The Forgotten Nextbit Robin - 2024 Review
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- Опубликовано: 1 июл 2024
- After a successful Kickstarter marketing it as the "first cloud-first smartphone", the Nextbit Robin was released in early 2016. Only a year later, they were bought by Razer to make the Razer Phones- so today, let's look at the forgotten Nextbit Robin 8 years later!
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0:00 - From Nextbit to Razer
2:37 - The Kickstarter Campaign
4:22 - Design & Display
9:14 - Specs & Photography
11:40 - First Cloud-First Smartphone
14:33 - Nextbit Robin in 2023
16:52 - The Nextbit Robin Legacy
20:30 - Moving Forward
Music:
pastebin.com/Y2kLwF3W 
Наука
The Nextbit Robin formed the foundation for the Razer Phone 1 & 2 - and as such, was quickly forgotten in smartphone history. So today, wanted to show it some love- anyone actually own the Robin at some point?
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Hi 91 Tech
Can you please pin the link to buy it on ebay
Oh man! This sure brings me back. Personally, I think 2015-2016 was one of the greatest times for phones. Quirky and unique design for hardware and software was at its peak. Great review, as always…. Loved the “courage” montage 😂
LG
Yup, I miss my Huawei P9 lite :/
@@johnphillips4783🫵🏽🫵🏽🫵🏽🫵🏽😟🫵🏽😟🫵🏽😟🫵🏽😟🫵🏽😟🫵🏽🫵🏽😟😟🫵🏽😟😟🫵🏽😟😟🫵🏽👏
Windows phone!!!
HTC One M9
I still remember this phone and dreamt of owning one some day, but I guess I'll never have a chance anymore 😂. Back then I honestly like how lovely it looks with the minimal design, slim size bezels and pastel colors.
Seeing it today I still think it's absolutely gorgeous, I love the pops of colour in a minimal design.
I love phones with color. I wish more phones looked like that
The same!
It was the opposite for me. I thought, "yeah, I'll never own that" and ended up with one a year later because I lost my previous phone, and it was only about $130 at the time.
I loved mine. Everyone who saw it immediately wanted to know more about it since it was so unique. Wish fun plastic phones would make a comeback.
When I think of plastic phones I miss, I think about my galaxy S3
What a blast from the past! I had one of these puppies.
Seriously though I remember looking at this phone in the phone store when I was way younger and I remember being baffled at the whole cloud concept.... It's crazy how times have changed
How the hell did you live with 32GB of non expandable storage? 🤣🤣
@@emilsecker788132 was amazing. 16 was ok back then.
@@emilsecker7881IIRC I had to put up with that on my iPhone SE. And it was the better model, standard was 16GB! I guess you just gotta learn to take less photos.
@@emilsecker7881 At that time I think most phones had only 32GB as the norm.
i really like that candy bar design, boxed square phone with a tiny bezel should be the way! no notch, teardrop, or punch hole!
Love seeing you explore these old, obscure devices. Absolutely love the Robin's design, makes me miss the chonky bezels a bit.
I still have mine as well as a Razer Phone 2, loved the design. I got it a year after release for $300 and installed a custom rom as soon as I got it, so I never bothered with the cloud feature. My only gripe was that the battery life was pretty bad
I remember this phone. I had it for a little while though. The cloud concept didn't really work very well but I also wanted the black one but they were sold out by the time I got to it so I took the white and green one. But hey, thanks for checking out! The phone and remembering back when phones were interesting and new and changed
I *just now* realized that it's light blue - basically exactly the shade of a Robin's egg!
No idea how that never clicked, even tho I was a bit interested in it, back when it was new.
This was one of the first tech products I did a video on in my early RUclips career. What a blast from the past
Ur fired
One feature i like is the offset charging port, would be handy when you wanna use phone while its charging and the cable wouldnt be annoying in the one handed or if you have it sideways and wanna comfortably hold it with both hands
Only thing I remember of this is JerryRig snapping it like a candy bar lol
I kept thinking the bottom speaker is the home button haha. I remember this thing, a bit ahead of it's time what with iCloud and Google Photos.
