Nextbit Robin Review: Where is the Cloud from the Forest?

The Nextbit Robin is very interesting in its hardware design and software but does it have what it takes to be a flagship in 2016 though?
I will help you decide if it is prepared for such a title in this article.

Design

The design of the Nextbit Robin is unlike anything that is seen in the year 2016 it is a polycarbonate shell with various different color choices depending on the version you get. The color choices are as follows:

• Mint: A white middle body with teal accents on the top, bottom and volume buttons with a blue power button/fingerprint sensor.
• Midnight: A full gray body with gray accents on the top, bottom, and volume buttons with a blue power button/fingerprint sensor.
• Electric (Kickstarter Exclusive): A black middle body with blue accents on the top and bottom with a blue power button/fingerprint sensor.
• MintNight (Exclusive): A gray middle body and volume buttons with teal accents on the top and bottom; with a blue power button/fingerprint sensor.

The internals are the same for all of the color choices, so I will cover that in the next paragraph. One thing that really comes to mind rather than the color choices is how this phone is how everything about this symmetrical this phone is. Here are a few examples of  what I mean by that: The power button is directly opposite of the volume buttons, and the USB Type-C adapter and microphone are directly across from the headphone jack and secondary microphone. You will be able to see this sort of symmetry all over the device. Nextbit really thought this one out and created a great looking device.

Photo Credit: TechnosAmigos

Internal Specs (Geeky stuff)

This device has a Snapdragon 808 SoC clocked at 1.8 GHz, an Adreno 418 GPU, 3 GB of LPDDR3 RAM, 32 GB of internal storage with 24.86 GB usable, 5.2” IPS LCD 1080p display with 424 PPI, and a 2,680 mAH battery. I will go into more detail on the camera and speakers in another paragraph, so that it doesn’t end up with all of this. Either way, this device is quite a powerhouse; the specs are right on par with the size of the device. Some of the smaller devices tend to overdo it sometimes… I am looking at you Samsung!

Sound

Before we start this. The Robin has dual front-facing stereo speakers. Just to give you an idea of how loud the device gets, I will be using a Nexus 5x (competitor), and a sound meter that is at a starting level of 38 dB since that is the sound of the environment I am in; I will be setting both devices on the lowest volume level, and playing the same song excerpt through Google Play Music. First up the Nextbit Robin peaked at 84 dB, but was around 71 dB for most of the song excerpt. Now for the 5x. The 5x ended up peaking and around 58 dB and was around 53 dB for most of the song excerpt. I was impressed with the Robin’s loudness on first level, but now I want to take it up a notch. For this next test i bumped both devices up to 3 notches below full blast. (since I do not want to blow out any speakers) The Nextbit Robin peaked at 87 dB which caught my interest since it was only 3 dB higher than the lowest level. It ended up staying at around 83 dB for most of the song excerpt. The Nextbit Robin didn’t change much from lowest level to 3 notches below highest. Still, it was pretty loud. Next up is the 5x… The 5x peaked at around 85 dB and stayed at around 80 dB for most of the excerpt. Quite an improvement for the 5x, even though the single mono speaker was noticeably more tinny than the Robin. Which brings me to the next point. The speakers sound quite incredible. They sounded very full bodied, and well rounded out between both speaker drivers. Let’s go ahead and dig a little deeper into the hardware now. Of course, I mean the camera!

Photo Credit: Techtimes

Camera

The camera is a 13 megapixel shooter with phase detection autofocus, F2.2 aperture, and dual color dual-LED flash. It takes crisp photos in well lit conditions, and decent photos under low light conditions. The shutter speed isn't as fast as some of the flagships out there, but it is still quite fast. You would probably be satisfied with the camera as a whole if you did decide to take the plunge and purchase a Robin.

Conclusion

If you are on the market for a new device, and want something that is (in the words of an acting Google employee in The Internship) just weird enough to make it interesting; the Robin might be a good place to start looking. It has a considerable amount of good specs along with unique bells and whistles which I do understand are not for everyone. If this sort of thing is “your bag” then I say go for it. Otherwise there are other devices which may catch your eye by a multitude of different companies. The choice is yours.