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The Passport is a big, blocky phablet and BlackBerry's strangest phone ever

The Passport is a big, blocky phablet and BlackBerry's strangest phone ever

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BlackBerry is preparing to release what may be its weirdest smartphone ever. This year it's already launched the Z3, and soon that will be joined by the BlackBerry Classic — an obvious throwback to the company's glory days. But there's another product making its way through the pipeline as well, and it's a lot more blocky. BlackBerry is calling its third phone planned for fiscal year 2015 the Passport. We've never seen anything quite like it, and we'll let you decide whether that's a good or bad thing.

First, just take a look at its square display, which measures 4.5 inches with a resolution of 1440x1440. Right below that is a QWERTY keyboard that's shorter and stretches wider than most other keyboards we've seen from the company. It's not entirely clear what BlackBerry is shooting for with the Passport; it's more or less a business class take on the phablet — a really, really square phablet. And it's so wide; even wider than Samsung's Galaxy Note 3. The BlackBerry Passport is due sometime this September, so for now all we can do is look and imagine trying to successfully hold it in one hand. Here's a photo of CEO John Chen miraculously pulling off that very feat.