The squared design is going to be a matter of taste, given how challenging one-handed operation can be, but BlackBerry could be on to something.

It is perhaps fitting that a company as maligned and battered as BlackBerry would launch a new smartphone that has one of the oddest dimensions and form factors seen in a handset to date. For a device that is supposed to reflect the notion of “serious business,” as company execs kept saying, this is a phone that is a head-turner, though it’s too soon to say whether it will turn the right heads.

BlackBerry CEO John Chen unveiled the anticipated device at a launch event in Toronto today, and measured both the company’s and consumers’ expectations by noting that it’s “squarely aimed at 30 percent of the market that wants a keyboard, long battery life, and a very different format”. He even got a little cheeky, pointing out that his only major involvement in the Passport’s development was that he didn’t kill it, despite it having been a brainchild under the company’s previous leadership.

We’ll take his word for it, but in any case, this business-centric phone is unlike anything we’ve ever laid our hands on. The first word that comes to mind is ‘square.’ The screen is a square 1:1 ratio with a 4.5-inch LCD touchscreen sporting a 1440 x 1440 pixel resolution and 453ppi (pixels per inch). Do the math on the pixels and this is essentially a 1080p display aligned equally on all sides. The body itself is like a square to accommodate this unusual design. The keys on the keyboard look like small squares. At this rate, it’s almost a surprise Chen didn’t intervene and just call it the BlackBerry Squared.

The extra width and girth seem to have made it a little easier to squeeze in a 3,400mAh battery — currently the largest on any smartphone or phablet to date. BlackBerry says it can last up to 30 hours, but we’ll only know that for sure once we really put it through its paces. It also squeezes in a 2.2GHz Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor, 3GB RAM, 32GB internal storage (with a MicroSD slot) and a 13MP rear camera with optical image stabilization.

The Keyboard

The keyboard is like a hybrid of past and present. There are only three rows of physical keys, covering all the letters, but leaving out punctuations, which show up on a fourth touch-enabled row resting above the actual keys. From here, you toggle for numbers and symbols, too. Seasoned BlackBerry typists will inevitably make the mistake of moving thumbs down instead of up to get to those buttons, but getting used to how this all works shouldn’t take too long. The keyboard itself is a trackpad, so being touch-sensitive, it’s possible to swipe up words from the company’s predictive text engine first seen in the onscreen keyboard of the Z10 and Z30.

Deleting text is as simple as swiping left over the keys. Double-tapping and swiping lets you move between letters. Selecting text starts with tapping the soft Shift button, and then double-tapping. We’re not really used to typing this way, but our initial impression is that it’s more intuitive than we expected it to be. Still, we can’t help but feel that users who dig the Passport will lament the lack of a fourth row to cover basic punctuation.

Because of that arrangement, the Passport’s size makes one-handed operation and typing all but impossible. That’s the trade-off for getting 60 lines of text onscreen, compared to just 33 on the iPhone 6. Text is only one angle to the story because the extra real estate allowed us to view Webpages in a far more relaxed way. There is no need for mobile Web pages because desktop sites came through perfectly fine. That’s a welcome sight, considering that browsing on most smartphones still leaves something to be desired.

That’s also right in line with the business use cases of spreadsheets, PDFs, and other documents, where more space is probably appreciated. I don’t generally look at things like that on a daily basis, so I can’t count myself among the 30 percent that may be looking for it, as BlackBerry states, but it’s not hard to appreciate that space is rarely at a premium here.

Drawbacks to a big square screen

That said, the screen has its drawbacks that can be pretty noticeable early on. Developers aren’t usually faced with having to reorient their apps in the unusual aspect ratio found here. The BlackBerry Q10 had the same 1:1 ratio at a quarter the resolution, and it’s no secret how some apps turned out there. Native BlackBerry apps might play nice, particularly those that are still updated and not abandoned, but Android apps are a mixed bag.

Partnering with Amazon to bring the goodness of Google Play to the Passport without the need to sideload anything is a solid step toward convenience, yet the visual translation gets lost because apps don’t really look natural. Some are better than others upon initial viewing, but it’s a bit of a crapshoot at this point.

It’s hard to determine if the mere existence of Amazon’s Appstore is a consequence or a driver of BlackBerry OS 10.3. The Passport is the only device running this version, as it will roll out to the other BB10 handsets before the end of the year. In other words, sideloading is the only option for those users until BlackBerry flips the switch. The elephant in the room is whether Android apps that rely on Google Play Services will work the same on here. Not surprisingly, this has been downplayed, not least of which because the focus of 10.3 is more about business than playing games.

The new features

Hub: Enter the Hub — again. The Hub itself isn’t new, of course, but a new Priority folder has been designed to highlight important notifications that are actionable. The menu layout now includes Signature Actions, presenting action options that are most common or suitable for the app you have open. This also applies to core apps like the Calendar and Remember, where common actions (from below) are separated from the rest of the menu (swiped from left).

Personal Assistant: The Personal Assistant is both a voice-powered and keyboard-initiated tool. BlackBerry claims it’s more intuitive than Siri or Google Now because it mines data and is smart enough to separate work and personal by color-coding them. Of course, it does more than that, from making phone calls, sending messages and going directly to a website by giving it the URL. We were able to get to the Digital Trends site without a problem. The voice on the other end may not sound as nice as the other virtual assistants, but seemed pleasant enough at getting the job done.

Blend: Then there’s Blend, which is far less about exclusivity than it is about interoperability. The gist is that you can access files, contacts and receive and respond to messages on any compatible device, meaning that a file started on a Windows PC can then be viewed on a Passport, edited, and then viewed again on an iPad. All that’s need to bridge all this is a login and password. In essence, Blend isn’t even a cloud service because it taps into other cloud-based services you already use, along with the storage on the various devices. As long as you have the app installed on all of them, you’re good to go.

Not only that, but this will work on another person’s device, too. If you had to see a document quickly but your Passport’s battery died out, and you only have a friend or colleague’s MacBook or Android tablet still working, you can view it on there just the same. Once you log out, all traces of you are gone, ensuring that no data or credentials are at risk. It’s a clear competitor to Apple’s Continuity, only in this case, it will work on PCs, Macs, iOS, and Android devices, along with BlackBerry 10.3 devices. Connectivity options are via Wi-Fi and USB, but not Bluetooth. The apps are available starting today, and we plan on getting to know them a lot more.

It’s coming to AT&T

Blend isn’t a Passport feature, but it’s the right device to showcase it because of how it handles full documents. The squared design is going to be a matter of taste, given how challenging one-handed operation can be, and the obvious struggles of BlackBerry itself. Business and enterprise users are naturally the focus, and even using this phone for a few minutes proves that, but the company has thrown a bone or two to regular folks, just to make sure they know BlackBerry isn’t dead just yet.

AT&T has been announced as the exclusive carrier partner, though timing and contract pricing are still unknown. It will be $600 outright, and unlocked versions of the Passport will be available from Amazon and ShopBlackBerry.com in the near future.

Highs

• Wide screen shows a lot of text
• Amazon app support
• BlackBerry Blend looks interesting
• Keyboard is also a touchpad

Lows

• Apps can look deformed on square screen
• Punctuation keys are on screen
• One-handed operation is very difficult
• Older processor