Nextbit Robin

Now, I'm no tech pro, just a lover of tech and a big fan of supporting underdogs/independent brands whenever possible, even though I do still stick with the big established brands for electronics that I have to rely on on a daily basis, for example, a smartphone or a laptop.

Let's get this straight from the get go - I'm an Apple user, but I wasn't one from the start. My first smartphone was the Nokia N97, then an LG Android and a Samsung Android followed. I always had my frustrations and was never convinced that Androids were great, so I decided to get my first iPhone (a 5s) in 2014. To date, I'm all Appled-out. I have an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Macbook Pro, and I'm currently typing this on a 12" Macbook.

So why did I buy the Nextbit Robin?

1) As I said, I like supporting smaller independent brands whenever I can because I think everyone should have the opportunity to be part of a marketplace, and just because you don't have truckloads of money and a fancy office, doesn't mean you don't deserve a shot.

2) I thought that it was bold and daring for Nextbit to take a stand and create their own smartphone to up against the giants, in the highly competitive and very saturated smartphone market.

3) I learnt that Nextbit is made "made by pros", and the company consisted of really talented people who have had lots'a prior experience working for the giants of the industry, so really, it wasn't much of a risk. They also partnered with Foxconn for the engineering and manufacturing of Robin's hardware, so hey, if my iPhone works like magic, I reckon the Robin couldn't be too far off. They also had the whole "premium Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm", whatever that means, but it sounded awesome because I did like having phone that was fast and worked seamlessly.

Also, the promise of long battery life sounded like a great thing to have because my iPhone 5s' battery life SUCKED BALLZ, to say the least. Nextbit also claimed that the Robin was/is seamlessly integrated with Cloud storage (32GB in the phone and 100GB in the Cloud!) so I never have to worry about running out of space... at least not for a long time. They also promised an awesome camera, which was exactly what I needed - I like good photos but I'm not into buying an actual DSLR or even a semi-pro for it. I really just want my phone to do everything for me.

4) I wanted to give Android another shot at "winning me back". Seriously. I realised how Appled-out I was and I went through a "Omg Apple's owning my life, I'm becoming an Apple slave" phase, so I really wanted to try an Android phone again, in the hopes of snapping out of my Apple habits.

5) I needed a temporary back-up phone that wasn't super costly because my iPhone 5s was flagging and had stopped being reliable after 2 years of heavy usage. I was/am about to move to NYC so I didn't want to sign on a new contract to get a new phone, and frankly, I'm just hoping that Apple would release iPhone 7 this year and it wouldn't turn out to be a massive-sized phone because I have tiny hands and big phones are a legit concern for me.

6) The Robin only cost USD299 (excluding shipping and the additional protective casing) and that's a pretty darn reasonable price for a phone that could do all of the things stated above!

7) It came in mint green + white!!! I can't resist that colour combination. Also, the phone design was sleek, and I like that it had straight/flat surfaces and no curves, but only because I'm not a fan of curves on my devices.

8) One particular sentence in their campaign pitch really spoke to me - Robin is for people who are tired of the status quo and crave something with more personality. Hellz yeah, bring it on, bitchezzz.

So with all the above in mind, I went ahead and backed the Robin! I was among the early adopters (backer #529) and it was awesome how communicative the Nextbit team was - They constantly updated backers on the progress of the phone and sent photos of how things were looking, so that was a great experience. By the time my phone arrived, I was beside myself with excitement - The biggest project I backed on Kickstarter had arrived!!!

My iPhone 5s finally caved - I couldn't even use it for calls because the ear speaker stopped working and the iOS 6 upgrades had slowed my phone down to a grinding halt. Apps kept crashing/freezing, reception (both for calls and for data/wifi) started sucking, and I was frustrated af. So I cranked out my spankin' new Robin!

I was pretty happy with it for like, a day, and I suspect it was partly the "OMG NEW PHONE" feels. Now, I'm not saying it sucks because it really doesn't. But I just had much higher expectations for it (afterall, they did say that "it's fast, it's powerful") so hey, how could it not beat an almost-dead iPhone 5s?

Here are my grouses:

1) The graphics processor wasn't as on-point as the iPhone's. I really thought that the "premium Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm" thing was gonna kick ass... But it didn't. Here's how I realised - I'm a huge fan of the Disney Tsum Tsum game, and I played it daily on my commute to and from work. So I downloaded it and played it on the Robin, only to notice small jerky motions with the graphics. The Tsums didn't move or fall smoothly, and I could see the frame-by-frame movement. It was subtle, but noticeable, and I suspect it might be because I was accustomed to the smoothness of my retired iPhone. I stopped playing the game because I was quite disturbed at the subtle inferiority of the graphics, and the jerky graphics gave me a headache each time I played.

