BlackBerry breaks design boundaries with the new Passport

BlackBerry has announced that it is breaking the design boundaries of smartphones. Today, we are all looking at rectangular devices in varying sizes.

Most smartphones are in a 16:9 display ratio, which may make movie watching a great experience. However, when you are using the smartphone for browsing and documentation, you suffer tremendously when it comes to typing and other feedback using the keyboard. When you are using your smartphone to type, the keyboard is too tiny in portrait mode, and though it gets a bit more comfortable in landscape more, the virtual keyboard almost covers more than half of the display. This leaves very little display real estate for other important content.

BlackBerry is looking at the design in the other direction. By implementing a square design, Blackberry claims that you can use the phone in any orientation and still get the same view and screen size. The size and form factor of the BlackBerry Passport is inspired by a passport, which is a universal symbol of mobility.  

The BlackBerry Passport will offer a 4.5-inch square full HD display with a resolution of 1440 x 1440 pixels. BlackBerry claims ‘It offers a similar viewing space to a 5” inch phone but offers an even better viewing experience because of the screen’s width.’

According to BlackBerry, academic research has shown that the optimal number of characters on a line in a book is 66 characters (most current rectangular smartphones show approx. 40 characters; the BlackBerry Passport will show 60 characters). The 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, and no; you aren’t missing anything.

BlackBerry further adds, ‘Consider how IMAX movies begin with the screens set to a more traditional 16:9 aspect ratio projection for conventional movie trailers, before expanding to their true dimensions (and the audience goes, “ooh”). The Passport is like the IMAX of productivity, and you don’t have to sacrifice screen real estate, vertically or horizontally.’

BlackBerry has always been a device for the working professional. The new Passport design is aimed specifically towards this class, and here are a few cases they have considered.

• For architects and mortgage brokers, imagine being able to look at full designs and schematics on the go, and still being able to handle piles of virtual paperwork with ease.
• In the healthcare field, picture being able to go through x-rays or medical documentation in the office with a patient, on a device that can maintain the necessary security standards for HIPAA compliance.
• In the area of finance, how about navigating your Web-based trading platform on your device? With enough screen real estate, you can clearly see the fluctuation in your stock and determine whether it’s time to sell.
• Writers will truly be unlocked with a navigable keyboard, while the large square screen enables faster content development and delivery. When you are looking to type stories or notes, your virtual keyboard doesn’t cover most of your screen

The BlackBerry Passport features a 4.5-inch full HD display with a resolution of 1440x1440 pixels. The Passport is built using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset featuring a quad-core processor with 3GB of RAM. The processor speed is not yet revealed. The internal storage is 32GB, with expandable options to 64GB. Connectivity options include Wi-Fi a/b/g/n, 3G, LTE, Bluetooth v4.0, NFC and GPS. An internal 3450 mAh battery powers the device. The Passport also features a physical QWERTY keyboard placed just beneath the display. Cameras are available on the front and rear, but again there is no information about the sensor details. We assume that the smartphone will feature a 13MP camera on the rear with a 2MP on the front.

The BlackBerry Passport is expected to be launched somewhere around September 2014. The expected price of the Passport in India could be between Rs 42,000 and Rs 45,000.