BlackBerry Passport release date, UK price and specs

David Court September 26, 2014

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The launch of the BlackBerry Passport took place in the oversized shadow of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus phablet.

BlackBerry – formerly RIM – officially launched the device at simultaneous events in Toronto, London and Dubai with the promise that the device would be on sale in 30 major markets by the end of the year.

BlackBerry Passport release date and price in the UK

The good news for us here in Britain is that the BlackBerry Passport is on sale right now. At present, Selfridges is the only store that is selling the smartphone in the UK; BlackBerry has confirmed that the device will be made available on Vodafone in the coming days. It’s safe to assume that other major phone operators will follow suit shortly afterwards.

Selfridges is selling the 32GB BlackBerry Passport for £529.99 (inc VAT).

BlackBerry Passport specs

Screen size: 4.5in
Screen pixels: 1440 x 1440 (453ppi)
Dimensions: N/A
Processor: Snapdragon MSM8974
GPU: Quad-core Adreno 330
RAM: 3GB
Keyboard: touch-enabled QWERTY keyboard
OS: BlackBerry 10
Storage: 32GB, with microSD slot expandable by up to 64GB
Camera: N/A
Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n
NFC: Yes
USB: microUSB v2.0
Bluetooth: v4.0
Connectivity: 2G/3G/4G
Battery: 3,450mAh non-removable battery

BlackBerry Assistant takes on Siri

A major new feature set to launch with the Passport is BlackBerry Assistant – BlackBerry’s attempt to produce a useful voice-control feature.

As yet, we know of no unique capabilities of BlackBerry Assistant. BlackBerry HQ has claimed merely that users will be surprised how well it fares against its rivals – referring principally to Apple’s Siri and Windows Phone’s Cortana.

A full demo of BlackBerry Assistant is expected to take place at the smartphone’s launch event in September. To find about more about this voice feature, click on the link above.

BlackBerry Passport: dual-function keyboard

BlackBerry devices still attract devoted support in some quarters, partly because many models combine modern smartphone features with a physical keyboard.

The Passport’s three-row physical (not full) QWERTY keyboard will therefore excite a lot of potential customers. The keyboard also turns into a trackpad when you swipe your fingers over the top of the keys.

We can see this being very useful when typing/editing long emails, or when you simply want to select something on the screen without your fingers blocking the view.