Ever since my iPhone SE took a dump I have been constantly searching for a replacement. I saw the Nextbit Robin and decided to give it a try.
Nextbit was an independent company looking to make the next best phone. They had come up with a Kickstarter for the Robin in September of 2015. The phone's release was a success, leading to the company being purchased by Razer In early 2017. Since then the phone has been discontinued as the team moves their focus elsewhere. That doesn't mean that they won't forget Robin users because they would be offering security patches up to February 2018.
With that in mind, because of the discontinuation of the Nextbit Robin, the price of the device has been cut. MSRP on the Robin was $399.99 and was cut to $299.99. In reality, I purchased mine online for $139.99 brand new but I have seen them go on sale from time to time.
Hardware
Starting off, the device still holds up extremely well in 2017. The Snapdragon 808 still does pretty well for its age. I was able to launch and play some pretty graphics-intensive games. Mortal Kombat X and Injustice 2 ran fine after a longer than usual loading time. The Robin still handles really well when it comes to multitasking. With 3GB of RAM, I was able to switch and use multiple apps with ease. Although I did see some lag when switching between apps once I had a handful of applications running in the background.
Using the device I began reminiscing back to the days when HTC had front-facing speakers. The Robin uses similar front-facing speakers that sound pretty impressive. This is a great feature to have when listening to music, watching movies, shows, and even playing games because they have a stereo function that allows for a more immersive experience. The downside? I would not recommend facing the device face down because that will muffle noise and possibly missing important notifications and phone calls. Integrated is your typical 3.5mm headphone jack for entertainment and calls on the go. Also, the phone uses USB-C with Qualcomm Quick Charge. In 2015 this was way ahead of its time for a smartphone.
Its display is really nothing to brag about. At 5.2” this IPS LCD display has Gorilla Glass 4 making it a little harder for it to crack. A fingerprint scanner allowing for convenient and secure access to your device. If you're the type that requires a lot of room, 32GB for internal storage is fantastic considering that some devices in the same price range still only have a measly 16GB. The downside is the lack of the Micro SD, while it's not a deal-breaker it still a feature that most devices carry. An easy counter for this issue was the biggest selling point for the Nextbit Robin, cloud storage. I will go into greater depth on this feature on my next topic.
Software
Nextbit uses their version of the Android operating system called Nextbit OS, Upgraded to its latest version of Android, Nougat 7.1.1 with future security patches up until 2018. I personally do not like the launcher as it does not have an app drawer. Also, another thing I am not in favor of is the Nextbit favorites button that hangs out on the bottom right corner of the app pages. This cannot be removed unless you install a third-party launcher.
The biggest selling point for the phone when it was originally released was the cloud storage feature. Nextbit goes above and beyond, It comes with 100GB of cloud storage out of the box. This cloud storage makes a backup for apps, pictures, and videos. When it does the backup you will see the 4 little lights on the back of the phone come on. Its smart storage will learn what apps you use the most and the ones that are least used will be stored in the cloud. The icon will be grayed out and with a single tap and few moments to spare it will come back on. You can also pin apps so they are sent to the cloud. I am not sure if this feature is still relevant and if it will work after they kill the phone off so the lack of a microSD card can make things frustrating for some. Personally, I think 32GB is plenty for myself and the average user but for those who need the extra space can use other cloud storage alternatives.
Camera
The biggest selling point on any phone for me is the camera. I love to take photos and showcasing them. The Nextbit Robin misses the mark for me, but at the price, it is decent for the average consumer. Photos come in nice and clear but when you crop or zoom in after taking the photo it is very noisy. When photos have too much noise you can lose detail and important information. Also, another disappointment is how it handles low-light situations. I tried using it in certain circumstances and because of the lack of OIS(optical image stabilization) photos in low light can easily turn out blurry. A neat feature is its dual-tone flash as it can really help when it comes to portraits. Otherwise, its auto mode causes inconsistencies with the shot being over or under saturated at times, so its manual mode can help this a little more. This phone is a couple years old though, so newer phones with more up-to-date technology like the LG Stylo 3 will outperform in terms of camera quality.
You can take look at some shots it took using this device
Design
I love the direction the team took on this phone. Simplistic yet very eye-catching. This phone comes in two colors, mint and midnight. The phone is unfortunately made out of plastic and loses that premium feels to it. I would have preferred adding some sort of texture to the device to get a better grip when your hands get sweaty. Speaking of sweat, I have noticed that the device easily gets warm. It has not been so bad that the device is unusable but I would worry that it would not take much for the device to get that hot. Another thing is that the phone gets dirty fairly easy and because the fingerprint scanning power button is not protruding, dirt and grime will sit on the edges of the button interfering with scanning. I also notice the sim card tray is vulnerable to getting grime and dirt stuck in the little crevices. Its volume up and down buttons stick out enough to know what it is when I grab my phone in my pocket or at night. My last complaint is that I feel like the phone is flimsy and fragile. The plastic shell that holds the internals of this device does not make me feel confident that it will hold up to daily life. I have already dropped it waist-high onto the corner of my desk and the plastic body has a small chip on the edge of the phone. I would certainly keep this out of my back pocket.
Overall
This phone still has plenty of life in it and at the price, it is very hard to complain. The internal specs are few years old but that does not mean it will handle daily usage. Although I personally had a few nitpick issues with it. I still consider this to be a great phone for 2017. The Robin had a good run but just imagine with the backing of a great company like Razer what the future holds for the team and how the next phone will improve.
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