Today was the day! You marked it in your calendar, you counted down the nights, and last night, as you went to bed, your stomach had that tingly feeling you get when you’re nervous about what that long-awaited day would bring. Yes, today, BlackBerry officially released the Passport – the first high-end smartphone with a proper keyboard in years. Since everything was already known about this device, let’s go straight to CrackBerry’s review:
The whole time I’ve been reviewing the BlackBerry Passport there’s been a lingering thought in my head and I’m sure it’s one I share with many of you all as well. How well is the BlackBerry Passport going to sell for BlackBerry? At the end of the day, or in this case at the end of the review, I really don’t know but what I have decided is this. The BlackBerry Passport is just quirky enough, just odd enough to make people interested in it. Even during my review, I’ve had several people ask about the device, even a guy at the Apple Store (Yes, I was showing off) had questions about it and that’s actually beneficial to BlackBerry. Just quirky enough, just odd enough, that people want to pick up the device and see what it is all about and well, BlackBerry needs that. Not enough people know BlackBerry 10 even exists, let alone the fact that’s a great operating system. If their first experience on BlackBerry 10 is the BlackBerry Passport, I feel that’s a good thing because even though it looks a little odd, it’s a pretty complete package when all things are considered.
This pretty much sums up how I feel about the Passport (but obviously without actually having used it). It looks a little quirky – and therefore interesting – and I am very happy that at least someone has the gusto to try something new in the physical keyboard department. At this point, the Passport is literally the only high-end, modern smartphone with a hardware keyboard.
That’s sad, but at least we have an option now.
I have to think back when I first saw a blackberry my boss had. A friend was with me at the time and he kind of stopped and pointed at the device on his him ” What kind of *&^%! calculator is that?!?”. Which perfectly summed up its ungainly appearance.
It was hideous. It didn’t look like a phone or any fun was to be had with that. But it was crazy useful for fast communication.
Maybe that’s what Blackberry always should be: ugly as sin, productive as hell.
After having used a Q10 that I got from work, and now having tried BB10, I really would love to get a Passport. If T-Mobile USA ends up getting them, I may buy one through them. If not, I’ll be waiting to find an unlocked one.
I really dislike Android and how it’s always in your face telling you that you’re just a consumer.
Pretty sure you can run android apps on BB10 anyhow (though I have yet to figure out how to do it on the Q10.)
BlackBerry seems to still be having issues getting the word out that Android apps are supported. The whole Google store is available using a native BB Google Play client called Snap where apps can be easily added, managed and updated.
Check it out: http://redlightoflove.com/snap/
I like my corporate issue Z10, and would pay out of my own pocket for a Passport. I find it bizarre that people seem to revel in the possible failure of a technology. Oh well, I’ll continue to use what works for me and if that eventually isn’t a BB, I’ll roll with it and move on. In the meantime, it’s my preferred platform. I registered just to post and share about Snap and put it out there that I like BB regardless of it being the favorite mobile platform to disparage. *Shrugs *
Yeah, the media has this fascination with the phrase “sideloading” making it seem like some ugly hack that only the most die-hard BlackBerry users must do to get Android apps running. The fact of the matter is, Amazon Appstore is natively installed these days and runs out of the box, and half of the BB10 apps in the BlackBerry store are already direct Android ports.
BlackBerry OS has its share of problems (for instance, allowing carriers to push their bloatware to your factory-unlocked device as OS UPDATES based on the SIM card), but the lack of apps is REALLY way down on the list.
I just want to point out that, while auto updates are the default, it is a simple setting to allow updates to be pushed to your device or not.
I’m talking about BlackBerry allowing carriers to be the middle-man when it comes to OS updates. Examples:
– I have an unlocked BB10 device and place a SimpleMobile SIM (T-Mobile MVNO) in it, the next time I update, I have T-Mobile’s WiFi calling + their app that shows how many minutes I’ve used this month. The OS thinks I’m on T-Mobile, and installed bloatware that I didn’t want.
– If I switch that out with a Straight Talk SIM (ATT MVNO) and reboot, I am greeted with an important update that ends up being half a dozen AT&T specific apps, including something that hijacks my contact list.
This is absurd behavior in 2014. BlackBerry screwed up when they let the carriers have their way with the OS. In the end, it resulted in users having to wait months for an official update to 10.2. With the exception of the Foxconn produced Z3, BlackBerry controls the entire ecosystem from design to distribution. Updates should come directly from BlackBerry, without carrier bloat, and it shouldn’t matter if I am on Verizon or T-Mobile as to WHEN it is released (after all, the only difference in phone versions is the radio file).
The only reasonable way to update my phone in a timely manner is to use third party software from a guy on the Crackberry forums.
Any idea if that gives the BB access to the Google Play API’s ? If so, then that’s a game changer. BB would be able to run almost any Android app.
No, it comes with Amazon’s Store, there is a patch the removes the requirements for Google dependencies so there isn’t much you can’t run on it.
Could you elaborate on this? Do you mean a patched version of the Amazon app, or something the OS patches at install automatically? (Or something else altogether that I’m missing…)
There are lots of ways but none of them have been “out-of-the-box” until now. On 10.3 (the OS the Passport uses) the Amazon app store is installed by default.
On older versions (like 10.2.1 that my Z30 currently uses), you have to sideload the Amazon App Store, Snap (a native version of Google Play), or the like.
