Comparison – BlackBerry Priv & Passport

BlackBerry Priv & Passport

After a long despair with the apps situation, BlackBerry, the storied smartphone manufacturer has made a strong comeback with its first ever Android smartphone, the Priv. The new beauty from the company promises to cover up its previous losses, and incorporates a whole new set of features to bridge the gap between app support and top-notch performance.

BlackBerry Priv is a fusion of BlackBerry’s class and Android’s versatility. The phone aims to lure fans from both segments, and delivers an incredible user-experience with powerful innards and a class-apart design.

So, the question is, what it is like to use a BlackBerry with Android on the inside. The Canadian tech-giant has never compromised on quality, and it will be really interesting to see how their first Android smartphone stacks up against its closest sibling, the BlackBerry Passport.

Here comes a brief comparison between the two beauties!

Design and Form-factor

In terms of design and form-factor, BlackBerry Priv and Passport are very different. Both phones feature the same BlackBerry-level craftsmanship, but their form-factor creates a clear line of difference. The humongous BlackBerry Passport flaunts a standard QWERTY phone design with a metal frame and plastic back, while Priv features a fusion of QWERTY and touch-screen capabilities with a back made from rubberised carbon weave. The phone boasts off a curved QHD panel and underneath rests the slider keyboard, which can be used whenever needed.

Even in terms of dimensions, both phones are fairly different. Priv, being the tallest in the BlackBerry family, boasts a height around 184mm, while the Passport stands out with a wider footprint around 90.3mm. To sum up, we can say, Priv is the tallest and Passport is the widest of all BlackBerrys.

Design and Visual Experience

In terms of visual experience, both phones make a strong impression with their meticulously crafted display panels. BlackBerry Priv, as seen with most Android flagships, hits with a beautiful 5.4-inch QHD curved display with something around 544 pixels per inch. The AMOLED panel gives a nice visual trip and produces rich colours and vibrant contrasts with perfect viewing angles.

On the contrary, BlackBerry Passport, due to its touch type format has more of a squarish kind of display. It’s a 4.5-inch panel with a screen resolution of 1440 x 1440 pixels, and a pixel density around 453ppi. It does not match up with the Curved AMOLED panel of Priv, but offers a nice visual experience with high-resolution and larger footprint.

Innards and Performance

Even on the hardware front, Priv makes a stronger impression. The Android based device incorporates immense power by using a hexa-core Snapdragon 808 processor coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of inbuilt storage. It features an added option for memory expansion, and endows sufficient support to handle multitasking and run high-end games and apps without any snags.

BlackBerry Passport, however, loses with an older processor. Despite housing the same 3GB RAM and 32GB ROM, the QWERTY smartphone fails to give slick and buttery smooth performance. It powers up by a quad-core Snapdragon 801 chipset, which is not the latest available processor in the market. It has some glitches and is not as effective as the Snapdragon 808 or 810 chipset!

Software

The biggest and probably the most important difference between the two phones comes from their software. BlackBerry Priv runs Android 5.1 Lollipop with a stock like interface and is augmented with slew of BlackBerry specific features and apps such as, BlackBerry Hub. It is the first ever BlackBerry to incorporate Google’s widely accepted mobile OS, and is doing pretty well till now. In fact, the whole idea of giving BlackBerry’s efficiency with Android’s open ecosystem is doing a stupendous job!

BlackBerry Passport, on the other hand, runs the traditional yet highly secure BlackBerry OS 10. The OS is fully integrated with a bunch of BlackBerry specific features but fails to offer support for several apps, which are already available on Google. The problem of app support in BB10 was the biggest reason why BlackBerry had to switch towards Android!

Camera

In the epic clash of BlackBerry Priv and Passport, rear cameras create a major line of difference. While BlackBerry Priv features a highly-responsive 18-megapixel shooter with Schneider-Kreuznach lens, dual LED flash, 4k video capturing, and OIS, Passport follows right away with a 13-megapixel rear shooter with commendable focus, OIS and shutter speed. The QWERTY phone gives a nice photography experience, but in the end, Priv comes out as the better choice!

On the other side, the front-facing snappers are absolutely identical and feature the same 2-megapixel sensor that allows sufficient light in daylight but struggles in lowlight conditions!

Price

In the Indian market, BlackBerry Passport was launched at Rs. 49,990, but soon enough, due to company’s dull performance, its price came down to something around Rs. 39,990. The phone’s currently available via several retail outlets located across the country, as well on Flipkart, Amazon India, and Snapdeal.

On the other hand, the launch of Android based BlackBerry Priv is still on the waiting list in India. In US, Priv has been priced $700, which is actually quite expensive than the Galaxy and iPhone standards. So in India, seeing this phone for something around 50-55k, will not be a surprise for any of us.

Bottom Line

With very similar features and top-tier performance, BlackBerry Priv and Passport both go head to head against each other. They both offer a slick user-experience and take a dig straight against renowned smartphone players rolling in the market. But, when it comes to choosing the best from this duo, Priv will be our undisputed winner. The power-packed Android smartphone not only features a stunning form-factor but also brings an end to BlackBerry’s long lasted problem of app-support. The power-packed phone flaunts an innovative design with a meticulously crafted keyboard, and caters standard and heavy user requirements with perfection. It’s just the right choice for all those BlackBerry lovers who love texting and wanted more apps aboard!