The cloud-centric Nextbit Robin is funded and nearing its first stretch goal

[Guest PaulOBrien]

The Nextbit Robin is a cloud-centric Android device that's currently available for backing on Kickstarter. The phone (which is priced from $349 currently) packs flagship specs - a Snapdragon 808 CPU, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage, lots of connectivity, a great camera etc. etc. but the real USPs are the software (which is very heavily focused around the cloud) and the design, penned by Scott Croyle, formerly of HTC fame, one of a league of superstar talents pulled in from the Smartphone industry. As the funding nears $1m, are you in? I am!

We should talk about the 'oily bits' first, just to get that out of the way. It's packing everything you'd hope for in a device shipping at the start of 2016, including the features-du-jour, a fingerprint sensor (mounted on the side as also seen on the new Sony Xperia Z5 range) and a USB Type-C connector. The battery isn't huge at 2680 mAh, although we're told that the software is optimised to give great battery life and the device is suitably thin at 7mm. Quick charging is included, as is NFC (hello OnePlus!).

With that out of the way, let's talk about design. Available in 'midnight' or 'mint', the phone looks very different. For me the design de-emphasises that it's a high powered gadget with cutting edge technology and makes it feel more 'soft' and 'friendly'. Although the device is overall very rectangular, there are circles in abundance and the styling just works. It's a great looking phone, particularly in the mint colour scheme, which has a design more than slightly reminiscent of HTC's double-dip covers.

On the back of the device you may have spotted a cloud logo and some LEDs. These are used to indicate that your device is connected to the Nextbit cloud and 'working'. The Robin comes with 32GB of storage on board and leverages their own spin on Android to take advantage of 100GB of bundled cloud storage to an even greater extent than we've seen from Google to date.. The video below demonstrates how that works but in a nutshell, the device will automatically offload content (even unused apps) to the cloud to ensure you never run out of space.

It's neat, but I do wonder how many normal people really fill up a 32GB phone. For me, the real value in the cloud connectivity comes from features such as completely restoring a phone including apps and app data in the event of loss and allowing seamless app state transfer between multiple phones and tablets, something Nextbit have touted in the past with their Cyanogen partnership and the 'baton' project.

Kickstarter fundraising for the Robin will run until the end of the month, so you still have a chance to pick up a device at the discounted crowdfunding price. The first $1m stretch goal which will add a QuickCharge compatible charger looks set to be hit shortly, so head on over to the Kickstarter page to complete your pledge or to track the project.

View full item

[Guest Alex (nedge2k)]

When I first head about this I thought "here we go again, more cloud crap" but this, done properly (i.e. proper OS integration at all levels), actually sounds like a decent use of "the cloud".

Regarding "normal" people filling up a 32GB phone - i'd say quite easily done. Especially in the advent of higher qual and res cameras - I have 20GB of phone camera pics/vids on my phone alone - spanning back a few years tho. It's nice to have them all there for times when you don't have internet and need to refer back to something.