BlackBerry Passport Smartphone Review

A black casing with plastic back and metal bezel sounds good at first. However, it also sounds rather bland and like nothing special. This description does not do justice to BlackBerry's Passport, though. It will most certainly attract attention. Why? First, it has a very unusual form factor that results from the square screen. The smartphone is very wide but also shorter than other phones. Besides that, a physical keyboard is under the screen, which is one of BlackBerry's most striking unique selling points. If that is not enough distinctiveness, the casing is also available in white and even red - however, likely only as an import in Germany or Austria.

The casing cannot deny its North American heritage. Like American muscle cars, the Passport does not exactly look delicate but more bulky and rigid. Nevertheless, it does convey a touch of elegance. Pressure on the back is seen in some places on the screen, and the casing can be warped easily in its upper area. Overall, the casing has a high-quality and slip-proof feel. Despite the large width of 90.3 millimeters, the Passport fits well in a normal pants pocket. But then, the weight of 196 grams is quite high; Samsung's Galaxy S5 weighs 50 grams less.

The battery is non-removable, but a cover on the upper back side can be taken off, which reveals slots for a nano-SIM card and micro-SD card. However, brute force is needed for this, and it could certainly be easier.

Communication & GPS 

It is pleasing that BlackBerry has treated the Passport to a large portfolio of wireless communication options, such as dual-band Wi-Fi including all standards up to high-speed 802.11 ac. The smartphone also supports four GSM, five UMTS, and ten LTE frequencies with up to 150 Mbits per second in downstream and up to 50 Mbits per second in upstream. NFC for near field communication is just as available as Bluetooth 4.0, and there is support for Wi-Fi Direct and Miracast.

The reception quality in the German E-Plus UMTS net was good. We did not have any difficulties finding a net in our urban area, and the Internet connection was also stable. However, we only had two of four bars in Wi-Fi at a distance of ten meters and through three walls. Just one-quarter of the signal strength was available two more meters away and through another wall. That, fortunately, barely influenced the page setup speed, though.

The GPS module in BlackBerry's Passport found the required number of satellites quite fast outdoors. It could then locate us with an accuracy of approximately 7 meters. Localization was not possible indoors. We also performed a field test with the Passport and took it and the Garmin Edge 500 navigation system along on a mountain bike tour. The measured route length only deviated by 90 meters in both devices, and the Passport recorded the way through the woods almost just as well as the navigation system. However, the Passport let us "float" over a different part of the river on our bridge crossing; the Garmin navigation system pinpointed us on the bridge.

Telephony and Voice Quality

The phone app also seems to be based on the Android version but offers some quite convenient features. For example, buttons can be directly mapped with frequently called contacts in the upper area. Furthermore, number suggestions do not pop up but have to be accessed manually, which increases the overview. Searching for contacts is quick and accurate. The phone app can thus be used precisely and offers many features.

We also liked the voice quality. Our contact confirmed clear intelligibility and decent noise suppression in a test call. At the same time, our contact sounded almost as if he was standing beside us.

Cameras & Multimedia

The primary camera's resolution of 13 megapixels is not as high as in Samsung's Galaxy S5 or Sony's Xperia Z3, but it is higher than, for example, in Apple's iPhone 6 Plus. Good pictures are, however, not only the result of a high megapixel count, and thus BlackBerry's Passport also features an optical image stabilizer and LED flash for brightening low-light surroundings. The camera then also shoots good and sharp pictures, which are virtually on par with pictures from the iPhone 6 or Nokia 1020 at first glance. It becomes evident that details, such as the depiction of the pear, are somewhat lost when compared with the SLR. Besides that, color fringing around objects can be seen when looking closer. The camera will definitely satisfy casual photographers, but buyers should look at other manufacturers if the image quality is a key criterion for buying a smartphone.

The front-facing camera has a resolution of 2 megapixels and does not feature a flash. It shoots relatively coarse pictures with frayed outlines when looking closer. The camera is thus sufficient for social media selfies, but it should preferably not be used for capturing vacation memories.

