BlackBerry Passport review

Is this the phone to reboot the 'Berry?

BlackBerry Passport review
An interesting phone, but too expensive to take a punt on

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BlackBerry has equipped the Passport with a 13MP rear-facing camera with an LED flash and a couple of extra features like panorama, burst mode and time shift. There's an LED flash as well as the option to take images at 16:9, 4.3 and the Passport's own 1:1 aspect ratio.

BlackBerry Passport review

The camera on the Passport lacks effects, but is solid nonetheless

Full HD 1080p video is supported, and you'll be able to get 720p video calling from the Passport's 2MP front-facing camera. Interacting with the camera is done via the touchscreen, as you pinch to zoom in and out and tap to set the focal point.

BlackBerry Passport review

The LED flash can double as a torch

First impressions are that the camera is solid without really offering much of a challenge to the established smartphone titans. There's built-in intelligence for suggesting the best shooting mode for the conditions you're in and the Passport also boasts HDR for capturing light and dark contrasts.

BlackBerry Passport review

Not many camera modes to choose from...

Additionally, BlackBerry has built optical image stabilisation (OIS) into the Passport's camera to eliminate judders. It's a feature become adopted elsewhere (like the iPhone 6 Plus) and really helps when taking pictures quickly.

A nice touch is that you can use either the volume keys on the right hand side of the device, or the space bar on the keyboard, to take a picture. There's also BlackBerry's dedicated Pictures app for adding filters and effects to your shots after you've taken them.

BlackBerry Passport review

This is all you get to play with on the camera app

There's also a Story Mode that'll stitch together your pictures and videos for an on-the-fly slideshow set to music.

Have a look below at some example shots taken with the Passport's camera.

BlackBerry Passport review

A standard outdoor shot where there's some overexposure around the sky

BlackBerry Passport review

When the light starts to fade, the Passport's HDR mode really helps to pick up detail

BlackBerry Passport review

The 13MP sensor picks up plenty of detail, and burst mode lets you get the best shot

BlackBerry Passport review

Panorama is a useful feature to have but I found a great deal of the detail quality is lost

BlackBerry Passport review

Yeah...I'd like one of these too