2) The fingerprint ID scanner is not great. Calibrating my thumbprint is not something new to me, so it's not like I could have screwed that up. At least not on purpose, because who would do that? Anyway, the thumbprint scanner seldom reads my thumbprint and 8/10 times, I have to enter the pin anyway because the Robin tells me "too many attempts, try again later", and that's frustrating because I don't know anyone who can't unlock a phone in a second! I know that the additional 5-10 seconds is not gonna kill me, but it's just annoying that it happens all the time, so now I just end up keying in the passcode whenever I wanna unlock the phone, à la iPhone 4. Not cool. The other 2/10 times it actually worked, but only after like, 3 scans. What the hell am I doing wrong?! I never had such issues with my iPhone!

3) The USB-C charging cable kinda sucks. That fast charger they provided, together with the matching (very pretty!) mint-coloured USB-C cable, doesn't even charge my phone smoothly. I couldn't for the life of me figure out why my phone kept lighting up at night when it's being charged, and then I realised that it was charging and stopping, and charging and stopping again (repeat cycle). It also took a long time to charge (compared to the iPhone) so that was a bit weird, considering the Robin is meant to be "Quick Charge enabled", and the Quick Charger that came with it was supposed to, well, charge the phone quickly.

Here's the irony - About a month into using the Robin, I got gifted a new Macbook which also happens to use USB-C charging... so I used my Macbook charger to charge the Robin, and like freakin' magic, every charge has been super smooth and reasonably quick - at least compared to what was happening with the Nextbit charger - and I no longer have the light-on-light-off problem.

4) The audio sucks. The Robin boasts dual front-facing speakers, but the sound is thin. No matter how loud you tune it up, it sounds thin compared to the iPhone's speakers. The earphone sound is also very much inferior to the iPhone - The bass is pretty much non-existent. Granted, they never really boasted fantastic audio, so I guess I'd cut them some slack for it, but I am still rather disappointed because I'm big on music.

5) The camera is kinda disappointing. It's not good in dim lighting compared to the iPhone 5s. I'm not expecting a lot because, again, it's not a professional camera, but I do think that the iPhone's camera takes pretty good photos for what it's worth. In clear day light, the camera works great, but anything less and the photos start looking grainy or slightly tinted. It's quite weird, and I find myself having to tune down the warmth a lot, as compared to photos taken with the iPhone 5s. I've kept my iPhone around for the sole purpose of taking photos because they turn out so much better.

For someone who has become accustomed to the iPhone camera, which allows you to scroll easily from Video to Photo to Square etc... the Robin's camera is really disappointing. It's not as easy to change between modes - I have to hit the camera's menu button, select "Video", then go back again. I didn't realise how convenient the sliding thing was on the iPhone camera, and I even got annoyed by it a few times when it first happened, but now, I realise just how much I relied on the smooth transition that the sliding has enabled.

Also, the camera warm-up is too damn slow. I didn't realise how spoilt I was by the iPhone, but I just have to swiped upwards from the bottom-right everytime I wanted to take a photo, and the camera function seamlessly runs without any delay. With the Robin, I swipe upwards, and I hear a soft click from the lense as it warms up, and then the screen blinks off and on again (split second) before I can finally take a photo. It's a 5-second delay tops, but it's enough to be noticeable and annoying. I take photos of a lot of things throughout the day, and I also have a dog who moves around quickly, so if I'm gonna capture moments effectively, I need a phone camera that has no lag time.

6) I realised how little the 100GB Cloud storage meant to me because I find myself backing up my photos on Google Photos anyway, as I have been religiously doing on my iPhone, so that I have a single place to go to for all my phones. This probably means that the Robin is just not the right phone for me because its biggest selling point is actually redundant to my usage habits.

7) I'm still not a fan of the Android interface and I should remind myself never to go back and court trouble again.

But here's what I have to give it credit for:

1) The battery life is great! I hear that the battery life for anything iPhone 6 and above is great, so I guess I was just suffering from the shitty iPhone 5s battery life, but hey, the Robin lasts a full work day with normal use, so that's alright. The only thing it doesn't stand a chance against, is Pokemon Go. Then again, no one's phone stands a chance against the battery-sucker of a game (great news for the portable charger industry), so this is not Robin's fault.

2) It is very thin and very light, which is a good combination considering that smartphones have been rapidly increasing in size and weight! It's actually lighter than my iPhone 5s with the protective casing on, but to be fair, my protective casing is reasonably heavy with the liquid and glitter within, so I kinda asked for that.

3) It has a good sized screen. Everyone who has seen it thinks it's great. I'm not a big fan of big screens, but if everyone else thinks it's cool, I gotta give it some credit.

4) It's a great conversation starter! Very few people have seen a Robin, and they're all like, "Woah what's that? It looks pretty/cool!" and then the conversation begins.

All in all, I would say that it's definitely a decent mid-range Android phone at a very affordable price, and it looks good too. It does most things well and most people should be reasonably satisfied. If you're an Android user, I reckon you'd LOVE it. Unfortunately, for me, the only thing that this Robin experience has accomplished is cementing the fact that I'm gonna be an iPhone user for the foreseeable future.