Passport packed: Australian orders open for BlackBerry Passport

In a world overrun with similarly specced and styled smartphones, BlackBerry dares to rage against the homogeneity with the BlackBerry Passport. And now Australians can decide if it's a battle worth fighting.

BlackBerry today announced that the Passport – a smartphone with rather, er, unique charms – is now available to order in Australia.

Boasting a square touch screen, QWERTY touch-enabled keyboard and BlackBerry's latest 10.3 operating system, the Passport won't be converting iPhone enthusiasts any time soon. But BlackBerry has always focused on the business end of town, and claims that the Passport provides a "wider vision" for business on the go.

Prospective Passport holders will need to pay Optus a visit, where the device is available to order for $899 outright or on a range of 24-month plans.

Hip to be square...

The Passport will certainly get you noticed. Taking its inspiration from actual passports, the device features a 4.5-inch square 1,440 x 1,440 resolution screen, which has it looking unlike any other smartphone.

Charging in the office could be a thing of the past, with the Passport's 3450 mAh battery unmatched in the smartphone and phablet arena, while access to the Amazon App Store and BlackBerry World should provide a decent though not exactly outstanding app selection.

Powered by a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor with 3GB RAM, the Passport also boasts a 13MP rear camera with optical image stabilisation – perfect for capturing any incriminating office shenanigans – and 32GB of on board storage.

The BlackBerry Passport is certainly an interesting piece of kit, but whether it will be snapped up in place of an iPhone 6 or Galaxy Note 4 remains to be seen. We have our doubts. For now we're putting it next to the Galaxy Note Edge, in the category marked 'brave'.

• Did BlackBerry's latest catch your eye? Maybe the white Passport will seal the deal.