BlackBerry Passport is set to launch in Indian markets on September 29th. The company has sent out press invites for the event that will see the launch of the QWERTY smartphone that was announced back in June.
The press invite has a tagline that reads ‘See THE big picture’ indicating the large square screen of the BlackBerry Passport. Available in black and white colors the BlackBerry Passport will launch in Toronto, London and Dubai on September 24. As per rumored specs, the phone will sport 4.5 inch diagonal (1440 x 1440 pixels) display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974-AA) processor , 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal memory with expansion slot, 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 LE, SlimPort, NFC, GPS + GLONASS and a 3450mAh integrated non-removable battery. It is also rumored to get 4K video recording.
The device will come pre-loaded with BlackBerry OS 10.3, BlackBerry’s next-generation mobile operating system (OS). The new OS will also feature BlackBerry Assistant which is the company’s answer to Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana digital assistants. Last month, BlackBerry’s leaked 2014 global roadmap revealed that it will target four main segments with its future devices that will be tailored for the Affordable, Classic, Innovative, and Prestige audiences. BlackBerry Passport is added to the Innovative category under the codename Windermere.
Meanwhile, it looks like the company is not keeping the price tag of the BlackBerry Passport a secret anymore. BlackBerry CEO John Chen revealed in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that the device will be priced at $599, contract free.