Accessories

Besides the charger, BlackBerry ships its Passport with a cabled stereo headset that achieves a quite decent sound quality. Additional accessories can be bought in the BlackBerry Shop, such as wireless speakers, headsets or covers. The matching hard shell for 30 Euros (~$36), which is also available in white, and the micro-USB-to-HDMI or VGA that enables transmitting content from the handheld's screen to a larger monitor for 25 or 20 Euros (~$30 or ~$24), are worth mentioning here.

Warranty

Only a 12-month manufacturer's warranty is included. Warranty upgrades cannot be purchased in the BlackBerry shop.

After BlackBerry left out the keyboard in the Z30, there are now physical keys again - but only for letters and numbers. Symbols are entered via a virtual keyboard at the screen's lower edge. This leads to a combination of typing on real keys with a palpable feedback and tapping on the touchscreen, which needs a bit of getting used to.

On the one hand, the physical keyboard can be used well; the keys provide a decent feedback and it is even possible to type quickly with both hands. On the other hand, single-handed use is only possible when the user has big hands. Otherwise, both hands will always be needed for typing. The keyboard features more: It can be used like a kind of touchpad. For example, swiping up and down enables scrolling through documents or opening and closing the virtual keyboard.

That all functioned reliably but requires a certain time for familiarization. The user will also have to get used to the fact that there are no always present "back" or "home" buttons and that apps are closed via a swipe gesture from the screen's edge. The combination of touch functionality and physical keys did not always work smoothly, but the Passport could be used very well and intuitively after a short familiarization period.

The square screen in BlackBerry's Passport is unusual. Its resolution of 1440x1440 pixels almost displays just as many pixels as a Full HD screen, but on a wider and not quite as high screen. BlackBerry states that the square screen is better than the wide and not very high 16:9 format especially for documents, websites, and emails. The Canadian manufacturer's assertion is quite right. The user no longer has to opt for few columns in favor of many rows or more columns and only few visible figures particularly when dealing with spreadsheets. Additionally, rotating the handheld is not necessary for displaying content in portrait or landscape mode. The squarish reproduction is also surprisingly suitable for websites.

Content is rendered sharp and detailed on the screen, but colors looks a bit pale. The maximum brightness is only available when the brightness sensor is exposed to light, and it is then a very high 649 cd/m².

The high brightness is certainly a plus point outdoors, but the screen's glossy surface has a negative effect. Overall, BlackBerry's Passport can be used under bright skies although the reflections often make it difficult to recognize the screen's content. Direct sunlight on the screen is blinding and actually makes use impossible. However, no problems should arise when the user retreats to the shade or indoors.

Again, only one of the emulated benchmarks started here: 3DMark. We used it to test the Adreno 330 graphics card that clocks with up to 578 MHz and usually suffices for all current mobile games as well as more routine applications. Again, the Passport lags far behind, which is likely due to the emulation of Android apps at least to some extent.

There are no excuses in the browser benchmarks. BlackBerry's Passport has to prove itself and the company-developed browser. However, the Passport usually lags behind here and can at most catch up to the front in single cases. We did not notice any speed issues during normal browsing, though.

Temperature

Users who operate BlackBerry's Passport under high load, e.g. games, will notice a temperature increase on the casing. However, that was always within limits and though it was palpable with a maximum of 39.8 °C, it was not yet unpleasant. Temperature increases will barely be felt when the smartphone is not loaded as heavily. We measured a virtually imperceptible maximum temperature of 27.1 °C. Overall, BlackBerry's Passport is a mobile device that can be touched at all times without needing to fear too high casing temperatures.

The energy management does not seem very ideal. However, it would be possible to install a bigger battery in the bulky casing, wouldn't it? Right, the battery's capacity of 12.8 watt hours is considerably higher than that of the iPhone 6 Plus or Samsung's Galaxy S5 or Sony's Xperia Z3. This large battery is also the reason that BlackBerry's Passport achieves good runtimes despite the marginally higher consumption. Since the minimum idle consumption is a very low 0.2 watts, the device even manages over 35 hours under minimum load. A slight advantage over Samsung's Galaxy Note 4 and Apple's iPhone 6 Plus is also achieved with 12:18 hours in the real-world Wi-Fi test. The Passport's battery is only depleted quite fast under high load.