[Natewantsapassport]

I have really been looking forward to the Passport. The only disappointment I find in it, for my purposes anyway, is that because it has a 1:1 aspect ration, in other words is basically square, when you watch movies or TV shows on it, not my priority but still nice from time to time, it has to black out part of the screen, I believe a bit off the top and off the bottom. For all other purposes, that square aspect ratio is a big plus, including for practical business purposes. What I like most about the Passport, other than the screen size, is the tremendous battery, the exceptional sound quality, voice and music though voice is my priority, holding the phone to my ear, using speaker phone, conference calling, and the recorder, as well as BB's famous security advantages.

The more I think about the trade-offs of using a phone like the Passport (or the iPhone 6 or Galaxy Note 4 or other big boys) that cannot be used one handed, the more I find myself looking at the BB Classic. Though clearly a smaller screen than the Passport, its screen is a full inch larger diagonally than my old, original BB Bold that I still use, it is quite thin and attractive as well. It occurs to me that if BB just loaded the Classic up with the huge battery and great sound system of the Passport, it would be one heck of a smartphone, and one I would seriously consider. Because it apparently falls short of the Passport in those key areas, I find myself torn between the two. Which to get?

I would welcome any input from members of the board on this issue, on the relative strengths of the Classic and Passport, and if anyone knows when in 2015 BB may come out with their next iterations of these phones?

Either way, I love the renewed direction that BB is taking, and it seems to me that the company has legitimate prospects once again. Keep up the great work BB.

[Natewantsapassport]

Typo correction: I referenced the iPhone 6 but meant the iPhone 6 Plus.

[AmritD]

The classic is said to have two speakers. So sound quality should be pretty good if not at par with the passport. Dont go purely on the specs for the battery. The classic may get a smaller battery but remember the fact that it has a smaller screen so it will consume lesser battery so more or less same results might be possible. Leaks suggest that it will have a bigger battery than the Q10. Which I believe should mean it will have some very good battery life.

[Natewantsapassport]

Thanks for the input. I look forward to learning the battery size of the Classic, the anticipated talk, heavy use and standby time, and if it will be removable. I wonder if regarding the sound of the Classic, quality, strength, etc... if there will be any other differences other than the 4 v 2 speakers issue.

[Thunderbuck]

I can tell you from the experience of having both a 9900 and a Q10 that it was really nice to never have to turn the phone sideways to watch media, even if it was letterboxed.

The design principle is that a keyboard phone never changes orientation. I'm pretty sure than the Torch wouldn't even change orientation if the keyboard was deployed. Granted, on the Passport they've fudged that principle a bit to allow the use of the keyboard as a vertical scroller, but other than that one specific use case that's what the idea is.