Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsIngenuity, Productivity, Power, Style
Reviewed in the United States on September 17, 2016
New to BB. I've us apple, google and windows phones and OS and this is something special. If your phone is for work and not for play, BB and the passport in particular are for you. I'm coming from a Moto x 2nd gen, which I liked, but often made me wonder why I had so much "stuff" on my phone. I would gladly sacrifice thousands of 3rd party apps I vaguely or occasionally find useful for a solid, integrated OS and phone design that does what I need well. I guess I've made that "sacrifice", but I can't help feeling every day (as I get better as mastering this device) I'm in on the best kept secret in the cell phone world.
I'm not a government official or a business exec, but I do rely on email, calendar, todos, notes, communication and light research on the go. This phone does that extremely well. Far better than anything else. Yes, sometimes the heathens laugh when I pull out my passport, thinking in their primitive, apple groomed minds this is some kind of steroidal pager. I tell them it was a gift from Nikola Tesla and that shuts them up.
PROS
Overall typing is faster on longer emails, documents and the like
Typing lends itself to more advanced sentence structure, proper grammar and more developed thought
Typing feels fun and more engaging for my brain (higher quality thinking, like with a pen and pad of paper)
Integrates office software, emails and productivity apps seamlessly
Extremely fast and streamlined OS interface (I though androis was fast, and it is, but this is another level of fast)
Square screen ideal for web browsing, email navigation and writing/reading docsp
Square shape strangely fits better in my pocket than traditional smart device
Unique but not ostentatious/beautifully functional design--the kind of phone I imagine Nikola Tesla choosing
Resolution and brightness are best I've seen from any device
Hotkeys using keyboard add all kinds of fun
I have around 150gb of storage in my phone =) With BB blend on my PC that makes my phone a mobile document carrier
I can also play powerpoints and load docs on a projector from my phone (also chromecast works)
I am now officially a walking office
NOT PROS
I can type faster on SWYPE for short phrases and words
If you have a long session typing on the BB keyboard, your hands my ache
Dictating doesn't give a live preview as you talk (biggest drawback I've found so far)
Integration with HUB (the best part of BBOS) is spotty with 3rd party apps, i.e. android apps
Learning curve is real (not unlike a first-time android user)(even a chicken can scratch iOS and figure it out)
Snap and sideloading 3rd party apps is easy to pick up but occasionally glitchy to use (when using android apps)
Online help and instructions, while available and abundant, are often several years old/dead threads
Phone is insanely loud (not really a con, or something I'd change, but it's obnoxious for me on full volume)
Feels hard to use at first when you're used to android OS