Regular Joe review of new Passport

After having the passport for less than a week I can confidently say I'm quite impressed with the phone.

I originally have been a blackberry fan for years. Had the curve then bold, z10 and now passport. Going from keyboard to touch screen and back to keyboard was an adjustment. It was odd in the hands for a few days and my typing speed was the ****s. After a few days it has been like riding a bike and going back to basics. I must say that I do rather enjoy the click of a button over a touch screen. Both are great, but this is my preference.

I've had a lot of comments on the phone as well. Everything from, "that thing is huge" to, "that's a really great smartphone. They al ways made a great product and I've heard nothing but good things about the phone". I even had someone wanting to take a picture of the phone itself as they were fascinated with the shape and design.

Blackberry blend is pretty good as well. For those who don't know what this is, it's a program for your PC where you can access your emails, texts and bbm messages and respond over the PC. Pretty cool in my opinion. You can do this over wifi or USB connection.

The camera takes great pictures as well. Went to a recent wedding and they turned out great. I'll be printing some out and hanging them up.

The size of the phone is just right. I'm getting used to it in my pants pocket which looks fine, but in time I'll probably not even notice it. I normally have the passport inside my blazer pocket which fits perfectly. No complaints there.

For those who work in Canada and have a corporate sponser through their work for Telus, bell or rogers should definitely look into their plans. I have unlimited text, day time and long distance minutes for free and weekends and evenings for free with caller ID, voice-mail and 3gb of data for $60/month. Not too bad.

Ive never been a person to buy a case for a phone; however, I think I may for this device. I think that using the face down feature for the device will be beneficial over the long haul to save on battery life. Using the phone without a case and utilizing the face down approach may be a problem as it could slip off a table or desk easily due to the slickness of the screen, etc. Using the case lifts the phone slightly off a table and has a better grasp on the object it's in in contact with. Would love to hear what others have experienced.

Feel free to pose any questions that you may have. I'm more than happy to provide any answers of course.

Posted via CB10

Glad to hear that you are loving your PASSPORT! The last 18 months BlackBerry has been building absolutely amazing devices, yet the general public and online reviewers failed to take notice, or BlackBerry failed to make them notice.
By building a totally new shape and design, the PASSPORT is definitely getting noticed, and for good reason! I've had the pleasure of using one a several times since June, and I definitely love the added real estate and premium materials. The best battery, and wonderful speakers just takes it to the top! Did I also mention it's the most secure and productive device on the planet?!!
Although I'm still using my Z30, I'm glad to see the PASSPORT getting it's due. Hopefully the sales will also reflect that.
I'm sure over the next few weeks you'll continue to love your PASSPORT more and more! Enjoy!

Via The BlackBerry Z30 experience!

Great review, I'm curious to hear from the op or anyone else that has the passport. When your at home just goofing about the Internet reading the news etc, is the passport good enough or do you opt for a laptop or tablet with a larger screen?

Posted via CB10

Thanks for the responses guys.

The PP is definitely a great device. As for reading content and surfing the net it's pretty good. Obviously you'll watch movies and TV shows on a tablet or laptop; however the device is fully capable of having the same use for the different mediums.

Posted via CB10

The passport is great for surfing the Web! I'm very pleased with the browser to tell you the truth. The size of the screen makes it easy to read and did I mention that this is my first ever blackberry phone ;)

Originally Posted by last_attempt

Great review, I'm curious to hear from the op or anyone else that has the passport. When your at home just goofing about the Internet reading the news etc, is the passport good enough or do you opt for a laptop or tablet with a larger screen?

Posted via CB10

I have an iPad mini but it only gets used for work. Most of the time I'm on my passport.

Posted via CB10

Must agree with OP with how great the Passport is. I have grown with BlackBerry since their pagers but this is the greatest device to date. Coming from the Q10 most recently and actually had one in my hand after a few weeks with my PASSPORT and couldn't believe how tiny it is now. I still tend to use my laptops when doing work related functions as the 17" screen is much better for what I do and still prefer my 1080p big screen TV for hockey games and movies :)

Blackberry Passport on the TELUS network

Originally Posted by last_attempt

Great review, I'm curious to hear from the op or anyone else that has the passport. When your at home just goofing about the Internet reading the news etc, is the passport good enough or do you opt for a laptop or tablet with a larger screen?

Posted via CB10

I rarely use my laptop and tablet. Only use tablet when I am watching three different TV stations or games at the same time!
For textediting, reading and writing email, correcting papers using pdf, giving presentations, websurfing, bbmbvideo calls, I use my Passport.

Has there been an RF comparison of passport and iPhone? Not even sure if those are still done anymore. It would be nice to see how the radios compare to the top of the line.

