In a move that underpins BlackBerry CEO John Chen's earlier assertions that the company is still committed to bringing new devices to market, BlackBerry has unveiled its latest high-end offering, the BlackBerry Passport.
The passport-sized hybrid BlackBerry, a 4.5-inch square display phone aimed at what BlackBerry calls "the power professional", has been in the works for some time now, and follows a statement by Chen in the first quarter of this year that the company would introduce more keyboard-centric, high-end devices.
The Passport features both a touch-screen and qwerty keyboard - although BlackBerry has truncated this to just three lines of letters, with other characters available on-screen - to provide more real estate on the display. Unlike previous qwerty keyboards, BlackBerry's latest handset's physical keyboard is touch-sensitive, giving it the functionality of a trackpad.
The new device, which will ship with the latest operating system (OS), BlackBerry 10 OS 10.3, is BlackBerry's first quad-core phone and comes with more memory and storage out-of-the-box than any of the company's previous offerings.
BlackBerry 10 OS 10.3 features new software items, like BlackBerry Blend (which allows users to access their phone across multiple devices) and improved BlackBerry Assistant functionality, including voice control.
Turnaround talk
Chen, who has been tagged by industry insiders as a turnaround artist, has indicated he wants BlackBerry to zero in on its core base of corporate and government clients, and on its services arm, which secures mobile devices on the internal networks of big clients.
Introducing the Passport in pre-launch sessions last week, Martin Fick, senior product manager of Africa at BlackBerry SA, said the company's turnaround plan had born fruit, with a cash-neutral status expected by the end of the current financial year.
World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck says consumers will no doubt find the odd-shaped BlackBerry Passport "weird" at first. "It's unlikely to be another Samsung Note-style success - a new shape that took the market by storm."
However, in the context of BlackBerry's small market share today - coupled with low cost structure - the phone only needs moderate acceptance for it to be considered a success.
"No kid would be seen dead with what they would see as an ungainly slab. However, that is decidedly not its target market. It is aimed squarely at a business audience, in effect going back to BlackBerry's roots."
Passport specs
Size: 28mm x 90.3mm x 9.3mm
Weight: 196g
Display: 453 PPI, 4.5-inch, In-cell IPS LCD Touch Display
Resolution: 1 440 x 1 400
Keyboard: Three row touch-enabled qwerty
Memory: 3GB RAM, 32GB flash, swappable microSD slot supports up to 128GB
Processor: 2.2GHz Quad Core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801
Cameras: 13MP rear-facing camera, auto focus, LED flash, image and video stabilisation, 5x digital zoom, 1080p HD video recording up to 60fps; 2MP (720p) front-facing camera, image and video stabilisation, 3x digital zoom, 720p HD video recording
GPS: Autonomous, and simultaneous GPS
Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.0 Low Energy
NFC: NFC-enabled to support mobile payments and file exchange
Ports: Multi-function port (supports USB and microHDMI out)
Sensors: Accelerometer, magnetometer, time of flight, gyroscope, ambient light, proximity
WiFi: 2.4GHz 802.11 b/g/n, 5GHz a/n + ac, mobile hotspot, WiFi direct, Miracast, DLNA Server
Network: FD- LTE, support for global roaming
Battery: 3 450mAh (integrated); up to 25 hours of mixed use
Launched officially in Toronto, London and Dubai today, the BlackBerry Passport (unlocked) will be available through ShopBlackBerry.com (sbb.com) at special introductory rates for customers in Canada ($699), France (EUR649), Germany (EUR649), the UK (£529) and the US ($599) immediately following the launch.
Locally, SA is one of the more than 30 countries around the world where consumers will be able to buy the handset through BlackBerry's carrier and distributor partners before the end of the year. Amazon.com is also set to offer the device soon. Further pricing details were not available at the time of publication.
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