Why BlackBerry's New Passport Phone Stands Out

Don't let the hype over the new iPhone 6 fool you. There are still other brands on the market.

BlackBerry released its new Passport phone Wednesday, September 26. As the name suggests, the BlackBerry Passport is roughly the size of a passport, with a square screen that stretches across 4.5 inches. The phone, which also comes with a physical keyboard, is aimed at corporate users and power professionals.

The screen can show 60 characters across, which means spreadsheets, medical charts and other enterprise-friendly information will be readable on the phone.

Other features include:

• Screen is 1,440 x 1,440 pixels square, with 453 dots per inch, or DPI, resolution.
• Gorilla glassscreen.
• QWERTY keyboard layout, a comfortable holdover from early BlackBerry designs.
• Extra-loud speakerphone, 350 per cent louder than that of the Samsung Galaxy S5.
• Device switch app that allows users to import data from other phones
• Reported 30-hour battery life
• Includes 3GB of RAM and 32 GB of storage space
• 13 megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization
• Rear camera has f2.0 lens and 1080p HD video recording that can shoot 60 frames persecond

2 megapixel front camera with 720p HD video recording

CEO John Chen, who took over last November, said, "I have to tell you, I just fell in love with the phone when I came in. Chen says the phone was mostly finished before he started working with the company.

The phone will only be available at Telus until October 1. Users will pay $200 for the phone on a two-year contract. That price will jump to $250 after October 1.

Representatives from Bloomberg business have announced that by the end of October, users will have access to a Passport-specific app, which will allow them to see an increased number of stock quotes at once. 

Daniel Bader, a tech expert with MobileSyrup, said of the phone, "It's made with stainless steel and curved glass, a very stark piece of technology - not elegant in the traditional way but... it has its own sense of beauty."

The company has also launched BlackBerry Blend, an app that syncs data across computers and mobile devices including smartphones and tablets, without needing a virtual private network. It syncs across devices and operating systems alike.

Bader said of the feature, "It brings the BlackBerry out of the phone itself and into the computing ecosystem... We can use it on an Android or IOS tablet or a Windows or a Mac PC. You still have secure access to all your e-mails or text and the files that you want to share between those two devices without having to manual remove the files and risk losing them."