[danfrancisco]

So here I am in Collingwood vacationing with the wife and kids on a beautiful Simcoe long weekend. I'm walking through the Blue Mountain Village with my kids begging me for Menchies when what do I see in the distance? It's a guy walking towards typing away on large device. I only saw the top of the device and instantly recognized it as the Passport.

Literally had goosebumps!!! I stopped the guy to ask him if it was what I thought it was and sure enough it was (he was a BlackBerry employee). He couldn't be a cooler guy and even let me play with it for a couple of minutes!

Let me tell you something, this phone can't hit the market soon enough!!! It is GORGEOUS!!! I was surprised at how well it fit in my hands (I have average sized paws)!

Shoot, kids freaking out.... be back with more later...

Posted via CB10

[dbiv5445]

I can hardly wait to get my hands on one.

[Lendo]

Too bad it has that enormous keyboard LOL

[grover5]

I really want to see one of these.

Posted via CB10

[parapep10]

Did you get to touch the key pad or get a quick demo? The video demos to date don't show much. How was the resolution?

Posted via CB10

[anon721037]

Too bad it has that enormous keyboard LOL

Why you got little hands.

BlackBerry is a better experience.

[Big Pete1]

I would have taken off with the passport!!!

Posted via CB10

[danfrancisco]

Ok, got some down time...

I got about two minutes of hands on time with it. I was literally shaking so let me see if I can playback everything accurately.

Form factor: A LOT slimmer than I was expecting. I have all the BB10 devices except the Z3 and it did not feel any thicker than the Z10, Z30, Q5 or Q10. Build quality is exceptional! Very sleek and absolutely beautiful lines. This will definitely net BlackBerry another design award for sure. The Passport felt very light. Not as light as the Z10 or Qs, but a bit lighter than the Z30. Of course I was practically on cloud 9 when I was holding it so maybe my internal scale wasn't too accurate! The keyboard looks gorgeous! The printed letters on the keys don't seem as large in person as they do on all those leaked pics. The keyboard also seems small as it is dominated by the screen. The screen looks huge!!!! Back is nice and smooth. Feels a bit like the back of the PlayBook.

Playing around: I didn't want to be a hog so I consciously didn't spend too much time with it (I'm sure he thought I was a nut, his friend definitely did!). So this was what I was able to cram in:

1. Basic swipe gestures... up/left to go to hub, scroll to home and apps. Very smooth 10.3 build.

2. Opened the browser to bluejays.com. It went straight to the desktop version (he probably had his browser set to desktop mode for these very occasions!). Scrolling with the keyboard is incredible!!! No more accidentally hitting links while scrolling around! Browser was lightning fast but we already knew that as BlackBerry's browser kicks major a$$!!!

3. Most importantly, had to try typing! I composed a new message and went to town trying to cram in as much as I could in 10 seconds so I didn't seem like a hog. I had no problems adjusting to the spacebar moving up a row. The flicking up of suggested words is flawless. I'm typing this on my Q10 right now and have word prediction on and reaching up to tap the suggested word seems so primitive compared to swiping up with the keyboard. Sadly I kind of panicked when it came to the virtual 4th row. When I was typing the 4th row seem to be switching between suggested words and punctuation. In hindsight, I wish I tried typing something like "Is this shirt 50% off?" so that I could see what it would be like inputting a percentage sign and question mark. Ah well, at least I've got something to look forward to!

Availability: nothing concrete other than to say in the fall. I told him I couldn't wait for the announcement in September. I also asked if the white version would be available on launch day and he confirmed it. Although having seen the black in person, I'm inclined to go in direction even though I was 100 % sure I'd be getting the white.

After I was done, I handed the Passport back to him, thanked him for the opportunity to play with it and expressed my appreciation for the great work that BlackBerry has done over the years. He thanked me in return and told me to "keep the faith".

So to the awesome BlackBerry Passport carrying guy from the crazy BlackBerry fanboy who practically accosted you and then pointed at his actual goosebumps... if you're reading this, THANK YOU so much for letting me experience the awesomeness of the Passport for a couple of minutes! You guys have a real winner on your hands!!!

