The BlackBerry Passport may or may not be the elusive smartphone to give the company that much-needed boost after years of lagging behind iOS and Android-powered smartphones, but it does come with a good deal of promise, boasting high-end specifications and a rather novel design and display resolution. And it’s also going to be cheaper than the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5 if purchased unlocked, as confirmed today by BlackBerry CEO John Chen.
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal, Chen confirmed that the BlackBerry Passport will cost $599 if purchased without a two-year contract. This makes it slightly cheaper than the iPhone 6 and Samsung Galaxy S5, and a good deal cheaper than what many expect the Galaxy Note 4 phablet to cost. No specific release date was confirmed, but BlackBerry will be holding an international launch event on September 24, which may both mark the arrival and the release of the Passport.
While the BlackBerry Passport does have some conservative touches in its design, the fact that it’s close to a perfect square gives it that unique appearance in comparison to other smartphones. It does have a seemingly classic QWERTY keyboard like so many BlackBerries before it, but the keyboard is actually touch sensitive, making it even more unique and a great tool for multitasking and easier typing.
The device’s specifications, while not yet 100 percent official, include a 4.5-inch, 1440 x 1440 square display, which has already been confirmed. Other than that, the BlackBerry Passport will likely run on a 2.5 GHz Snapdragon 800 processor paired with 3 GB RAM, include a 13-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front camera (good enough for video chat, but not for selfies), and a 3,450 mAh battery. The device is also set to ship with the BlackBerry 10.3 mobile platform out of the box.