BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen Holds Up The Unreleased Blackberry Passport
BlackBerry Chief Executive John Chen holds up the unreleased Blackberry Passport device during the company's annual general meeting for shareholders in Waterloo June 19, 2014. Reuters/Mark Blinch

BlackBerry launched the BlackBerry Passport last September 26. Within six hours of making it available on Amazon.com, it was reported that 200,000 units were pre-ordered. Is it of any competition to the Apple iPhone 6? This article compares the two smartphones to determine the notable features of both devices.

Design

The size and the shape of the BlackBerry Passport is the same as that of a U.S. passport. It measures 128 x 90.3 x 9.3 mm and weighs 194 g. The device is wider than most phablets like Note 3 and iPhone 6 Plus. It is available in two colors: black and white. The BlackBerry Passport has a sleek appeal, thanks to the stainless steel frame that it comes with.

The iPhone 6 also features a sleek design. It measures 138.1 x 67 x 6.9 mm and weighs 129 g and is available in gray, silver and gold. Both handsets are pocket-friendly, but the BlackBerry Passport has an advantage when it comes to display because it has a wider screen. However, as far as looks are concerned, the iPhone 6 that sports an all-metal body and has a slightly curved screen, appears more desirable than BlackBerry Passport.

Display

The BlackBerry Passport has an astounding 4.5-inch square-shaped IPS LCD display. It supports a resolution of 1,440 x 1,440 pixels and 453 ppi, whereas the iPhone 6 has a slightly bigger IPS LCD display of 4.7 inches. It supports 750 x 1,334 pixels resolution and pixel density of 326 ppi. With more ppi onboard, however, the BlackBerry Passport's display appears richer than that of iPhone 6, according to Value Walk.

Processor, RAM And Storage

The BlackBerry Passport features a Snapdragon 801 chipset that brings a 2.26 GHz Krait 400 quad-core processor and Adreno 330 graphics. It is equipped with 3 GB RAM. The internal storage is 32 GB and the external storage can support up to 64 GB of microSD.

The Apple iPhone 6 is powered by the new Apple A8 64-bit dual-core processor that offers a max processing speed of 1.4 GHz. It is accompanied by PowerVR GX6450 graphics. There is no external storage on iPhone 6 but it comes in three internal storage variants: 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB.

Snapdragon 801 present inside Passport is no longer a cutting-edge feature. Apple's A8 is more energy-efficient and scores higher in the performance segment.

Camera And Battery

BlackBerry has been never known for build phones with high-end cameras. However, the BlackBerry Passport breaks the cliché as it features 13 MP camera along with features like autofocus, OIS, LED flash and full HD video recording. There is a 2 MP front-facing camera which supports HD recording.

The Apple iPhone 6 has an 8 MP camera houses a powerful image sensor. It comes with features like autofocus, dual-LED flash, phase detection and full HD recording. The 1.2 MP at the front supports HD video shooting. The iPhone 6's camera can shoot high quality photos with amazing colour accuracy.

Both BlackBerry and iPhone 6 sport non-removable batteries. The one stiting inside iPhone 6 is of 1810 mAh capacity whreas the Passport features a very huge battery of 3,450 mAh capacity.

Unique Features

The iPhone 6 with the latest iOS 8 build. The Touch ID brings fingerprint authentication for login credentials and unlocking the device. NFC is the new feature on iPhone 6 which can be used to make mobile payments through Apple Pay service.

The Passport comes preloaded with BlackBerry 10.3 OS. It allows you to run Android apps from Amazon Appstore. The BlackBerry Assistant is a competitor for iOS 8's Siri voice assistant feature. The most unique feature of BlackBerry is touch-enabled physical three-row keyboard. It is very intuitive but the only major issue with the device is that it cannot be operated easily with single hand.

Pricing

In the U.S., the unlocked BlackBerry Passport can be yours for $599, whereas unlocked iPhone 6 with storage of 16 GB is available for $649; storage of 64 is priced at $749 and 128 GB storage variant can be purchased for $849.