BlackBerry has launched the BlackBerry Passport, the company’s latest high-end smartphone in India. It was unveiled last week and packs a 4.5” diagonal (1440 x 1440 pixels) display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974-AA) processor and runs on BlackBerry OS 10.3 with new BlackBerry Assistant, BlackBerry own personal assistant.
Blackberry keyboard also gets an update, with touch enabled keys right above, on-screen. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED Flash, 2-megapixel front-facing camera and has 4G LTE connectivity. It has 3GB RAM, 32GB of internal memory with expandable memory up to 64GB. It comes pre-loaded with the Amazon appstore for all the Android app needs while the Blackberry world app store will focus on enterprise apps. We unboxed the BlackBerry Passport recently, check out the unboxing.

BlackBerry Passport Specifications :

• 4.5-inch diagonal (1440 x 1440 pixels) 453 PPI 10-point multi-touch display with Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection
• 2.2 GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 (MSM8974-AA) processor with 450MHz Adreno 330 GPU
• 13MP Auto-Focus rear camera with 6DOF OIS, BSI sensor, 5-element f2.0 lens, LED Flash 1080p HD video recording at 60fps
• 2MP Fixed-Focus front-facing camera with Image & video stabilization, 720p HD video recording
• Dimensions: 128 x 90.3 x 9.3mm; Weight: 196g
• 3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
• 3GB LPDDR3 800MHz RAM, 32GB internal memory, Expandable memory up to 64GB with microSD
• 4G LTE, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n (2.4GHz and 5GHz), Bluetooth 4.0 LE, SlimPort, NFC, GPS + GLONASS
• 3450mAh integrated non-removable battery

The BlackBerry Passport comes in Black and White colors and is priced in India at Rs. 49,990. It is available for pre-booking at Amazon.in and BlackBerry exclusive stores starting today, 29th September till October 10th and goes on sale on October 10th. Those who are pre-booking the smartphone on Amazon would get Rs. 5000 worth Amazon gift card and 5000 complimentary miles from Jet airways.

BlackBerry has joined hands with Idea Cellular to launch a special 1GB data plan for Idea postpaid customers. This BIS plan for BlackBerry OS 7 customers offer 1GB of 2G data at Rs. 83 per month, and Rs. 999 annually (taxes extra). To activate the plan, postpaid Idea users on BB OS 7 can SMS ACT999ARP to 12345. This confirms the company’s commitment to BlackBerry OS 7 customers, even though it has moved to OS 10.



Commenting on the new partnership, Ashish Gupta, Director – Carrier Sales, BlackBerry, India said,

BlackBerry currently has some of the strongest and most robust enterprise services and solutions in the market having transitioned from the ‘push mail’ image. BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), BES Express, BES 10, BlackBerry Balance and Enterprise Instant Messaging are some of our key services/solutions specifically designed for the enterprise segment. This offer is specially designed to deliver these benefits not only to consumer but also enterprise users.

Commenting on the offer, Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular said,

With increasing adoption of smartphones amongst the Idea user base, we are constantly innovating to offer affordable, customised and relevant data plans for our mobile internet users. The new 1GB annual data plan will offer more value and convenience to BlackBerry OS7 users on the Idea network.

IRCTC has launched an application for BlackBerry smartphone to enable users to book train tickets. “The official IRCTC App can now be downloaded from BlackBerry Store on BlackBerry 10 smartphones and book train tickets using the app,” said a senior IRCTC official.

The number of tickets booked through e-ticketing system on IRCTC website has gone up many times since capacity enhancement of the portal recently. It cost about Rs 100 crore to the Railway PSU for strengthening the ticketing site.

On an average 7000 tickets are booked on the IRCTC website per minute and about 5 lakh tickets are booked daily. CRIS, the technical arm of railways, was involved in the upgrading of the IRCTC website. There are about 31 crore reserve tickets being booked in a year out of which 55 per cent tickets are sold through windows. While 37 per cent tickets are booked online, eight per cent are being booked by ticketing agents.

The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has launched a native BlackBerry 10 app and fortunately it’s very well built. IRCTC already had it’s app in Google Play Store, Windows Store and App Market. The app has lots of useful features for those who are planning to travel by rail
Features:

• Plan my travel
• Check PNR Status
• Cancellation
• Booking History
• Frequent Passenger Info
• Quick Booking
• Preferences
• Favorites
• Recent History
• Roaming Profile
• BBM Share