Once you do any of the above, Android apps install with the tap of a finger.
I just downloaded the AppStore from the Amazon website, seems to work. (Z10 10.2)
What does that mean exactly?
Like consumer rather than creator of things?
Or are you making a reference to the privacy concerns of running google android?
I’m not sure there is a better mobile os for creating content. Nor am I sure that there is a mobile os that protects your privacy any better to any real degree.
Depends on definition of “we”. With 26 alphanumeric buttons this keyboard is not overly useful to speakers of languages with higher letter count, let alone multilingual communication.
True, but that kind of thing never stopped classic BlackBerry’s adoption outside the US and Canada. It was popular worldwide in its heyday.
If the virtual keyboard row in the screen provides me with ñ, á, é, Ã, ó, ú and ü…. I am in!
Yeah, you long-press the key and all variations of the letter appear above. You can tap the one you want or, on the Passport, tap the touch-sensitive keys to select the correct option.
The virtual row also has a key for an alternative layout (numbers and symbols) if you need.
Edited 2014-09-26 19:14 UTC
Coool!
what a huge ugly piece of square! good luck!
The people that like the Passport is people that want to have a decent device, not a fashion device.
This is a nice phone designed to people that wants a decent keyboard (instead of those crappy software keyboards), a decent screen (as blackberry said, designed to have more text lines in the screen than in normal phones), a very nice battery and good storage and processing power (as far as I know, the last iPhones come with 1Gb RAM). The Passport comes with 3Gb of RAM, 32 of storage and expandability to 128Gb of flash storage. And a beuatiful and real multitask OS.
i am not talking about iphone, i am using nice android phone, and i am happy. and this is ugly, this is my opinion, just like nissan juke and fiat 500, just a piece of oversized ugly square shit, sorry.
Has anyone tested whether you can actually type faster on a BB physical keyboard than you can using gesture typing on the standard Google keyboard? Because I’m somewhat sceptical. And for a lengthy email, I find that dictating the whole thing using voice and then editing the errors is quicker than either.
I’ve owned most BB10 devices up to the Passport. Personally, I found keyboard input on the Q10 to be much faster than the standard Google keyboard on my test device, a Moto G. However, the virtual keyboard on BlackBerry OS 10 is simply amazing. On my original Z10 and now my Z30, the virtual keyboard is _much_ faster than the Q10. One area where the Q10’s physical keyboard (and small size) trumps all: One handed, on-the-go operation. However, this is something that the sheer size of the Passport won’t compete with.
What to say?! I am glad to see that they give consumers the right to choose a different product.
It is just not for me, unless i was a traveling bussines-man. Look’s of it is cool though.
Buttom line:
I really love the design. Looking good.
Looks like it’d be uncomfortable as hell in a pocket.
Back when Blackberries were a status symbol, they were worn on the hip by the executive class. I’d imagine there would be one for this as well. To this day, I can spot an og BB user by the existence of a holster for their phone.
Still waiting for a high device with a slider keyboard….
Landscape or portrait, doesn’t matter
I may just have to splurge when/if the Neo900 is released. I really LOVE my N900, but since my batteries are all acting funky, and I wasn’t able to unscrew the screen to replace it, it’s been sitting on my desk. All it really needed was a bit faster processor and more ram, and Maemo 5 would have been most epic, and if Nokia had kept on with it, I would have stuck with Nokia. As it is, today I took the sim out of my Note 3 and put it into my N9
Was tired of my phone locking up when I tried to respond to a text.
Passport is the only modern smart phone with a modern keyboard? What about Blackberry’s Q10 and other Q# devices? Those are fairly recent releases and feature physical keyboards.
Q10 is 1 1/2 years old. Unfortunately, that is an eternity in the mobile world these days.
The BlackBerry Classic looks like it is going to be a great successor to the Q10. I hope it is out before Christmas, since THAT is the phone I’m REALLY looking forward to. Just as long as it has an AMOLED screen and retains the FM Radio, I’ll probably jump on board.
After aaaages of dithering, mine is in the post, expecting it on Monday.
(UK based on new EE 4G+ contract via mobilephonesdirect.co.uk which is currently the cheapest option available at the moment)
I’m quite excited!!
I’m defiantly grabbing one, this will be the perfect device to remotely connect to my office and home servers. Editing scripts and quick touch ups for programs. Not to mention emails, surfing, posting to forums, the works. I’m also a big fan of BB 10 from when I had a Q10, especially all of the new things update 10.3 brings, yeah I want one, like the article said it’s different enough from all of the main stream phones out there that is has definitely sparked my interest. I’m tired of the seeing just iPhones and Android phones, it’s time I give someone else a chance.
I’ve had a Z10 since two weeks after launch. Still going strong, but also a little annoying at times when web browsing – tall/narrow screen, or short/wide. If the website is well designed, neither are problematic, but that seems the exception. My other gripe is with the onscreen keyboard. While it’s not terrible, I do miss the keyboard of my Bold 9900, long since gone.
The Passport could be the best of both worlds for me. I examined a display model briefly in a phone store this week, it looks like it could be the right size for my hands.
As has been commented already, BlackBerry have dared to take a different design route this time, and people are taking notice. That’s good – I’m glad that they tried something different. I just hope that it gets a fair shake – reviews seem to once again get hung up on the apps issue and the fact that it’s a BlackBerry.
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