This was SUCH a cool phone. I desperately wanted it but couldn’t afford a new one, and if memory serves it was GSM only whereas I used CDMA. Thanks for the in depth look back!
My friend had one in high school and he loved it. Although the plastic did crack on him :/
His next phone would be the Essential phone which was also pretty neat
I remember working with someone who had one of these phones, looked pretty cool imo
Thanks for the video. I'll never forget the nextbit robin. It was such a nicely designed phone. I actually was one of early-backers of the phone at kickstarter, but I cancelled my order and decided to buy a One Plus 2. In hindsight, it was the wiser decision. The OP2 was a great phone and the nextbit lost it's cloud only after 2 years.
This cloud feature of the robin was just too early at a time for you had hard limits on mobile data and there was no 5G.
This was my first phone and absolutely loved it
There's actually a few photos of an unreleased "Nextbit Robin 2" on the internet. Supposedly they were working on a new release before being bought by Razer in early 2017. I remember on 2020 seeing on a Chinese website a seller that had for sale displays that matched perfectly with the prototype design (of course he didn't sold any), probably there are still around some of those prototypes in random websites.
I really loved that squared design. Beautiful concept.
Thanks for bringing me back to the Golden age of smartphones❤
I had the kickstart colour variant nextbit Robin electric dark blue which kept the mint colour ends. I ran as a daily driver from 2016 to October 2019 until the battery gave out. Love the phone was great and really stood out at the time. One thing you didn't mention was how they did something different with the widgets. It had a really cool second skin for the widgets where you'd pinch the screen and you'd have your widgets as a separate layer that would go straight onto. I didn't mind it being plastic if anything I preferred it because it was so light so it was nice and easy to carry, pocket and handle.
I had a razer phone 2, honestly really liked it. Plus it was built like a tank. I also miss my pixel 5, best phone I've ever had
Man, it's been a while since I've seen one of your videos. Getting hacked really set your channel back a lot, but the content is just as good as ever! I respect the dedication!
He got hacked?
@@catfan5618 Yeah a while ago. It was really too bad for his channel, he had over 1 million subs before he was hacked.
This was my phone when I reached adulthood with my first income. I don't really remember how long I had it but It lasted quite a while. Was definitely one of my favorite phones. The design was really nice and it was the first product I wasn't just dreaming about on RUclips and could actually buy it. Definitely brings back some memories.
It broke though
I had this phone. I absolutely loved the software and the design. Ended up selling it after using it for quite a while. Very disappointed that the company shut down and we didn’t get a successor.
"Ended up selling it" literally explained itself
Had one from 2017 to 2018. Was an awesome/weird device. Everyone always asked about it when i pulled it out. The performance for the time was good too!
I had a Robin. I enjoyed it pretty well. When the cloud functionality ended it was a bit of a drag. I liked the squared off design. I ended up sometime later getting a v20. The v20 served me well for a lot of years.
v20?
@@joeykickassery LG V20. The last flagship spec phone with a user replaceable battery.
Android actually has a feature that lets you combine your internal and external storage, like a microSD card. I remember when the Nextbit Robin came out, and I was like, 'Why don't they just add more storage to the phone?' It's weird that Razer gave up on making smartphones. Like, the Asus ROG Phone is a beast of a gaming phone.
You can even move apps you download to the SD card, but that feature got killed when Android 8 comes out
@@sihamhamda47seriously? I had everything on the SD card on Android 6. Then the card died. Maybe it was a good idea to remove it after all... SD cards don't like rewrites a lot. Or being used at all for that matter.
@@sihamhamda47 @glossymouse7712 It still exists, just works a little differently. Instead of just moving the app, you have to format the card as internal storage. You won't be able to transfer that card to another device after that though.
@@glossymouse7712 I have a cheap 32Gb card that has been going strong for almost 10 years now, I don't know how. And it gets used quite frequently, had my whole Spotify library downloaded on the thing as well as all my photos.
