The Forgotten Nextbit Robin - 2024 Review

[@91Tech]

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? Join the discord! - discord.io/91tech

[@11SanicYT]

Hi 91 Tech

[@hemantthkessani9324]

Can you please pin the link to buy it on ebay

[@tomielcapodeamnesia]

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 😂

[@chriswright8074]

LG

[@johnphillips4783]

Yup, I miss my Huawei P9 lite :/

[@SAHATK]

​@@johnphillips4783🫵🏽🫵🏽🫵🏽🫵🏽😟🫵🏽😟🫵🏽😟🫵🏽😟🫵🏽😟🫵🏽🫵🏽😟😟🫵🏽😟😟🫵🏽😟😟🫵🏽👏

[@samholdsworth420]

Windows phone!!!

[@pepito69]

HTC One M9

[@vintagewander]

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.

[@estherstreet4582]

Seeing it today I still think it's absolutely gorgeous, I love the pops of colour in a minimal design.

[@Tommymad1]

I love phones with color. I wish more phones looked like that

[@hmst5420]

The same!

[@ventilate4267]

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.

[@EliSantana]

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.

[@pepito69]

When I think of plastic phones I miss, I think about my galaxy S3

[@kindofanmol]

CMF just launched a really cool plastic phone! Also the Nothing Phone(2a)!

[@SeyyenYT]

What a blast from the past! I had one of these puppies.

[@dougroe4042]

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

[@emilsecker7881]

How the hell did you live with 32GB of non expandable storage? 🤣🤣

[@kotaktapak5919]

@@emilsecker788132 was amazing. 16 was ok back then.

[@glossymouse7712]

​@@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.

[@tamwilfred]

@@emilsecker7881 At that time I think most phones had only 32GB as the norm.

[@PinotNoir_]

i really like that candy bar design, boxed square phone with a tiny bezel should be the way! no notch, teardrop, or punch hole!

[@realkeqing]

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

[@jejunamja]

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

[@LeMassiveNoob]

Love seeing you explore these old, obscure devices. Absolutely love the Robin's design, makes me miss the chonky bezels a bit.

[@Rainquack]

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.

[@JayTechZM]

This was one of the first tech products I did a video on in my early KZbin career. What a blast from the past

[@Bort_Simpson]

Ur fired

[@justjake8095]

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

[@kindofanmol]

Never knew I needed tech-nostalgia until I found this channel

[@TamaraGirodie]

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!

[@Photo0021]

Only thing I remember of this is JerryRig snapping it like a candy bar lol

[@MrRicearonie]

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

[@exturkconner]

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.

[@joeykickassery]

v20?

[@exturkconner]

@@joeykickassery LG V20. The last flagship spec phone with a user replaceable battery.

[@Jezee213]

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.

[@JulioOther]

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.

[@sihamhamda47]

You can even move apps you download to the SD card, but that feature got killed when Android 8 comes out

[@glossymouse7712]

​@@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.

[@donotatme]

@@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.

[@lillexus5589]

@@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.

[@StephenFasciani]

@@glossymouse7712 That's exactly why the feature got canned. hard to find a flagship android phone with sd storage these days.

[@sanjanphukan]

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.

[@fantasytky28]

"Ended up selling it" literally explained itself

[@Bai183]

i was so obsessed with this phone in 2016 when i was 10-11 years old

[@t.t.3753]

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.

[@syn010110]

I had one of these. It felt SO fragile. And 32GB was cramped even in 2016.

[@Gemdation]

*JerryRigEverything moment*

[@Tommymad1]

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

[@Valenslays]

This was my first phone and absolutely loved it

[@dougroe4042]

Thanks for bringing me back to the Golden age of smartphones❤

[@justjake8095]

I remember working with someone who had one of these phones, looked pretty cool imo

[@valleymykel-mq7gw]

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 KZbin and could actually buy it. Definitely brings back some memories. It broke though

[@LawrenceFreimann]

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.

