I got rid of the Galaxy S4 for an iPhone 5c. I upgraded that to iPhone 6 on release weekend. After using the BlackBerry Passport, I sold the iPhone 6 on Craigslist and I haven't regretted the decision or looked back. This my favorite phone that I have owned. The Android and Apple fan boys will protest and ridicule, but this is the most innovative phone in recent memory. This phone is a productivity beast. I love it.
John Howe I agree with you as it fits almost all my needs as a businessman and I like the design as well but cameras are not that good to take the pictures or videos of items/products specially indoor. when zoom the picture it becomes horrible and unable to show the details of small item. for this I still have to take pictures with samsung note 4 because when I update the customers regarding production and current status of their orders, the pictures should be clear. with passport I always have to struggle so hard and have to move items to more lightening areas to take clear and detailed picture forwhich I have to take so many pictures to choose one of them which again is not acceptable and waste my time.
John Howe Me too, I had iOS for half a decade, then tried the Nexus 4 and HTC One to switch back to iOS until I received my Passport and it is just great. Like iOS without bugs and Android without lags. I tried a lot of Android apps and most work flawlessly now with 10.3.2 Version of the OS. Except those using Play Services which I don't want to use anyway. Now we even have proper Play Store without Snap and the reception is far better than those faraday cages from Apple, HTC and Samsungs S6 series.
+John Howe I keep seeing how this phone isnt for entertainment but why isnt it? I go to look at phones and everything on the market is identical. I want something different. Is this really a bad phone if i plan on typing documents, facebook, web browsing and the occasional videos? I dont play games at all. Im about to spend 400$ on this phone because its unique. I want something different than all the carbon copy touch screen non keyboard phones. Do you think ill regret it?
+Jacob Vercetti (Jt Vercetti) It has been about nine months for me, and I do not regret switching to the Passport at all. It was a great decision! And the new Silver Edition looks even more amazing!
It actually is, I'm amazed how many games I was able to make it work by manually copying over the obb files. I have ShadowGun, Modern Combat 3, 4 and 5, GTA 3, Vice City and San Andreas, Nova 2 and 3, etc. Since I have a 200GB SD card I have about 150 movies in which I stream directly to my TV using AllCast. Also since the OS is full multitasking, I can still use my phone while watching a movie, heck I can even play a game and it doesn't affect the video play back in the slightest. People always ask me why I don't have an iPhone like them, I show them the power of having a phone that can do multiple things at once. IOS adding split screen support for two apps is almost an insult. Wow, thanks Apple for adding something that is not only a blatant rippoff of Windows 8.1 but what about your phones. As a programmer I need to be able to run a remote terminal in the background during the work day as who in their right mind wants to stare at a terminal the entire day but is forced to as the system will terminate the connection if they navigate away from it. IOS is pretty and has a nice workflow but it's just missing to many, what I would assume are default features.
Lisa, great video. I replaced my iPad for the BB Passport after watching your review. Recently, I watched your video on the Samsung S7 Plus poised to replace my Passport because of Blackberry business decisions. I rarely have time to seen out a thank you for making a video but simply wanted to pass on that your technical videos are great. Thank you so much from Italy.
Blackberry has returned to its roots, the business professional. Great device for business purposes and productivity. I'm so tired of turning my nexus 6 android phone side ways to view spread sheets! Or typing long responses to emails on a virtual keyboard. This phone serves a different demographic, but I guess some will never understand that.. Great job blackberry, and welcome home. Great job Lisa!
Lisa, I love your reviews. I always check your reviews 1st before any others. I'm a 'device junkie' and love different OS's. I just ordered this phone after watching reviews and researching. Your review (as always) was the most informative and precise. Thank you for what you do :-)
While I can say that you didn't mention a LOT about this phone (like, a ton) I do have to thank you for being non-biased in this review and judging the phone on it's merits and not hating just because it's a BlackBerry. I own the Passport (sold my Note 4 for it) and absolutely love it! I honestly could never go back to Android or iOS after it. The keyboard does so much just by itself!
I’m glad to see you Lisa from mobile tech review. I just bought a blackberry passport phone and want to see what I’m getting. But even more so I’m glad to see you because a few years back I would not have bought a phone without checking out your particular opinion on it. I didn’t know about subscribing back then and I forgot your name, and you tube channel. I was sure to click the subscribe button this time. It’s good to see you again..
