Blackberry Officially Launches Blackberry Passport in the Philippines

Just today, November 25, mobile communications global leader, BlackBerry, officially launched the Blackberry Passport. The new smartphone features a wide touchscreen display with touch keyboard.

Priced at PhP35,790, Passport is currently thr company’s flagship device. It’s touted as Blackberry’s best personal assistant device.

During the event, Blackberry Managing Director Cameron Vernest said that they are excited to mark a new milestone in the Philippines with this new smartphone. With its wide touchscreen display, touch keyboard, and Blackberry 10.3 OS, it’s undeniably perfect for mobile professionals.

During the demo of Senior Director Damian Tay, he stressed that Passport is a symbol of mobility as its exactly patterned to the size of a passport – 128mm x 90.33mm x 9.3mm. This assures that the device is pocketable albeit a bit wide compared to other smartphones.

As it’s aimed towards active mobile users, readiness to mobility, robustness without sacrifice in content consumption are the predominent focuses Blackberry on Passport.

Readiness to Mobility and Robustness. Passport is designed to last. They used Corning Gorilla Glass 3 on screen and forged stainless steel for its frame for durability and strength respectively.

Its 1:1 touchscreen display has a resolution.of 1440×1440 with insane 453 dpi HD display. This gives users a wider vision to accomplish productivity and entertainment apps, which are available pre-installed and downloadable via Amazon Appstore. Yes, this device completely supports Android apps.

Here’s the full specs of Blackberry Passport (compiled/courtesy of Crackberry):

• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 with 2.2GHz Quad-Core CPUs (MSM8974-AA), Adreno 330, 450MHz GPU
• Memory: 3GB LPDDR3 800MHz RAM, 32GB Flash, Hot-swappable MicroSD slot (up to 128GB)
• Expandable Memory: MicroSD slot located under back cover
• Display: 4.5″ diagonal, 1440 x 1440 resolution, LCD, 453 DPI, 24-bit color depth, 1:1 aspect ratio, RGB pixel arrangement, In-cell touch panel, 10-point multi-touch, Corning Gorilla Glass 3
• Rear Facing Camera: 13MP Auto-Focus, Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), 5-element f2.0 lens, Back Side Illumination, LED Flash, 1080p HD video recording at 60fps, 6DOF video stabilization, 5x digital zoom, Continuous & touch to focus, image stabilization
• Front Facing Camera: 2MP Fixed-Focus, Image & video stabilization, 3x digital zoom, 720p HD video recording
• Battery: 3450mAH integrated non-removable battery
• Battery Life (target) BlackBerry Power User Profile: 19 hours usage + 8 hours standby
• Dedicated Keys: Volume Up/Down, Mute, Lock(Power On/Off)
• Dimensions: Weight (w/battery) 194.4g (M2), (LxWxD): 128 x 90.3 x 9.3mm (9.6mm at camera location)
• Headset: 3.5 mm stereo “BlackBird”
• Notification: Tone, vibrate, on-screen or LED indicator; notification options are user configurable
• Voice Input/output: Integrated speaker and microphone, Hands-free headset capable, Bluetooth headset capable, Integrated Hands-Free Speakerphone, Stereo
• Ports and Connectivity: USB 2.0 fully supported with standard microUSB 2.0 cable (included inbox), USB 3.0 client interface supported with custom BlackBerry cable (not included in box), Cabled-Video Out supported with standard SlimPort adaptor (not included in box). SlimPort adaptor cables exist to support the following video protocols: HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort 1.1, DisplayPort 1.2, DVI, NFC, Universal BlackBerry Connector with SlimPort enabled
• Power Adapter: +5V DC / 1.3A AC power adapter, OMTP Complaint
• Network: FD-LTE 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13, 17, 20 (2100/1900/1800/1700/850/2600/900/700/700/800 MHz), HSPA+ 1, 2, 4, 5/6, 8 (2100/1900/1700/850/900 MHz), Dual Carrier 42M support, Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g/n for 2.4GHz, 802.11 a/n for 5GHz, 802.11 ac for 5GHz, 4G Mobile Hotspot, Wi-Fi Direct, Miracast, IEEE 802.11r, IEEE 802.11k Neighbor Reports, Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) Server
• GPS: Assisted, Autonomous and Simultaneous GPS, Enabled with preloaded BlackBerry Maps application and for e911capabilities, Both User Plane & Control Plane GPS is supported, GLONASS Support, OTDOA
• Advanced Sensors: Accelerometer, Magnetometer, Gyroscope, Time of Flight (ToF), Ambient light
• SIM Interface: Nano SIM card (4FF) Supports 1.8V and 3.0V cards
• Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy (LE) with the following profiles – Hands free Profile 1.6 (HFP), Object Push Profile 1.1 (OPP), Phone Book Access Profile 1.1.1 (PBAP) Bluetooth Stereo (A2DP 1.2 / AVRCP 1.5 support), Serial Port Profile 1.1 (SPP), Bluetooth Message Access Profile 1.1 (MAP), Personal Area Network 1.0 (PAN), Remote SIM Access Profile 1.1 (rSAP), Human Interface Device Profile 1.0 (HID), Device ID 1.3, Multi-Profile 1.0 (MPS) [Planned]Low Energy Services, Device Information Service, Immediate Alert Service, Link Loss Service, Tx Power Service, Battery Service, Current Time Service, Next DST Change Service, Low Energy Human Interface Device (HID) [Planned]Bluetooth Radio Specifications, Single band support: ISM 2.4 GHz, Power Class: Bluetooth Class 1, Transmitting and receiving frequency: 2402 to 2480 MHz

The launch this afternoon was also an opportune time for Blackberry to showcase the much talked about Blackberry Blend, a software brings content on your BlackBerry to your computer and tablet. It’s the company’s solution to seamlessly connect your Blackberry to your devices securely. As Blackberry puts it: No saving to a cloud, no transferring information between devices. It’s just there

With Blend, you can do the following:

• Brings all your BBM™ and text messages from your BlackBerry to the integrated messaging hub on your computer and tablet.
• Secure access to your work email, calendar and important files on any device without VPN.
• Save files from your computer or tablet to BlackBerry Blend so they are accessible on any device connected to BlackBerry Blend – even when you don’t have your phone with you.
• BlackBerry Blend can connect wirelessly via Wi-Fi^® or cellular connection, or wired through the USB port on your computer
• It merges all of your work meetings, personal appointments and events into one single calendar.

Blend is currently compatible with Blackberry Passport and the P’9983.

Giancarlo Viterbo

Website

Giancarlo Viterbo is a Filipino Technology Journalist, blogger and Editor of gadgetpilipinas.net, He is also a Geek, Dad and a Husband. He knows a lot about washing the dishes, doing some errands and following instructions from his boss on his day job. Follow him on twitter: @gianviterbo and @gadgetpilipinas.