[@BearRava]

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.

[@tobinstech8185]

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!

[@catfan5618]

He got hacked?

[@tobinstech8185]

@@catfan5618 Yeah a while ago. It was really too bad for his channel, he had over 1 million subs before he was hacked.

[@eirinym]

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.

[@jFiire]

I agree with you 100%. What a shame 😢

[@TeraByte38]

I still remember the JRE durability test of the Nextbit Robin. It bent. Once.

[@docyagamikiko]

These retro tech revisits are ok... But i think we NEED a retro console revisit 91tech style!

[@FennecTECH]

Im still in love with the physical appearance of the next bit robin

[@chickeneaster]

LOVED those inserts of "courage" 😂😂 Laughed more than I thought I would

[@JemZard]

I didn't expected to hear Ice Cap Zone to be played as a background music lmao

[@SchnoekerOriginal]

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.

[@fantasytky28]

"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

[@CASSXD03]

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

[@gehadsheha4775]

I agree a lot haha. I immediately thought it was a Sony Xperia clone from 2015 as well.

[@zidviziouz]

I used to to do tech support for Razer when they took over Nextbit and launched the Razer Phone. Occacionally people would reach out for support as they were still in warranty. The policy for Nextbit support was to refer them to a Nextbit support address that everyone knew would not get answered or had no resources to actually provide any support. The Razer phone itself was plagued with some core issues and quickly phased out. The funniest was that if you would set it down on your razer wireless mousepad for their wireless charging mouses, you would fry both devices and not covered by warranty since they put a sticker on the cable saying not to do so...

[@tylern6420]

Why didnt they just make it shutoff power when it detects unusual current draw Theres no way a mouse draws more than 1A

[@zidviziouz]

@@tylern6420 same reason it took them 10 years longer than everyone else to add memory to their mouses so you can have custom profiles without running Synapse. Razer is a fashion company, not a tech company.

[@zidviziouz]

because then they would have to put some effort into it. @@tylern6420

[@VinnieGillespie-pq3pt]

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!

[@B0B4]

i was OBSESSED with this phone as a kid. I thought it was the coolest phone ever

[@Garrettdx1988]

Whenever I think about this phone, I always think about that Jerryrig video. It folded like paper. Despite that, very cool phone.

[@ACBR_Robotics]

I had one of these! It was an awesome phone, and I was sad when it finally died. It was the best!

[@Andrew982_]

I remember this as the first time I saw JerryRigEverything have a phone fail his test

[@TechMa-iv8bm]

I had bought one or two on Ebay for $108 brand new, greatest value ever.

[@TuneTamasha]

i remember it, i even contributed to it and have merch lol, they were chill people

[@mt.sefuri3909]

8 years later, I think the design is pretty revolutionary. I mean some phone brands TODAY have kinda followed some of the design

[@sanjeethreddypothi5624]

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?

[@Longgerlongsing]

I remember this phone, I saw it in Jerry rig everything's video.

[@ImpracticalJkrs]

I can't believe I'm seeing the nextbit in 2023

[@NehemYah810]

Crazy cause I never had this but still think about it. Mainly cause of videos of it snapping in half 🤣

[@Mario-qq4in]

Last Software update : november 2016 😅

[@braelinmichelus]

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.

[@LadiesMan.217.]

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

[@sp1cychilli985]

Razer phone was my non ironical favorite smartphone of all time. Even when i changed it because of battery life i kept it as my desk notification display and pc web cam . In a world of ugly shaped phone this straight beauty was a blessing

[@holderofallknowledge604]

my friend had a nextbit robin. I liked the way it looked and thought it was cool.

[@thetruejay20]

It definitely looks nice, I would take a phone that looks like that with today's specs in a heartbeat.

[@animedudevid]

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.