@@glossymouse7712 That's exactly why the feature got canned. hard to find a flagship android phone with sd storage these days.
i was so obsessed with this phone in 2016 when i was 10-11 years old
Hi 91 Tech, good videos as always
LOVED those inserts of "courage" 😂😂 Laughed more than I thought I would
Ica Cap zone from sonic 3 is such a peak background music lol
I had one of these! It was an awesome phone, and I was sad when it finally died. It was the best!
I have a nextbit robin from 2015 but I am not able use the phone if it’s not connected to power . Any idea where I can find a battery replacement?
I miss using my LG Nexus 5. That was the best phone I ever had.
I think some people will disagree, but to me this phone has always looked a lot like an Xperia from 2014-2015, agree to disagree :D
I agree a lot haha. I immediately thought it was a Sony Xperia clone from 2015 as well.
That Play Music icon, damn I miss it!
This was my dream phone back in the day. Really wanted one😔😔
I owned the red one. Gave it to my friend. It was nice for its time.
my friend had a nextbit robin. I liked the way it looked and thought it was cool.
I had one of these. It felt SO fragile. And 32GB was cramped even in 2016.
*JerryRigEverything moment*
I remember really wanting one of these when it was released
I remember this phone, I saw it in Jerry rig everything's video.
Whenever I think about this phone, I always think about that Jerryrig video. It folded like paper. Despite that, very cool phone.
I didn't expected to hear Ice Cap Zone to be played as a background music lmao
I still have a working Robin. It’s a fun little brick.
I still remember the JRE durability test of the Nextbit Robin. It bent. Once.
I bought one used, it for almost 2 years, battery backup was terrible, but UI was pretty good
Im still in love with the physical appearance of the next bit robin
I had one for a couple years in highschool but me dad and I hacked the firmware to upgrade the android version 😊
I had bought one or two on Ebay for $108 brand new, greatest value ever.
The only thing I remember about the next bit robin was the bend test fail in jerry rig everything’s channel lol
I wanted one of these so bad back in the day
Seeing it now it actually looks great, most old phones feel cheap these days because the round corners don´t fit with the corners of the screen. But this one looks like a piece of art. For me, it can easily keep up with the newest phones actually. Imagine this being made out of aluminum in blue and white.
"Most phone feel cheap these days"- no, they literally looks cheap since the past due to this reason, most people just lack of a taste on design
i have like 3 robins 2 in .... disrepair and 1 that i still use and both razer phones i love collecting phones esspecially quirky story phones
The Razer Phone 2, I had. It had a really nice screen, and speakers. But yeah... killed by zero support going forward. They just killed it not long after I bought it.
I agree with you 100%. What a shame 😢
It definitely looks nice, I would take a phone that looks like that with today's specs in a heartbeat.
I remember this phone it’s been a long time
i was OBSESSED with this phone as a kid. I thought it was the coolest phone ever
The way I was introduced to this brand was with Jerryrig snapping it in half
8 years later, I think the design is pretty revolutionary. I mean some phone brands TODAY have kinda followed some of the design
I’ve always really enjoyed the look of these phones
Still have mine somewhere in my drawers. Love that phone but sadly the battery is almost toast at this point
a video on the essential phone would be good too, it also seems to be forgotten
I loved my Razer Phone 2!
I didn't care about it being a 'gaming phone',
rather I just got a really good deal on it from my carrier in 2019.
It was my first brand new flagship, (and still remains my only, actually).
I loved it for the amazing display, stellar performance, and rock solid software experience.
Was by far the smoothest android phone I ever had. It was particularly notable for me cause I came to it from an iPhone 5S.
Which I got specifically because android phones just sucked back then. And the themes were really cool too. (I rocked project pyth)
And I just loved the overall design of the phone. I really wanted a flat, notch-less, hole-less 9:16 display. And the Razer Phone 2 was one of the last.
The square design just looked so modern and sleek, and felt great in the hand.
The square sides meant that it could stand on edge easily, which was often handy.
I just loved that glass slab design!
The only downsides were the camera, which was horrible. And the battery would quickly drain if you so much as mildly taxed it. Standby was okay, though.