This is a great review and you have pointed out things for me to consider.... I wish there was tip jar to credit you for your time in making this valuable review. Blessings to you and your loved ones!
Very thorough and excellent review as always, Lisa. Blackberry is making some excellent phones (I currently use a Z30 and the thing is fantastic), and it's good to see them get some fair and objective coverage from mainstream reviewers!
I use my smart phone for only 5 things: facebook, youtube, listening to music, taking selfies and reading. Even when it makes the youtube videos have those black borders I still think I would love to have this device as I miss the keyboard. Thanks for the video :)
No need to have the revive talk. One phone isn't going to do that. However it has been selling very well unlocked and has stellar user ratings which is a very nice thing to see. I'm glad BB is back to focusing on what they do best and nailing it as well. Its a great phone.
I'm using a BlackBerry Passport right now and to me after studying and getting used to what it can do I would say that it's one of the best phones I had ever used next to my Samsung Note 3. Side loading apps is just easy especially when I was able to download the Play Store. How amazing is that. While everyone else is using Apple and Androids I don't mind using this BlackBerry Passport to be different.
I have a BlackBerry Passport, I have owned just about every other type of phone but I'm going to stick with this for a while. Very good review but I think you've not given it enough praise! It's very rare a product comes out that changes the way you do things for the better. If BlackBerry didn't have such a bad name among people or if they were better at marketing, then this phone would really take off. It's unbelievably fast when using the web and the display is excellent. It's extremely quick and easy to share things to all your social networks. I use Instagram a lot and I find this phone great for it, the screen is the correct ratio so no need to crop and the camera is brilliant.
This looks like it would make a great business device, my only concern would support from Blackberry. But I do think this would make a fantastic second phone for work.
Great review Lisa as always,very informative as always. I've seen a lot of reviews of the passport and I'm going to give it a go,I'm not overly bothered with apps etc and like a phone that makes good calls and text. So many negative and quite frankly silly comments about the blackberry product in general,I personally don't buy into apple or Samsung. I like a well built quality product above how many childish apps it has. Thanks Lisa again for taking the time to give an honest review.
Thank you so much for the review. I have been looking at this device for months since it first came out. I heard that BB has really good devices for business and office working people. I have tried some of the devices and I love the OS. After go to college I have started using emails and MOffice more often. So I want to have a device that is fast in checking, composing email as same as working with documents. That is why I consider BB devices. I currently use Sony Z Ultra becuse of its big screen which can replace my old tablet so the size of The Passport doesn't bother me. I really like the physical keyboard on the device. I think it is a great device.
Watching this makes me think about how much of a pain it was to get certain apps to run on the passport. It was the best device I have owned hardware wise though.
Great Review once again Lisa. Few things you forgot to show: 1. Swipe up on the keyboard for predictive text. Love this feature! 2. Shortcuts! Hit "T" to open Twitter or "F" for facebook. Makes things so much easier (Not sure if on AT&T 10.3 though)
Patrick LeClair Wow you got all that? Impressive. It would be even more impressive if you were right. I would rather die then use an iPhone. ios is too simple and closed for me but thanks anyways.
Thanks for a nice review :-) What a super smart phone. I think a lot of people make negative comments about blackberry because it seems to have snowballed that way and yet it is far superior to itoy's and samsouless phones. The OS is light yrs ahead and the phone is just amazing. I agree the size may put some people off and yet the note series and lumia 1520 or iphone 6 plus are all in the same size area. The build quality is excellent and so is the battery life. When you get use to the basics of the OS you really struggle to understand the other OS platforms like OS or Android as they are really poor in comparison. As for the apps, there is a combination of blackberry and android via amazon store or you can side load Snap and get stock android apps at your fingertips. Perhaps the best thing that the other OS's cannot offer is the flexibility of OS with the use of Blend. She skirted around blend to be fair in this review so here is a little more background info on it. Blend works on Mac or PC and it brings the entire core desktop of blackberry to the desktop on the computer. So you get SMS, BBM, Calendar, Contacts, Email, Folders. You don't have to have your phone with you, it can be in your pocket or a different room and even a different location so it can be accessed on a VPN. The flexibility of this is truly impressive. It is not biased like apple or android or windows, it syncs to any communications and if your using exchange it syncs seamlessly. BBM is not only so cool to use but its polished and also fun so you can let your hair down and send funny stickers etc and when needed use it as a business communication tool as well. I feel I could really go on here but I am sure if you have read this then your eyeballs have now packed in and fell on the floor! hehe.... PS. I have a Note Edge and iPhone and Lumia 1520 as I believe in at least giving the competition ago and using their flagship phones and their OS's and in my humble opinion Blackberry is just so more advanced. Thanks for reading :-)
Thank you for actually talking about call quality, first video on youtube to mention it. Did you have a chance to try its conference or speakerphone ability, any echo on the other end of the conference call?
