Nextbit Robin image via Nextbit
After much anticipation, the details of Nextbit’s first smartphone — the Robin — were revealed, with eyebrows raised at the news that it will have near-infinite cloud storage.
The hype surrounding the phone’s launch had been building for some weeks now, with people eager to see what would come of the Nextbit ‘supergroup’ that included a number of Android and HTC veterans.
Now, it appears, that to sway people towards the mid-range smartphone, its enormous cloud-storage capabilities is the carrot dangling in front of them.
While the Robin will come with 32GB of local storage, Nextbit hopes most of the owner’s content will be shifted to the cloud, particularly storage-clogging items like photos, videos and apps.
Interestingly, rather than just transfer files en masse to cloud storage, the phone’s Android-based operating system will learn what items are least used on the phone and shift them to the cloud for download access at a later stage.
This, Nextbit said, will allow the Robin user to press a button when the phone’s internal memory is near capacity and automatically transfer files over, rather than needing to delete things manually.
In terms of the phone’s other spec, Nextbit said that in the Robin’s very rectangular casing is a 5.2in 1080p screen with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor and 3Gb of RAM.
Nextbit Robin image via Nextbit
The phone will offer a pretty decent battery life with its 2,680mAh battery and should be able to take some high-quality snaps with its 13Mp camera and 5Mp selfie camera.
In terms of security, the phone will also feature a fingerprint scanner, not near the microphone on the device but on one of the Robin’s side buttons.
Similar to OnePlus phones, the Robin will be sold completely unlocked and free from carrier meddling, having already achieved its Kickstarter goal of US$500,000 after just one day.
This open-source aspect is a common theme throughout the phone as Nextbit has confirmed that it is actively encouraging people to upload whatever operating system they like, with their warranty still active should they decide to do so
The phone is expected to begin shipping in January to those in ‘select countries’ – including Ireland – at the current price of US$399 (€353).
