When attempting to grab something back from the cloud over cellular, you’ll be asked for approval first.
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That type of problem is at the core of what Moss and Chan’s company Nextbit is aiming to solve.
Backed by Google Ventures and founded by entrepreneurs central to the early development of Android, San Francisco-based smartphone startup Nextbit has launched the Robin smartphone which promises to leverage the power of the cloud and get smarter over time. You don’t, really – there’s only 32GB of actual storage inside – but it’ll feel like you have a ton more when it’s automatically moving several gigabytes of unused data to the smartphone equivalent of an offshore bank account. Robin’s operating system learns how you use your phone and pulls apps that you don’t use often to the cloud, freeing up space on the phone. The phone will automatically store certain items in the cloud as and when it deems necessary. The Robin comes with 32GB of internal storage (no microSD slot here) and 100GB of cloud space. “Because what’s on your phone should always be up to you, not up to us”, the Kickstarter page reads. The phone will push those photos off the phone and up the cloud but leave a locally cached thumbnail users can look at and click if they want to retrieve the full-sized photo. Those that aren’t will need to be downloaded again before they open.
It does it in a way that’s easy and seamless and nearly makes it as if you have unlimited storage.
Then, after you start running out of space (and after it’s learned your usage habits), the phone starts offloading some of your least-used content to the cloud.
During a demo, we watched the phone backup and remove apps from the device to make room for a 4K video that was being recorded. But, we won’t know exactly how well that aspect of the software works until the phone actually ships. Right now, the NextBit Robin is offered in only two color versions: mint and midnight. Heading up product and design for Nextbit is Scott Croyle, the former SVP of Design at HTC.
The phone’s hardware will be about on-par with other mid-range to high-end Android phones.
The Robin sports respectable specs, including a 5.2-inch 1080p display, Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) Snapdragon 808 processor, a fingerprint sensor in the power button, a 13-megapixel rear camera and 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a 2680 mAh battery. In an interview with CNET, Nextbit has said the phone “will perform better over time”.
Nextbit’s Robin is part of an ever-growing category of “affordable flagships” that also includes devices like the ZenFone 2 and Moto X Pure Edition. The first 1,000 phones will sell for $249. Right now it’s raising funds on Kickstarter, where Nextbit says a US$299 minimum pledge will get a Robin (early bird pricing, after that the minimum jumps to $349).
Nexbit is one of few startups that are hoping to succeed by targeting the low end with Android devices.
There is little doubt that the company will easily hit its 30-day Kickstarter target of $500,000 – probably within the first hour – but that is no guarantee of success.
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The smartphone market is notoriously hard to make any money in with Apple the only company pulling in sizeable profits. Ramon Llamas, a mobile and wearables analyst with technology market researcher IDC, says that most of the growth in the smartphone market is now coming from consumers buying entry- and mid-level phones.