Nice Review, Lisa! I for one miss the old Blackberry Curve, but sadly I think technology just ran off and left Blackberry to be forgotten. While this is a great attempt at trying to catch up, I doubt many will be handing in their iPhone or Android for this model. Maybe they can get out of their "funk" soon and give us something worth switching sides for.
You don't need to use the shift symbol to access capital letters or numbers. Longpress the letters for capital letters and swipe down on the keyboard for numbers and symbols.
MobileTechReview Is that a new version of the Passport? The earlier ones released in 2014 had sharp square corners, this one is more rounded around the corners.
I'd like to know what you recommend/use to record videos for RU-vid and perhaps accessible video editing software for win 8.1? Thanks for any help, keep the reviews coming :)
MobileTechReview great review Lisa 👍👍👍👍👍,Thanks..I personally wish the battery was removable. I like "odd" shape of it & the functionality. Im not feeling the 4:3 ratio too much, I wish full screen fitting was implemented on this device.
Your sample has no hard edge like mass product, it looks like the silver edition. I plan to get back to this device..is this version available in market also?
Any problems syncing with MacBook? How does it compare to iPhone in this regard? Is it even worth considering blackberry once you are in the apple ecosystem?
When it comes to synchronizing data from non iPhone to MacBooks it can be a bit tricky. In my experience, using the Samsung Galaxy S5, I initially needed software (Samsung Kies) to sync data between the phone and an iMac. However I found that full HD photos that I havd taken become grainy photos with less than 720 HD resolution. I found it to be very annoying. Fortunately many non Apple phones have USB host and OTG compatibility. OTG means on the go. This means that users can use USB drives and an OTG cable to transfer any type of data from the phone to the USB. The only limit would be the storage capacity of the USB (the more storage, the better). Then users can use the USB stick to store files into the iMac or MacBook. It is not as elegant as iPhone and MacBook interaction but it is the best solution (for the time being). Now in your situation, check if the Blackberry phones support USB host and OTG compatibility. If they do, you're in luck. If not then 😰. End of speech. Lol! 🐹
This phone has a very high ppi. It the display really spectacular? It isn't for me but it has its owners and I like to see what blackberry comes out with.
Correction on adobe flash. BlackBerry 10.3.1 no longer supports flash. But you gain the ability to load other browsers such as the photon browser that can run flash.
+vara fouroneone the gestures are the best part. You can reach any part of the os or apps from any other part with a single gesture. it's fluid and wonderful.
Hi Lisa, I am just wondering if you'll be doing the review for blackberry leap? If yes, thanks in advance. If not, could you please briefly say if it's a good buy or not. P.s. You're the best. Have a nice day. Thank you. :-)
The Passport is generally a win device but another row of buttons should have been added for symbols. It derails the physical keyboard experience going back and forth between the keyboard and screen keys.
Gerudo Tech Not only what CaptainDave said, but even with the touch screen buttons you get mad use to them and it becomes a non-issue. I have no problem with them now that I've adjusted.
+MobileTechReview hey there first of all I enjoy watching the videos please keep up the good work. I've got a question, you think it's worth to get a Passport Silver Edition in June 2016 (and whatsapp as I heard will stop supporting BB devices as from the end of 2016), since its 2 years old from now and a new BB device is coming out very soon (however sadly with android)
+Michel Wenga hello buddy the phone is amazing, there are few options to consider when buying it which are the apps! you really wont have android apps unless you download google services for it. once you do so its the best phone every, in my opinion! I have it for over a month and I enjoy if more and more. I type quite a lot mails and messages and I have fun while doing so! the keyboard is smart and smooth keyboard, once you have it youll realize what I mean. its a very good phone!
