BlackBerry Ltd (NASDAQ:BBRY) (TSE:BB) is preparing to unveil its Passport smartphone in an event on Sept. 24, and tech experts already see it as a flop design. However, the results of a consumer survey conducted by The Verge suggest otherwise.
Passport leading
According to the survey, consumers are finding it to be the most exciting smartphone among other phones such as the iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, HTC’s Desire 820, Huawei’s Ascend P7 Sapphire, Microsoft’s Lumia 830 and 730, Motorola’s Moto X and G, Samsung’s Galaxy Alpha, Note 4, and Note Edge, and lastly, Sony’s Xperia Z3 and Z3 Compact.
To the shock of experts, the innovatively designed Passport garnered 9,000 votes, which constitutes 35% of the 25,000+ total votes. Vlad Savov of The Verge said that September has just begun, and this month there has been a greater number of updates in the smartphone realm compared to the entire summer season.
Support your favourite device in the poll by voting here.
Release date and specifications
According to a report from BlackBerry OS, the Passport will be in retail stores in Canada, Europe and the UAE starting on Oct. 1. In the United States, the phone will go on sale a week or two later. Vodafone Germany will also start selling the Passport in the first week of the October. The Passport is expected to come with a price tag of $800 or approximately £497. The phone is expected to come with 4K video recording capabilities, along with OS 1.0.3.1.
Other specs of the phone include a 4.5-inch display with a resolution of 1440 x 1440 pixels, a 3450mAh battery, a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 3GB RAM and a 13-megapixel rear camera with five optical elements, a maximum aperture of f/20, and a recording capability of 60 frames per second with full HD video.
To push its products to consumers, the Canadian smartphone maker recently published a full-page ad in The Globe & Mail. In the ad, BlackBerry talks about its legacy and says that its expertise allows it to carry forward its security and productivity developments.
BlackBerry acquires Movirtu
Separately, BlackBerry shares spiked 6% after the company acquired Movirtu Ltd., which makes a virtual SIM card that enables customers to keep more than one phone number on a single phone. The technology from Movirtu allows employees to carry a single phone for work as well as home.