Posted via CB10

Got a leather flip case for my passport, looks good on it weird thing about the case is that the passport actually sticks to the case thanks to some adhesive

Posted via Passport

Originally Posted by kevets

Has there been an RF comparison of passport and iPhone? Not even sure if those are still done anymore. It would be nice to see how the radios compare to the top of the line.

Posted via CB10

I have not seen one but they both use Qualcomm transceiver chips and so does Samsung...it's practically a monopoly...

I'm glad you are enjoying your new Passport. I was surprised at how comfortable it felt when I tried it in a store. being a fulll screen guy, I was worried about videos and lost screen space but the Passport screen is so huge that it covers viewing needs quite well.

I like that you mentioned carrying it in your blazer.... Do you always wear a blazer? I've actually been wondering how I would carry the Passport when I eventually get one. I've been carrying my smartphones in my trousers but I'm considering moving from t-shirts to polos just so I can have a bigger, looser, safer pocket.

Great to hear to love it. We passport users become more attached to the device every day. I have had it for more than 4 weeks and it gets better every day. Build quality is superb, wide screen is awesome and the keyboard is innovative.

Posted via the incredible Blackberry Passport

I have been finding the Passport really fun to use. I thought I would find the hard keyboard annoying coming from the Z30, but much to my surprise I immediately loved the feeling of the keys, and felt at home with it. Accuracy is definitely easier with this keyboard. Does have a learning curve though. There are many options to the Passport keyboard/touch combinations. The Passport is a joy to look at (with such a great resolution on the screen). I love surfing the net with it, and reading from web sites is cool. People do notice the Passport, there is always some kind of comment about it. Mostly that's BIG! or Nice looking phone! I love my Passport.

Originally Posted by Jamie Wooten

I have an iPad mini but it only gets used for work. Most of the time I'm on my passport.

Posted via CB10

Wow!

Feels weird, apple for work, and BlackBerry for play!

Posted via CB10

Originally Posted by m3mb3rsh1p

I'm glad you are enjoying your new Passport. I was surprised at how comfortable it felt when I tried it in a store. being a fulll screen guy, I was worried about videos and lost screen space but the Passport screen is so huge that it covers viewing needs quite well.

I like that you mentioned carrying it in your blazer.... Do you always wear a blazer? I've actually been wondering how I would carry the Passport when I eventually get one. I've been carrying my smartphones in my trousers but I'm considering moving from t-shirts to polos just so I can have a bigger, looser, safer pocket.

I normally wear a blazer 4-5 times a week for work and have no problems with it at all. Blazers always have a larger pocket on the inside for contents normally.

On weekends or when wearing jeans I'll put it in my pants pocket. It's a tad big for size in comparison to other phones but it does the job. Due to it being Fall here in Canada I put this in my jacket pocket. Pretty comfortable device no matter how you carry it.

Originally Posted by JottyT

After having the passport for less than a week I can confidently say I'm quite impressed with the phone.

I originally have been a blackberry fan for years. Had the curve then bold, z10 and now passport.


Posted via CB10

That you have had four BlackBerry Devices, including another BB10 device and that you have the CB10 app installed.... disqualifies you from the "average joe" category. ;)

But it is good to hear from another hardcore BlackBerry fan....

Average joe doesn't mean iphone user or something. OP was simply stating that he was not a phone junky or professional reviewer. OP.. thanks for the review.

Posted via the incredible Blackberry Passport

Originally Posted by CrackberryQ

Wow!

Feels weird, apple for work, and BlackBerry for play!

Posted via CB10

I'm a real estate appraiser and I use a wintotal app for my home inspections. I've tried utilizing the android version on my passport but it's not working the way it should. So for now I just use the iPad for the inspections and then it's back to my passport.

Thanks Regular Joe and Joettes, (or is that Josie?)
It's nice to hear from you average people.
For videos there is the black bar at the top and bottom of the screen, unless you are watching a movie filmed with the Passport.
How about the maps app? Does it use the full screen?

It's more than good enough, now the Passport makes the Laptop feels like a desktop.

Originally Posted by last_attempt

Great review, I'm curious to hear from the op or anyone else that has the passport. When your at home just goofing about the Internet reading the news etc, is the passport good enough or do you opt for a laptop or tablet with a larger screen?

Posted via CB10

For me it is the tactile clicks that helps. Coming from a 8320 then a 8220 then a 9500, I've never looked back on keyboards because of the tactile feel, though a crappy one, was decent input at a time 9500. Then Storm 2 made it freaking awesome that I can type away and not have to wait for the click as it takes multiple inputs and sense multiple presses. Going to Z10 and Z30 I missed that tactile but could never go back to a normal keyboard. The passport allowed for the reverse of a Storm 2. Wish BB would make a full touch the size of the Passport and perfect their piezo tactile input they used with Storm 2.