This was a good and fair review, this is a great phone, and as for the video with the black bars, that should not be a deal breaker. You can stream video to your smart TV from this
I believe the Square Version is coming to Verizon. The deal was for AT&T to initially carry it for a period of time. It would have been better just to release it to both Carriers, but a deal is a deal. AT&T has clout, enough so that they got there Passport Version re-designed (Hardware Wise.)
It doesn't matter how wide it is because BB phones are made for two hands. :) and it always works to do my work done fast, something businessmen understand.
What have Apple done to their phones... the operating system is getting messy and the lag is getting frustrating... every new edition will become slower and will eventually have you upgrading... So after being with the iPhone pretty much from the 3G I've decided to cut away, not completely as I still have a MacBook Air and iPad mini, but for the daily device the iPhone is becoming annoying... so I've gone to Blackberry Passport... what was I thinking at first, the operating system is full with so many options and I kept seeking for the HOME button... but after the second day I picked up my iPhone to get some idea what I'm missing... but to my astonishment it seemed dated and so so so slow! The keyboard on the Passport is a blow away... love it love it love it... So fast and no stutter... the operating system is simple once you've worked out which way to swipe... the screen is square, and it's there for a reason... it just works and feels so pleasing to the eye... the build quality is tough and made of top stuff... the screen display is unbelievable... anyway... get Snap running on it and you are good to go... got my Pebble time working on it and now there is now looking back:)) Great review btw! Big thumbs baby
That app switcher looks more reasonable than Lollipop's. I wish Google adopted that layout. Lollipop's app switcher is like the Flip3D of Windows Vista; looked cool for about one hour but I soon realised it was a mess when I actually tried to use it. Lollipop's app switcher is wasting a lot of screen real estate (huge pointless background image on both sides) and too many are overlapped. Well, Microsoft realised its problem and switched to OS X-like app switcher (which is more like the BlackBerry's than Lollipop's) in Windows 10.
+Jeong-hun Sin The app switcher is integral to the OS itself and can be reach from ANYwhere in the os or any app - anything can be for that matter. This thing is a multitasking beast.
Blackberry's physical keyboard beats all touch screen keyboards. Mistakes are less likely to happen. Wish this phone would land to T-Mobile already so I can trade my Note 4. I am all about productivity so BB is for me. If I want to play games I turn on my tablet or PS4.
Although i love the tactile keaboard i would like it to have lose it to get a bigger screen. Let it have a flip cover withe built in keaboard instead. Then it would be a thinner more modern version of the htc i loved having in the past. Loved that format and screen size , would love to see someone bring that back and this thing starts getting close to that.
Logical Reason i know its big but that old htc screen was as big as a tom tom xxl and i like that form factor was my best phone yet only reason i got rid of it was after the warranty ran out the soundboard fried and that would then cost me 300 (half the price of the phone) to fix it.
this was ahead of its time. it was too close to yhe actual original blackberries. if it came out now it would he nostalgic and fit into the y2k trend. bring it back!
My god i need help. I've come from iPhone5 (which i loved) to a HTC One M8 (which i hate) . I'm open to a blackberry but i've been looking into and reading about the classic and not the passport. Why ? first time i saw it i thought it was ridiculously shaped. But the more i see and read about it, the more i start to like it. The phone needs to be VERY durable and i use it 80% as a professional user. I would dislike it if this phone (the passport) wouldn't be able to run flightradar24 or so.. Real question remains, is it really that much better then iPhone ? (its not that much cheaper)
Actually it's much cheaper than than the iPhone, by almost 300 CHF. It even costs more to produce than the iPhone, which is rediculous if you actually think about it, their margin levels are out of this world. Apple could sell the iPhone 6 32GB at 400CHF and still make a hefty profit as that's twice what the phone cost to build. People always ask why the new One Plus 2 I only 380, no it's not because it's cheap as it costs exactly the same amount of money to make as an iPhone, no their just not greedy and are forced to have low prices if they plan on ever exeeding. Okay, enough about that, the Passport is extremely well built and as such it can take a lot of abuse. If you take an iPhone and a Passport, dropped them at the same height, I can almost guarantee that the iPhone would have triple the amount of damage. I've had to replace my iPhone display three times, my Passport, dropped it twice and not even a scratch.
