14 DAY TRIAL // The Passport is BlackBerry's next flagship smartphone, which is likely to go official in just a few moments. The Canadian company is trying to regain some of the customers it lost over the last few years.
It remains to be seen whether or not BlackBerry Passport will be appealing enough to customers other than BlackBerry fans.
Although we already know almost everything about BlackBerry Passport's technical specifications, the Canadian company will surely have a few surprises in store for its fans.
BlackBerry's CEO John Chen is taking the stage making some jokes on time zones and the fact that the event is streamed live in three different cities at the same time (London, Dubai and Toronto).
"I saw a video today with a smartphone that can bend, but I don't know how to pronounce its name. So, I dare you all to bend the BlackBerry Passport," John Chen says.
The Passport was "conceived" before John Chen took over BlackBerry, but his merit is that he didn't kill it. Hmm, that's interesting:)
A video that explains how BlackBerry Passport has been designed is now running. Lots of PRing stuff, but the basic idea is that the Passport has been designed for those looking for a "beautiful and durable" smartphone.
And here is the BlackBerry Passport.
Mr. Chen claims that he has shown the Passport to a lot of people in the last couple of months and lots of them said it's a little too big. Then, Chen would pull out his own passport from his pocket and size it against the smartphone. Apparently they have almost the same size. Now that's interesting.
Hockey star Wayne Gretzky was briefly invited on stage to share his experience with the BlackBerry Passport. He likes it and he's proud to be Canadian:)
Here are the main strong points of the Passport, according to BlackBerry's Jeff Gadway:
- A large square touch display; - A touch-enabled keyboard; - BlackBerry 10.3 OS; - New audio experience; - A new kind of personal assistant.
The Passport's square screen supports 1440 x 1440 pixel resolution and displays more characters than any other device.
The BlackBerry Passport's touch-enabled keyboard is four times more accurate than any other smartphones available on the market.
Jeff says that BlackBerry's new virtual assistant can interact with both work and personal data. It's also capable of offering more sophisticated operations than Siri and Google Now.
Users can also speak or type to it. If you choose to type to it, BlackBerry's virtual assistant will interact with your strictly on the screen.
Work and personal calendar events are categorized by color and you can pull them out via BlackBerry Assistant by speaking to it. Apparently, Siri can't pull both work and personal appointments.
Gadway is now talking about BlackBerry 10.3 OS. Instant actions is making its way to BlackBerry Hub. It allows users to quickly delete messages or mark them. You can also reply to BBM messages directly from the Hub.
BlackBerry Passport comes with an incredible speakerphone. It's 18% louder than HTC One M8 and 350% louder than Samsung Galaxy S5 (lol?). If it senses that you're in a noisier area, it will boost the in-call sound.
The smartphone also uses Natural Sound Technology that adjusts the in-call volume depending on how close you keep your phone to your ear.
Jeff Gadway claims that BlackBerry Passport's 3450 mAh battery can offer up to 30 hours of battery life! That's a lot, but it depends in what conditions the tests were made.
Robin Williams from Amazon Appstore is now on stage to share details on what customers can expect from BlackBerry 10.3 and Passport. Basically, they will have access to thousands of Android apps and games via Amazon Appstore.
In addition to that, the Free App of the Day offer will be available for BlackBerry 10.3 users as well, which means that every day they will be able to get a high-quality paid app for free.
All Android apps can be scanned with BlackBerry Guardian prior to installation on BlackBerry 10.3 devices.
Jeff Gadway is back on stage to talk about BlackBerry Blend. It brings the power of your BlackBerry smartphone to your PC or tablet. You can access your data from the phone through your work computer or tablet without VPN.
BlackBerry Blend gives users access to BBM on their desktop, but also to all other types of messaging, including SMS and emails.
The good news is that you can have BlackBerry Blend on Windows and Android, as well as Mac and iPads, or any combination of them.
The Passport will be available in around 30 countries by the end of the year, but it will go on sale in Canada, UAE and the UK this week.
According to John Chen, BlackBerry Passport costs $599 USD in the US and $699 CAD in Canada. Prices for other countries will be different and more details will be available closer to launch.
Oh, and all attendees get a BlackBerry Passport. That's a wrap-up folks. What do you think about BlackBerry's new flagship smartphone?