Posted via CB10

[edyts]

im so pumped to get my own, thanks for the post! here come the "pics or it didn't happen"'s

[calivol]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

Posted via CB10

[danfrancisco]

im so pumped to get my own, thanks for the post! here come the "pics or it didn't happen"'s

Ha ha! I don't care if no one believes me! I was very courteous and knew better than to ask him if I could take a pic. Besides, what good would a pic be? It looks exactly like all the other leaked units that we've seen with the serial numbers stamped on the bottom frame.

I'm just glad I got a chance to play with it. Very stand up guy and now super pumped to get one of my own in September. I have a feeling that BlackBerry will do well with this device. Major innovation!

Posted via CB10

[birthgirth]

Lucky son of a gun. I've been looking up everything I could find on the passport. Very stoked for it's release.

Posted via CB10

[Uzi]

Hi dan
When you type did you feel comfort to type because the screen is huge?
It is Balance?

Posted via CB10

[mvpcrossxover]

Sell your kids and get the phone!

[JuiciPatties]

...
1. Basic swipe gestures... up/left to go to hub, scroll to home and apps. Very smooth 10.3 build.

Lucky you. I would have made the trip from Toronto to see it. Sounds like it will be a great phone.

Quick question on the excerpt above. I assume the gesture is up and to the right for the HUB, correct? They didn't change it, did they? I know they changed the way you answer a call, so I just want to make sure. This one will be hard to adjust to if they did change it.

[danfrancisco]

Lucky you. I would have made the trip from Toronto to see it. Sounds like it will be a great phone.

Quick question on the excerpt above. I assume the gesture is up and to the right for the HUB, correct? They didn't change it, did they? I know they changed the way you answer a call, so I just want to make sure. This one will be hard to adjust to if they did change it.

You're right, it's up and to the right, not to the left. Was so excited to share my experience with the CB community that I was typing faster than I was thinking... as evidenced by the massive number of typos in my postings on this thread!

Posted via CB10

[danfrancisco]

Hi dan
When you type did you feel comfort to type because the screen is huge?
It is Balance?

Posted via CB10

Hi Usman,

No balancing or top heavy issues with the smaller keyboard/larger screen while typing. In fact, it felt very natural to me as I'm sure it will for other long time BlackBerry users such as myself. I don't know how steep the learning curve will be for users who are new to BlackBerry, but for veterans or returning users, I think it will be a natural transition into the next evolutionary step of the QWERTY life cycle.

Posted via CB10

[Uzi]

Hi Usman,

No balancing or top heavy issues with the smaller keyboard/larger screen while typing. In fact, it felt very natural to me as I'm sure it will for other long time BlackBerry users such as myself. I don't know how steep the learning curve will be for users who are new to BlackBerry, but for veterans or returning users, I think it will be a natural transition into the next evolutionary step of the QWERTY life cycle.

Posted via CB10

Awesome thanks for sharing your experience

Cant wait to get this device

Posted via CB10

[2c]

Hi Usman,

No balancing or top heavy issues with the smaller keyboard/larger screen while typing. In fact, it felt very natural to me as I'm sure it will for other long time BlackBerry users such as myself. I don't know how steep the learning curve will be for users who are new to BlackBerry, but for veterans or returning users, I think it will be a natural transition into the next evolutionary step of the QWERTY life cycle.

Posted via CB10

taking this opportunity i would like to ask while browsing did you see any mouse pointer and were you able to use mouse hover funcion?

[tp2386]

I have got to stay out of these forums. This phone can't come out fast enough.

[CacheBerry]

^^^
What he said.

Posted via ? on CB10

[rocker_man1]

Pretty jealous right now.

Mikescraftbeer.com - C00012735/ Mike Garson Photography - C00471EA8

[BlackQtCoder]

Waiting is killing me

[zocster]

I envy you, OP, build quality wise, is it high end?

Sent from pin:2AD743B7 via Tapatalk Pro

[Rafael Angeles]

Im gonna apply for a summer job for that device (

Posted via My Awesome Passport | @angelesrobby