An Uncomfortable Vision Of A Modern Smartphone
I'm known for my strong views on mobile technology, online media, and the effect this has on and communication will have on the public conscious and existing businesses.
I've been following this space for over ten years, working with a number of publishers, publications and media companies, some for long periods of time, others for commissions, one off pieces or a series of articles or shows.
As Scotland's first podcaster, I continue to be a prominent voice in the rise of podcasting and new media online, and picked up a British Academy (BAFTA) nomination for my annual coverage of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, alongside contributions to Radio 5 Live, the BBC World Service, presenting Edinburgh local radio's coverage of the General Election.
BlackBerry's latest smartphone, the Passport, certainly stands out from the crowd with its square screen and stocky construction. It may be a smartphone in name, but it doesn't look the part, and the compromises inherent in the awkward screen and wide construction limit its effectiveness.
Let's be honest here, the Blackberry Passport's biggest strength and biggest weakness is one and the same. The dimensions of the Passport. The screen is 4.5 inches on the diagonal, sporting a relatively unique 1:1 ratio, and the physical handset dimensions are a not quite square 128 mm x 90.3 mm x 9.3 mm. That's comparable to a US passport, hence the branding of the device.
BlackBerry Passport (photo: Ewan Spence)
I do like the evocation that Passport brings to mind. The idea of travel, or permission, and of exploration are all good associations to make with a smartphone. BlackBerry itself also has associations, especially with push email support and the idea of a phone being a business tool. All of these make up the Passport. The new BlackBerry 10 operating system has a focus on communication and enterprise, and pairs up well with this ethos. It's just a shame that the physical design of the Passport is awkward. Wholesale Jerseys
The Passport is too small to be regarded as a phablet, so few of the advantages that come with a phablet are found in the Passport. The disadvantages are there though, because the Passport is too large to be considered as a regular smartphone.
BlackBerry Passport (photo: Ewan Spence)
This does naturally bring the clich but effective 'two thumb' typing technique that BlackBerry fans will remember to the fore, but I found even this awkward to use. For all the talk of a full size physical keyboard, BlackBerry has only equipped the Passport with three rows of physical keys. I wonder why BlackBerry didn't extend the height of the physical dimensions to allow another row of buttons? This could have been used to add in your numbers, or some punctuation keys. It might have allowed the designers to do something other than build a huge space bar that awkwardly splits the bottom row of keys.
To compensate for the missing rows, the BB10 OS will add one or two virtual rows of keys above the physical keys. These are context sensitive so I was never sure what I would be offered. That negates the ability to do any fast touch type thumbing as I always needed to be watching the keyboard. The change in tactile sensation is also limiting.
One nice touch the keyboard does facilitate is that it acts as a touchpad for scrolling around lists and pages. A feathery touch over the keys will let you scroll up and down through long lists, and a right/left scroll is also available. If you have a lot of messages and interactions in BlackBerry's hub of messages and interactions this is a really nice UI touch.
BlackBerry Passport (photo: Ewan Spence) Wholesale Jerseys China
The keyboard has always been one of the marketing strength of BlackBerry. The Passport needed to maximise the benefits of the Passport to balance out the unique awkwardness of the shape. For me, it's part of the way there, but BlackBerry needed to do a lot more work to make the keyboard really shine.
Specs And Gestures Are Not Enough
The BlackBerry Passport does sport some high specifications, but they are not at the top end of the current options available. It is fair to draw a comparison here, as BB10 does rely in part on an Android layer to provide increased support for third party applications. With a the 801 series quad core 2.2 GHz SnapDragon CPU, and 3 GB of RAM, the Passport gives up some processor speed over the current generation of Samsung and Sony handsets. That slightly slower processor, coupled with a 3450 mAh battery means the Passport can easily make it through both a full working day, and any evening activities as well. Cheap Jerseys CHINA
Even with a capable processor, BlackBerry 10 struggles to stay fluid and responsive. There are moments of stutter and lag when using the handset. It's certainly not as smooth as Android would be on comparable hardware, and Windows Phone is night and day ahead in terms of the interactions with the UI. I also had moments where the screen display became corrupted and required a restart of the handset. Wholesale NFL Jerseys
BlackBerry Passport (photo: Ewan Spence)
I think this is a very biased review by an Android fan. Most Passport/BB10 OS users acknowledge that it takes several days to a week or to to get familiar with the OS and the experience just improves from there. Who writes a review with so little experience? For example, Mr Spence notes that BBRY compensates for three rows of the keyboard with "one or two" rows of a virtual keyboard: in fact, there are four virtual rows available as needed. Regarding the "freezes" he experienced, I've been using the device since release and have yet to restart it. I have multiple accounts (4 email), LinkedIn, Twitter, text, BBM, notifications for multiple apps, NY Times, etc overall receiving > 200 messages a day and have no trouble keeping track of messages/incoming information. In fact, its all rather clear and responding is easy. There isn't a need to set filters: there are a number of "headless" apps with minimal impact on battery life that allow for customized colors for specific email addresses, phone numbers, etc, ie for particular messages the user wants prioritized: any messages from my wife are signaled with a blue color led, for example. In addition, the Hub is accompanied by a Priority Hub feature if one wants to simply group messages from important contacts. And as far as communicating, the fastest typing, whether Android or iOS, no matter what device size, is with two hands, like it or not.
This is the kind of review I would expect from someone who has spent little time with the device, especially the comment regarding the keyboard. Limited review, limited relevance. For anyone who wants to see what actual users think of the Passport from people who are using the device regularly, check out the reviews on Amazon. 5 star. Oh yes, and as far as the shape, well most of us who are trying to get work done use a bluetooth earpiece while we're doing other work on the device. The shape takes some adjustment, but as I use it more and more there are some very appealing things about the Passport that I like even compared with my Z30 or my iPhone 5.
I have 1 work account, 1 gmail, 2 hotmail, Foursquare, WhatsApp, Twitter, Facebook, BBM, LinkedIn integrated in the hub. Does it flood my hub with notifications? No, because in order to understand the hub, you need to understand the OS first. In the Settings, you should go to Accounts and modify which notifications you would prefer in the hub, as simple as that!
I can only be notified with FB messeges or Retweets only if I want to. You just have to study first the OS's account settings before you make a review of the passport.
I'm really getting tired reading Passport reviews without taking a deeper look with its OS.
My Z10 is almost 2 years old, runs Facebook, double account Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, BBM, WhatsApp, 3 emails (+1 enterprise account for 4 months), Notifcations from various apps including 4 Android apps pushing their notifications into this account, iGran and Candid.
ALL works flawlessly. With 0 lag or stutter, even while having 8 apps running. You could never achieve this with any other mobile OS. In the end consumers are right because we have no benefit from telling about our experience. Most concernedly is the very unbalanced review which for example fails to address the way in which the hub can be customized to the user's needs. Not only do I love it but numerous other reviews have generally viewed the hub as helpful. I personally love it and as a busy administrator find the "hub" approach as quite helpful.
I do not play games or watch videos on my phone and use it for the business and work. As such no other OS does as good a job of keeping my work related tasks and communications organized. I will leave entertainment apps for my tablet.