[@nithpro1385]

Ica Cap zone from sonic 3 is such a peak background music lol

[@AmpheonELC]

I had one for a couple years in highschool but me dad and I hacked the firmware to upgrade the android version 😊

[@abdelrahmanaref8868]

The way I was introduced to this brand was with Jerryrig snapping it in half

[@CardozaCreativeMinds]

I owned the red one. Gave it to my friend. It was nice for its time.

[@JlandelMoncada1]

I miss using my LG Nexus 5. That was the best phone I ever had.

[@baritonemonke4273]

This was my dream phone back in the day. Really wanted one😔😔

[@Daiarthaine65]

I still have a working Robin. It’s a fun little brick.

[@SApcProSergijAleksovski]

This phone really looks like a mix of the design from Sony and HTC phones. Pretty cool design!

[@ibawon]

Thanks for taking us down memory lane

[@celebrityrog]

I wanted this phone so bad, it was sold at a store around the corner from my work. I never bought it because I wasn't sure which color I wanted and the fact that it was a bit more expensive for relying on cloud storage and being never bought by Google. I was HOPING Google would buy it as its comical looking like their logo.

[@SpyroTheGerudo]

The only reason I remember this phone was because of how quickly Jerryrigeverything folded it in half 😂

[@viralpromax3748]

Design was literally nextbit 🔥

[@CaseyDarwin]

That Play Music icon, damn I miss it!

[@namithm128]

I bought one used, it for almost 2 years, battery backup was terrible, but UI was pretty good

[@RedRaven65782]

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.

[@limaxmusic533]

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

[@rohanb-ef2xh]

the concept of the nextbit robin was good but the execution could've been better. i think what google did with the unlimited photo storage on the pixels for a while was the right way to go.

[@avinandanmondal]

Hey 91tech please make more old phone reviews from 2014-2018 era

[@ravioli0239]

I remember really wanting one of these when it was released

[@ComeAtMe]

I remember watching Jerry rig everything snapping it in half like a pretzel

[@solidrecord7288]

this ALMOST was my first phone, never forget

[@HNMusic13]

I also remember JerryRigEverything's video where he effortlessly snapped it in half

[@Fr3ud]

Still have mine somewhere in my drawers. Love that phone but sadly the battery is almost toast at this point

[@thekakan]

Nexbit Robin was 8 years ago?! God damn, man. 😭

[@Leo-uk2hj]

I had one of those, the battery started bulging so I got it recycled, was a great phone doe.

[@reuploadboi]

a video on the essential phone would be good too, it also seems to be forgotten

[@c.n.crowther438]

Make no mistake. Small companies are just as incompetent at managing user data as big tech is and are probably selling copies of it way more frequently.

[@piyushv8026]

The only thing I remember about the next bit robin was the bend test fail in jerry rig everything’s channel lol

[@lanerj]

I bought one of these brand new when they were popular and accidentally dropped it face first onto concrete. First phone I ever bought brand new :(

[@dikkado]

I just remember how JRE break this without a sweat, even the breaking sound so crunchy. But i don't know Razer bought the company, the irony when I have razer logo as my pfp.

[@ryanhtran]

I remember wanting this just because of the design

[@AbsolA7Seven]

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

[@StormyP101]

I bought these for my parents as a Christmas gift. They were very cute, very unique for the time. However, they didn't last. The two units I gifted had bad batteries that swelled in less than a year of normal usage. It's really too bad, they were decent devices other than that.

[@11SanicYT]

Hi 91 Tech, good videos as always

[@ThoughtlessDestiny]

I had one of these and remember how bad the speakers, battery life, and heat it put out was. I loved the design tho and wish Razer didn’t kill it.

[@MrPenriquez]

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)

[@Kitfox942]

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.

[@pidiameter8917]

Can we get an Essential Phone video?

[@Friday_V7]

I wanted one of these so bad back in the day

[@bachkim4485]

Apart from the specs the design was brilliant

[@armandovasquez6718]

I still have the Razer Phone 2, the charging port always gave me problems, by now is just only chargable by wireless.