At the launch of the BlackBerry Passport on Monday, we got to spend a little time with the device and formed some early impressions about the device. The BlackBerry Passport will go on sale at retail from October 10 at Rs. 49,990, but at the launch event, the company announced that the handset will be available for pre-order on Amazon.in and at BlackBerry Exclusive Stores from Monday.
Buyers who pre-order the phone will also get a Rs. 5,000 gift voucher on Amazon.in which can be used towards any purchases, and also 5,000 frequent flyer miles from Jet Airways.
The price tag seems pretty steep, but it competes directly with the top flagships of other well established brands, a point BlackBerry India Managing Director Sunil Lalvani was quick to make at the launch event. But does this unusual phone from BlackBerry measure up to the competition?
The first thing that you'll notice when you see the BlackBerry Passport is its massive size. The phone has a 4.5-inch display, which sounds small, but due to the square display the display seems larger. At over 3.5 inches wide, the phone is also wider than much larger phones. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which has a 5.7-inch display, is 3.1-inches wide.
The build quality of the phone is extremely good. It felt solid but not heavy and the keyboard felt great. The specifications of the phone are also in line with other top end devices as well. The screen is running at a resolution of 1440X1440 pixels, and there's a 13-megapixel camera that seemed to be pretty good though a little slow to focus. A 2.2GHz processor and 3GB of RAM, along with 32GB of storage round out a pretty good device, on paper.
The actual experience of using the phone was a little awkward thanks to its size, and even for a regular BlackBerry user, the new keyboard comes with a learning curve. The BlackBerry World app store also remains pretty limited, although the Amazon Appstore does widen the net. Not all Android apps (notably Google's like Maps) are available on Amazon though, which could still end up being a deal-breaker for many.
Add to that the reputation BlackBerry has gained for dropping prices in short order - something the company vehemently denied on Monday - and buying the Passport at its launch price may sound like a bad idea to many.
Stay tuned for a detailed review of the BlackBerry Passport on Horn Ok Tech.
Buyers who pre-order the phone will also get a Rs. 5,000 gift voucher on Amazon.in which can be used towards any purchases, and also 5,000 frequent flyer miles from Jet Airways.
The price tag seems pretty steep, but it competes directly with the top flagships of other well established brands, a point BlackBerry India Managing Director Sunil Lalvani was quick to make at the launch event. But does this unusual phone from BlackBerry measure up to the competition?
The first thing that you'll notice when you see the BlackBerry Passport is its massive size. The phone has a 4.5-inch display, which sounds small, but due to the square display the display seems larger. At over 3.5 inches wide, the phone is also wider than much larger phones. For comparison, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which has a 5.7-inch display, is 3.1-inches wide.
The build quality of the phone is extremely good. It felt solid but not heavy and the keyboard felt great. The specifications of the phone are also in line with other top end devices as well. The screen is running at a resolution of 1440X1440 pixels, and there's a 13-megapixel camera that seemed to be pretty good though a little slow to focus. A 2.2GHz processor and 3GB of RAM, along with 32GB of storage round out a pretty good device, on paper.
The actual experience of using the phone was a little awkward thanks to its size, and even for a regular BlackBerry user, the new keyboard comes with a learning curve. The BlackBerry World app store also remains pretty limited, although the Amazon Appstore does widen the net. Not all Android apps (notably Google's like Maps) are available on Amazon though, which could still end up being a deal-breaker for many.
Add to that the reputation BlackBerry has gained for dropping prices in short order - something the company vehemently denied on Monday - and buying the Passport at its launch price may sound like a bad idea to many.
Stay tuned for a detailed review of the BlackBerry Passport on Horn Ok Tech.
Which HTC or nokia phone can this be best compared to?
ReplyDeleteHey there :-)
DeleteIf you mean a device with a physical QWERTY keyboard, there are unfortunately few Android options like the HTC ChaCha. Although Micromax, Karbonn and Spice do offer some devices. But none of them of any comparable specifications.
Nokia phones like the older C series or the new Asha series too are physical keyboard devices. But lack the specs to match.
In short, Blackberry dominates the physical QWERTY smartphone market.
If you mean the 4:3 ratio then the LG Vu and Vu3 do offer that.