BlackBerry Passport Released

The Canadian manufacturer’s much awaited device has finally been released today. A few hours back three events were held simultaneously in Toronto, London and Dubai where the company formally unveiled its latest flagship smartphone. BlackBerry had already confirmed a few days back that the device will be released right after its launch event and it has followed through on that promise. Moreover it also confirmed the full specifications of BlackBerry Passport today.

The Passport is square in shape, a form factor that’s quite unique to say the least, and has a 4.5-inch 1,440×1,440 pixel resolution display with 453 pixels per inch. Under the hood is a 2.2GHz quadcore processor from Qualcomm coupled with a mighty 3GB of RAM and 32GB of onboard storage. The device does have support for external expansion via microSD. It also has a 13 megapixel rear camera with Optical Image Stabilization. The device is backed by a 3,450mAh battery.

BlackBerry sticks to its roots by adding a full QWERTY keyboard to the Passport alongside its touchscreen display. The keyboard is perhaps the most innovative feature BB has come up with in the past few years. It doubles as a trackpad allowing users to scroll, select text as well as select word predictions without having to take fingers off the keyboard.

BlackBerry Passport is powered by BB OS 10.3, the latest software update that will soon be released for existing BB10 OS devices as well. It brings a host of updates for the entire operating system as well as BlackBerry’s first virtual assistant called BlackBerry Assistant that has a few neat tricks up its sleeve.

In certain markets the BlackBerry Passport is available for purchase starting today. It will be available unlocked and off contract through online retailers as well as on-contract and subsidized in some markets.