BlackBerry’s Passport: Square peg in a round hole?

It has been quite the year for technology. We can list out at least one flagship update from every smartphone manufacturer that has impressed us with at least one feature that's unique and highly innovative. As we type this, there are some brilliant phones lying on Technophile's test bench. We've got everything from the new Moto X to the Sony Xperia Z3 to the Samsung Galaxy S4 to our favourite Android phone of this year, the HTC One (both E8 and M8).

We do, however, have another new flagship that indeed stands out. BlackBerry has decided to join this gala high-end smartphone shindig with its new Passport, a device that combines a square screen and a three-row physical keyboard in the dimensions of an actual passport (the travel document). Unlike the other handsets' more relaxed outfits, the Passport actually looks like it's here in a business suit.

It's as smart as smart gets. Smarter than a crisp, black, pinstriped Armani suit stepping out of the back-seat of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class limo. The 4.5-inch IPS LCD display, which is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3, is surrounded by a thin bezel on three sides and the keyboard at the bottom. There are steel accents and rims running between the keys and around the device respectively. The rear has an elegant matte finish, offering anti-slip capabilities. The keyboard too has touch sensitivity, and can be used for scrolling horizontally and vertically. The quality of build, the tactile response on the keyboard and the the overall finish of the device scream sophistication.

But there is a slight drawback to all this board-room elegance. Because you see, while it looks like the perfect smartphone to fit in a black blazer's pocket, rather than in your denims, it might actually not fit anywhere. And that's because of the sheer size and ergonomics of the phone. What BB designers seem to have forgotten, is that just because its named Passport, it's not absolutely essential to give it the same length and breadth as of an actual passport. Maybe, they should have kept the thickness to the average passport's levels too. Also wonder what came first - the name or the form factor?

But unfortunately, because of its thicker profile, the Passport is quite ungainly for one-handed usage. Even with two-handed usage, it takes some getting used to. The physical keyboard only features the letters of the alphabet, everything else such as numbers and symbols appear on an on-screen keyboard. We just don't get the point - why have a physical keyboard when you have only half the things on it? Moreover, the power/sleep button is hard to reach for those with small-to-average-sized palms. This isn’t the first time that BlackBerry is making a phone with a square screen and a physical keyboard, though. And in our opinion, the Q10 was ergonomically perfect.

It is safe to assume by now that the Passport is not really meant for the food-picture-tweeting, WhatsApp-ing, Facebook status uploading, YouTube video streaming twenty-something user. But it definitely doesn't mean that the hard-working professional doesn't find any time for the above-mentioned usages of a smartphone. So what we're looking for in the BB Passport are specs that would take care of the heavy business applications, and yet be enough for some leisure usage later on.

Turns out, the Passport is quite the surprise package. With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core chip clocked at 2.26 GHz and 3GB RAM, the BB OS 10.3 is adept at tackling anything that is thrown at it. There are certainly some great features such as the BlackBerry Assistant - BB's take on Siri, Google Now and Microsoft's Cortana. It handles multitasking like a breeze, and comes preloaded with Amazon's app store as well. But the fact remains that many great apps such as Snapchat and Instagram are still missing from the BB platform.

The display is great with good colour reproduction and excellent viewing angles, but we still think that the Q10's Super AMOLED display was better for outdoor usage. In terms of multimedia consumption, you do miss the landscape format, as everything on a square screen gets a bit shrunk to fit to scale. we'd still say that losing a bit of the screen and gaining another row of keys would have been brilliant. The speakers are decent, and go well with the front 2MP camera for high-quality video calls. The rear camera isn't disappointing either - the auto-focus works well, and the images tend to remain less noisy in low light conditions, but the overall colour reproduction lacks warmth.

The battery, however, keeps this corporate workhorse running for well over a day. We used the Passport as our primary phone for a week, and we would well move over into the next day without having to charge it again.

We loved the Passport as a concept - it's a sturdy phone that goes on for well over a day, and fulfills all your work demands. However, in this day and age, any high-end smartphone can be configured to do that. Sure, the long battery life makes a compelling case for itself, but there are smartphones such as the Xperia Z3 that offer just as much juice and more features to boot. It's just hard to find a reason as to why one would choose a BlackBerry when the others give you just as much and more fun stuff to do when you're not working. In that case, we'd just like to say that the Passport is a great package for those who like to work. And only work.

₹49,990

Love - Build quality; battery life; BB features

Hate - Awkward ergonomics; only three rows of keys