What's good
- Attractive colors and festive design
- Good performance
- Screen offers vibrant colors and good viewing angles
What's bad
- Poor battery life
- No control over cloud storage
- Slow camera
Cloud storage has become an integral part in people’s everyday lives and most people use at least one service from Dropbox to Google Drive. Now devices that heavily rely on cloud storage have become more common with Chromebooks as a prime example. Smartphones are now making that leap with the release of the Nextbit’s Robin.
In terms of design, the Robin hearkens back to older smartphones with its sharp and angular shape. To balance out the angles, it incorporates round buttons and speaker grills for a more approachable appearance.
What really gives the Robin personality, however, are the pastel color options of turquoise and light green, though it does have a more subtle dark grey palette. Reviewers call the design festive and fresh with Engadget stating, “I’m absolutely, over-the-moon in love with how it looks. It’s charming…” While the color and shape might make it look “toy-like” experts point out the build quality is superb and the soft texture of the back makes it easy to grip.
Very thin side bezels surround the 5.2 inch 1080p LCD display. While it doesn’t compare to higher end phones like the iPhone 6S, critics describe it as good enough as it offers vivid colors and solid viewing angles. The only issue they noticed were faint lines running horizontally across the screen. Still, they mention the average smartphone user probably won’t even notice.
A hexa-core Qualcomm processor and 3GB of RAM keep the Robin running at a fairly steady pace. It was able to handle pretty much any task reviewers threw at it, though they did notice it would get a bit warm. Thankfully, they didn’t experience any shutdowns due to the processor overheating. Gaming was likewise smooth and they were able to play fairly graphics heavy games on medium setting without any lag or stutters. The biggest disappointment in terms of hardware was the battery. Critics were barely able to get a full day out of it, with many having to charge midway through with even moderate usage.
What really sets the Robin apart from its competitors is its focus on cloud storage. While it does come with 32GB of onboard storage users also receive 100GB of free cloud storage. It will automatically back up apps, phone data, photos and games and will even archive apps that have not been used once your onboard storage reaches 2GB. Unfortunately, this is where the phone runs into issues. Users have zero control over the cloud storage feature. That means they cannot offload new apps or photos as Robin only moves over inactive/older ones. There is also no way to force a backup to the cloud. The inability to use the cloud as they wished was a huge disappointment for experts. Still, they don’t deny the usefulness of the smart storage features as it can help keep apps and photos organized.
On the rear of the device is a 13MP camera. It comes equipped with Phase Detection Auto Focus and an f/2.2 aperture. In practice, critics were able to take vibrant pictures in bright light settings despite missing optical image stabilization. They were also impressed with low light pictures, though when viewed closer, they did notice significant noise reduction in post-processing, leading to blurry images. The biggest problem they had was the long delay between pictures. Often it would be a full second before they could take another picture.
The Robin is a hardsell for reviewers. While the admired the cute design and good performance they were less than thrilled with the slow camera, lack of control over cloud storage and poor battery life. Most suggest waiting until the second version releases to see if any of Nextbit addresses these issues rather than buying into the first iteration.
What the Critics Are Saying...
- Chance Kinney, Chip ChickRobin is an experiment, and experiments don’t usually go perfectly the first time they’re attempted. The value of their cloud storage system is questionable, the battery life isn’t great, and the phone gets disconcertingly hot even with light use. But, the camera and performance ar...
- Sunetra Chakravarti, Mobile ChoiceStreet-cred wise this is a great phone. It is a breath of fresh air in an all metal world. It is also a very good idea to hook up a phone to cloud for it to backup automatically and especially for a challenger brand. However, niggles remain. The camera is very laggy and performance is hit and miss.
- Henry Burrell, Tech AdvisorThe final feelings for us are ones of a chance missed. Nextbit has created a unique phone and created a buzz, but they’ve gone out on a limb by pushing a cloud storage function that is much better on paper than in reality. Had the company plumped for a base model of 64GB, for example, it might...
- Ray S., PhoneArenaThe Robin is a great, inspiring start for Nextbit. Hopefully there are many other great things to come from the company in the future, and hopefully this includes a high-end device to go toe-to-toe with the flagships out there. Nextbit obviously has what it takes.
- Mishaal Rahman, XDA DevelopersThe Robin isn’t an extraordinary device, but it doesn’t pretend to be one. Nextbit has taken what Google wants to do with the Nexus and cloud services and simply integrated all of it. Google wants you to use individual services to backup your photos, apps, music, etc while Nextbit is pro...
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Common Questions
Nextbit backs up the Robin with a 1 Year parts & labour warranty.
If your Robin has problems and is still within its warranty period, you could contact Nextbit support or the retailer you purchased the phone from. You'll find Nextbit's contact information here. If your phone is off warranty and needs repair for a physical problem such as a broken screen or bad battery, you should visit an authorized service centre or a local phone repair shop. You can also connect with others in The Informr Community Forum to find and share answers to questions.
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