BlackBerry has launched its new flagship smartphone the ‘Passport’, a device which it hopes could mean a return to fortune for the struggling developer.
The Canadian firm’s new BlackBerry Passport was designed to aid professionals in becoming more productive, coming with a square screen more in favour of document viewing than watching online video.
Furthermore, the mobile will serve as one of the few smartphones on the market with a QWERTY touch-based keyboard allowing for gesture-based shortcuts.
In the UK, the mobile will initially retail for £529. BlackBerry said the smartphone was named the Passport after a designer claimed that it was around the same shape and size as a travel document.
On the mobile’s design, John Chen, executive chairman and CEO at BlackBerry, said: “As we set out to design BlackBerry Passport, we were guided by a simple yet challenging idea – to set aside the limitations of traditional design and to instead simply build a device that fundamentally changes the way business professionals get work done on their smartphone.
“The BlackBerry Passport was created to drive productivity and to break through the sea of rectangular-screen, all-touch devices.”
Perhaps the selling point for business-class smartphone users is the fact the device is capable of operating on a full charge for a whole 30 hours.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone looks set to overtake Blackberry as the world’s third most popular smartphone, however, if the Passport is a return to form for the firm, it might be a close call between the two companies.
