BlackBerry Passport Release Date, Rumors: A Mix of 4.5” Touchscreen and QWERTY Keypad; Specs Incl. 3GB RAM, 32 GB Internal Memory; BlackBerry’s Ace Smartphone for Entrepreneurs

BlackBerry Passport release date, rumors: Blackberry takes another bold move as it will soon launch the BlackBerry Passport, a passport-sized smartphone with both a 4.5-inch touchscreen display with a 1440x1440 resolution and a classic QWERTY keypad.

A mixture of radical design and traditional Blackberry features, the Blackberry passport sports a 3GB RAM and a 32 GB internal memory. It also has an additional slot in case you want to boost your storage. Its design and ergonomics is primarily meant for business users, according to BlackBerry CEO John Chen.

CEO Chen adds that the Passport deviates from the trend of smartphones having wider screens and bigger bodies. “A lot of old phones including some of ours is on one side longer than the other side. You look at our competitor phones and they get bigger and longer and wider. Most people are fatigued with the longer and wider designs,” he says.

Moreover, the BlackBerry Passport is the first BlackBerry device to feature a nano SIM card slot, similar to the iPhone 5s and HTC One M8. It also has a 13Megapixel rear camera and an 8 Megapixel shooter at the front.
As a plus for entrepreneurs who are always on the go, its 3450 mAh battery could keep the phone alive for approximately 18 hours. As a space-saving design, the Passport’s unique QWERTY keypad only has English Alphabets and a space bar.

Upon examining its prototype, critics say that the Passport has a huge resemblance with the BlackBerry Q10, with the curved edges replaced with more pointed corners. Tech blog Crackberry also released a review on the pre-released version. The review noticed that the Passport is greatly inspired by the BlackBerry 8800.

After going against the trend of wide-screen smartphones, the BlackBerry Passport is a functional device that
caters to specific kind of niche–the business users. The question is, will the Passport’s customized toggles and features be enough herd in all the target users amidst the release of the iPhone 6 and Samsung giants?