BlackBerry Passport: Will the square phone work?

BlackBerry has a long past of making good hardware and great phones. Recently though, the company has been struggling to put a firm foot forward. Last month, BlackBerry CEO John Chen showed us the ‘BlackBerry Passport’ smartphone with a square screen. The said device is scheduled to be released in September.

The BlackBerry Passport will have a 4.5-inch display with 1440 x 1440 resolution and will be powered by a Snapdragon 800 SoC along with 3GB of RAM. It is rumored to have an 8MP rear camera and a 2MP front facing camera. The phone might come with a 3,450 mAh removable battery.

Why a square display

Smartphones are getting leaner, larger and have always been unapologetically rectangular but BlackBerry’s Passport is coming with a square display. The company is trying to take a new path on how a smartphone should look and that is why in a new blog post explains the square display. 

BlackBerry explains how a typical line in a book has 66 characters whereas a current rectangular smartphone will show you only 40. 

The company explains: 

 “BlackBerry Passport offers its size and aspect ratio to accommodate these characters, making it the ideal device for reading e-books, viewing documents and browsing the web. No more worrying about portrait or landscape modes.” 

BlackBerry has tried to identify a user base for the unorthodox device by giving instances of how it could be of use to architects and mortgage brokers by letting them see blueprints and paperwork on the go and how it could be of use to people in healthcare field as doctors can check X-rays with its HIPAA compliance. BlackBerry also said that it will be an ideal device for writers as it will truly unlock their potential by providing them with a physical keyboard so that they can quickly write short stories. Blackberry states that the phone has been “designed from ground up for working professionals in mind”. 

Will it work?

So, BlackBerry has tried to focus on the requirement for a larger screen and how we can get that without rotating the display to landscape with the BlackBerry Passport. BlackBerry, with the Passport smartphone, is trying to remove the need for a portrait and landscape mode on your display. The square display has some potential and with its physical keyboard the device will garner some supporters. But the point of the matter is BlackBerry has chosen a new way of using a smartphone which begs the question- “will it work?” 

Our Opinion

In our opinion there is no point working on a handheld device if it strains your wrist. So first of all, Blackberry needs to keep the weight down for the device to make it portable and easy to handle so that it is a user friendly device. Today’s smartphones have a rectangular design because a rectangular design is more ergonomic to hold in one hand whereas a 4.5-inch square display might not be the easiest to use or hold for that matter. The device will come with the signature BlackBerry QWERTY keyboard which will add more breadth to the phone’s footprint and would definitely make it a much more likeable pick for business customers but besides that we really don’t see the purpose. 

The whole future and customer base for the device depends on how BlackBerry chooses to market it and  we will soon find out that once the device goes official. 

What do you think about the BlackBerry Passport? Will it work in India? Let us know your views in the comments section below:

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Hardik Singh

Light at the top, this odd looking creature lives under the heavy medication of video games. View Full Profile