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.

The iOS 8.0.2 update also “includes improvements and bug fixes originally in iOS 8.0.1.
“We apologise for inconveniencing the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus users who were impacted by the bug in iOS 8.0.1,” Apple said.

On Wednesday, the company was forced to pull the 8.0.1 update after 60 minutes of availability, because of user reports that it was disrupting cellular network connections and Touch ID fingerprint scanning on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models.

An Apple spokeswoman said that fewer than 40,000 devices were affected by the bug.
The following is Apple’s list of the fixes included in the 8.0.2 release:
— Fixes an issue in iOS 8.0.1 that impacted cellular network connectivity and Touch ID on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
— Fixes a bug so HealthKit apps can now be made available on the App Store
— Addresses an issue where 3rd party keyboards could become deselected when a user enters their passcode
— Fixes an issue that prevented some apps from accessing photos from the Photo Library
— Improves the reliability of the Reachability feature on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
— Fixes an issue that could cause unexpected cellular data usage when receiving SMS/MMS messages
— Better support of Ask To Buy for Family Sharing for In-App Purchases
— Fixes an issue where ringtones were sometimes not restored from iCloud backups
— Fixes a bug that prevented uploading photos and videos from Safari

Apple had previously delayed the introduction of third-party HealthKit-compatible apps to the App Store due to a bug in iOS 8. The buggy software release came on the heels of another fiasco for Apple: users reporting that their iPhone 6 Plus models were bending in their pockets.

Several videos appeared on the internet depicting phones being bent by hand. Apple responded to what Twitter users began calling “Bendgate” with an explanation of its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus durability tests, and a statement that only nine users had reported bent iPhone Plus models in the first six days of sales. Apple’s stock fell 3.8 per cent to $US97.87 on Thursday in the US amid the iPhone concerns.

Yesterday, Apple commented that iOS 8 the user data stored on iPhones or iPads are fully encrypted, so no one, not even Apple, can access them, even with a court or government order. This is certainly an interesting point for the operating system of the Apple company, and Google seem to think the same. The reason is that a few hours after these statements, the guys at Google have announced that Android 5.0, the next version of the popular operating system for mobile devices, also have default data encryptio.

As we say, by this measure, the data stored on devices with newer versions of iOS and Android will be completely inaccessible, unless the person has the correct password. Three years ago, Google already offers the ability to encrypt our data Phones with Android installed, but this measure, it simply ceases to be a possibility , becoming a default feature. As a result, all users will benefit from this improved safety, because until now, it was an option that activated only those with technical expertise.

Undoubtedly, the two companies that dominate the market for mobile operating systems take such measures is something to behold. Anything that increases the security and privacy of user data is welcome.