Only ever got updated to android 9, but most phones only get a single upgrade anyway. And the speakers weren't nearly as loud as you'd think they'd be.
Surprisingly the lack of headphone jack never actually bothered me. I already had bluetooth earbuds, and I just kept the dongle at my desk for when I plugged it into my audio system.
I had one of those, the battery started bulging so I got it recycled, was a great phone doe.
I still have it and use it as of December, 2023
I own a nextbit for about 2 years. It was a good phone for what it was. But due to the plastic only base it was starting to bend in my pocket.
I remember when this came out and had wanted it but couldn’t afford it at the time (even though it was pretty cheap really)
Thanks for taking us down memory lane
Hey 91tech please make more old phone reviews from 2014-2018 era
Crazy cause I never had this but still think about it. Mainly cause of videos of it snapping in half 🤣
These retro tech revisits are ok... But i think we NEED a retro console revisit 91tech style!
I remember wanting this just because of the design
I remember seeing these online.
I still have the Razer Phone 2, the charging port always gave me problems, by now is just only chargable by wireless.
I was so excited to own this phone when i first bought it. Then it arrived and i was disappointed with the buttons, build quality, and sound. I really liked the idea of cloud storage and not having to worry about storage running low. USB C was nice to have at the time but the low storage and slow download speeds just couldnt be overlooked using this phone. I really wish a product like this could be released again, especially now that we have better connectivity. Something with low storage could help keep costs down. i miss this phone and want to go looking for it now to mess with
The problem is it's pointless. Just buy a phone with double storage and the experience is at least 100 times better than this which I have to wait for app to download back.
It's like creating a solution for a problem that can be easily resolved once for all
I've still got mine laying around somewhere
I had one of these phones! It’s was fun!
When it came out I was like 14 and I wanted it so badd !!
Literally the only android phone I’d ever get and still want. But resellers don’t seem like they wanna sell it with those hefty high prices
oh hey, i remember this thing! I remember Jerryrigged got his hands on one and it just crumbled.
Still have it, in original box. Unfortunately, battery is dead and i can't find replacement :/
I used to have that phone. It was really cool
This phone really looks like a mix of the design from Sony and HTC phones. Pretty cool design!
I also remember JerryRigEverything's video where he effortlessly snapped it in half
Yeahhh...keeping stuff on someone else's computer has never set well with me. I did have a Razer Phone 2 and that was solid. It really needed a headphone jack.
I recently found this phone at the flea market for 2 bucks but unfortunately it has the screen cracked and the touch screen is not working. It's such a shame that i can't find anywhere a replacement display
Thinking to buy this in jan 2024😍such a beauty😍
Design was literally nextbit 🔥
I got the RP2 on clearance for around $200 from the official website, after having wasted around $1,000 on the absolutely awful ROG Phone. I was playing CODM at a semi-pro level, so it was worth the price but damn. Even now, it's a nice phone to use for emulators. It just needs a magnetic charging cable so the port doesn't break.
I loved the design!
What game is that music from in the background? I just got hit with a nostalgia bomb and I can’t remember what it’s from. Sonic maybe?
I remember this as the first time I saw JerryRigEverything have a phone fail his test
Nexbit Robin was 8 years ago?! God damn, man. 😭
I remember when this lunch
I thought it was so beautiful at the time
this ALMOST was my first phone, never forget
I had one of these and it was one of the most glitchy experiences Ive ever had with a phone! I wanted to love it so badly but trying to get it to do anything over the internet, be it over mobile or WiFi, It would just chug! Then there was the problem with the speaker volume. It seemed like every time it played a sound the max volume would change. It's battery life was not great either and it would heat up like crazy when not doing anything at all and the fingerprint scanner/power button on the side would be a huge source of that heat for some reason. It also didn't help that Nextbit's Android skin was just terrible and their built in apps like messages, clock, weather, and Internet Browser were almost unusable. It's main cloud storage gimmick didn't work either as the servers for it were shut down almost immediately after units were shipped to customers.
Can we get an Essential Phone video?