Category: Nextbit

When the Nextbit Robin was released earlier this year, I purposely held off on review it.  My logic was two fold.  First, at $399 I felt for what the phone had to offer, it was over priced.  I appreciate it has some unique features and by buying it you are supporting a new American-based startup, but facts-are-facts.  The current price of $299 feels a bit more accurate.  Second, I knew that it would have issues.  And it did.  The initial build of Android running on the Robin was buggy with numerous reports of the camera being poor and slow and battery performance to match it.

Fast forward seven months and the world is a much happier place for the Nextbit Robin.  The price is down to where I think it should be frankly (and it has run as low as $199 on Amazon a couple of times which is an absolute steal) and after a couple of major updates that included a bump up to Android Marshmallow, the Robin is now a solid performing phone that has great features.  I’ve been using the device as my primary phone over the course of the last few weeks and I have no hesitation in recommending it if you are looking for a well appointed handset that is in the low cost/budget category.  In fact, for what it has to offer, you will be hard pressed to find an equally well appointed phone.  Here’s my review.

The Nextbit Robin is on sale today and tomorrow at Amazon for just $199, a screaming deal on a solid Android Phone.  Normally the phone retails for $399 (although you can pick one up from Nextbit directly for $299) but the two day sale at Amazon is by far the best deal around on the Robin.  It is available in both Mint and Midnight for that price and if you are an Amazon Prime member, you can get free shipping on it as well and get it on Saturday if you order today.

For those that don’t recall, the Nextbit Robin has some great features and offers a unique device-meets-cloud storage solution.  It has 32GB of onboard storage merged with 100 GB online storage, so you always have the space you need. Robin seamlessly backs up your apps and photos, intelligently archives the stuff you’re not using, and easily restores items when you need them.  The idea is that you never run out of space.  Those less used apps are backed up into the cloud but then are instantly available when you want them.  You’ll know an app has been backed up into the cloud as it will be grey on your Robin.

Nextbit has announced that a new “ember” red color option is available in limited quantities for their phone, the Nextbit Robin.  The new red option is at the same $299 price as the other two color options (Midnight and Mint) but it is in limited quantities.  If you want to pick one up, you need to get over to the Nextbit site and get one ordered.

The new ember model has red panels on the top and bottom of the Robin with a black back.  It is a pretty striking looking phone in my opinion and will make your Robin stand out from virtually any phone in the crowd.

The Nextbit Robin, the flagship phone from the Silicon Valley startup, has dropped to $299 pretty much across the board now, including at the Nextbit store.  For the last few weeks you’ve been able to get the $299 price on Amazon but now pretty much everyone has it for this price.  For those who may not remember, this was the same price for the Robin during the company’s Kickstarter program last year and for a 32GB, Marshmallow running device, it is a great deal.

The news is a bit disappointing this morning for those who have been waiting for the Nextbit Robin to come in a CDMA flavor.  It isn’t going to happen according to company co-founder and CEO Tom Moss.  There are several reasons why the cancellation happened including the timelines involved and the information they were going on about building a CDMA version was inaccurate.  The news means that for those of you who were wanting the Robin on Sprint or Verizon, it won’t be happening.  If you are one who backed Nextbit through their Kickstarter program or if you pre-ordered a CDMA version of the phone, you will be a full refund.

The startup team over at Nextbit have finally launched their first glimpse of their first smartphone, the Nextbit Robin, or simply the Robin.  This new smartphone will be powered by a pure version of Android Lollipop (with Marshmallow in the works) and will have a unique blend of cloud storage and on-device storage.  The reality is that we all access cloud storage on our devices anyway.  Nextbit’s point is why not leverage that to its fullest.  That’s exactly what the San Francisco company wants to do with their first smartphone.

To that end, you won’t find massive amounts of storage built into the Nextbit Robin – 32GB.  But it comes with 100GB of cloud-based storage with apps designed to help you keep track of just how much storage you are using.  Plus, it dynamically moves apps (not your personal data) to the cloud storage when you have not used that app for a long time.  That way you can free up space on your phone but instantly get that app back on the device.  Its a slick concept.