass 3 for added strength.

Innovative BlackBerry Keyboard - The BlackBerry Passport's new keyboard brings innovation to input with a responsive touch surface like a trackpad that lets you perform many touch functions directly on the keyboard. You can scroll web pages, flick to type or slide along the keys to move the cursor, leaving the full screen space for viewing.

BlackBerry 10 OS 10.3 - The BlackBerry Passport comes preloaded with the new BlackBerry 10.3 operating system, including new features such as BlackBerry Assistant, BlackBerry Blend and Amazon Appstore. It has a fresh look that incorporates updated icons and an instant action bar so that each user's most commonly accessed functions are in the center of their screen.

Battery Life - The 3450 mAh battery is one the largest among the top selling smartphones and phablets and provides up to 30 hours of mixed use.

Dual app storefronts for a Wealth of Professional and Popular Apps

- BlackBerry World - BlackBerry World showcases essential productivity apps for business professionals looking to drive efficient communications and collaboration.

- Amazon Appstore - Preloaded on BlackBerry Passport, users can access popular consumer apps through the Amazon Appstore, including the latest Android games and apps, such as Minecraft - Pocket Edition, Candy Crush Saga, Pinterest, Temple Run 2 and Cut the Rope 2.

BlackBerry Assistant - The BlackBerry Assistant is BlackBerry's first digital assistant and can be used with voice and text commands to help users manage work and personal email, contacts, calendar and other native BlackBerry 10 applications.

Premium Components - The device is built, including a Quad Core 2.2 GHZ Processor, 3 GB RAM, 13 MP OIS rear camera and 32 GB memory.

BlackBerry Natural Sound - BlackBerry Passport comes with powerful speakers and a quad microphone system and Natural Sound Technology built in to adapt Wi-Fi and cellular call sound depending upon phone position and background noise, automatically adjusting volume.