BlackBerry Passport
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 27 of 60 smartphones by recommenders
People recommend it for its email experience, LED notification light and keyboard that many call the best on a phone. One critic found its keyboard flat, wide and only three rows.
People recommend it for its email experience, LED notification light and keyboard that many call the best on a phone. One critic found its keyboard flat, wide and only three rows.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 10
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 91%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 10 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 10 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Email experience and LED notifications
“Best email experience ever and LED for emails was particularly useful.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Clicks Communicator” “Loved the LED on my Blackberry Passport.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Clicks Communicator” Loved it as a phone
“The Passport was pretty much perfect, and I've not loved a phone as much before or since.”
Comment from 2 Jan 2026 in “Clicks Communicator” “one of the single lovelist phones I've ever had”
Comment from 29 Dec 2025 in “QNX Self-Hosted Developer Desktop” Strong keyboard and form factor
“The perfect form factor however is the Blackberry Passport which I now own as a little Cyberdeck device”
Comment from 22 Feb 2026 in “In World Without BlackBerry, Physical Keyboards on Phones Are Making a Comeback” “best keyboard ever on a phone”
Comment from 10 Apr 2026 in “Filing the Corners Off MacBooks”
Other smartphones people recommend
The four most recommended other smartphones, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple iPhone | 706 | 882 | 44% | 13 | 7 yrs107 owners | — |
| Fairphone | 168 | 107 | 61% | 13 | 3 yrs19 owners | — |
| Apple iPhone Pro | 144 | 155 | 48% | 12 | 4 yrs26 owners | — |
| iPhone 13 mini | 141 | 51 | 73% | 12 | 1.5 yrs4 owners | Approved |
| BlackBerry PassportThis page | 10 | 1 | 91% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
9 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“best keyboard ever on a phone”
“it was actually designed around that and amazing to use”
“The perfect form factor however is the Blackberry Passport which I now own as a little Cyberdeck device”
“The Passport kb was flat, rectangular and only had 3 rows over a very wide layout”
“The Passport was pretty much perfect, and I've not loved a phone as much before or since.”
“Best email experience ever and LED for emails was particularly useful.”
“Loved the LED on my Blackberry Passport.”
“I would still love one, but I don't think I could move it to my own Blackberry account at this point in time.”
“one of the single lovelist phones I've ever had”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.