@Nexbit Robin #Cloud #smartphone means @Motorola, @HTC, @Xiaomi, @Asus, @Lenovo and @LGus Cloud OS Revolution

“The response has blown us away, and further proven that a fresh approach to smartphones that solves real problems is something people want in their hands. With that, we are putting new stretch goals in place to keep the interest high to take us through the end of the campaign, which is in 15 days”

Nextbit, creator of the Robin Cloud based smartphone, commenting on surpassing their Kickstarter goal

The idea of a Cloud based Computer is alive and well in the form of Google Chrome products such as Google Chrome Laptops as well as the as-yet-to-be-released Google Chromebit as described in my blog article entitled “@Google launches Google Chromebit, Haier and Hisense Chromebook and @Asus Chromebook Flip - @Microsoft Productivity vs @GoogleChrome OS low Price”. 

So a smartphone that runs on web apps that are located in the cloud, albeit new, isn't novel. Still, this didn't stop Americans from supporting the kickstarter for the Robin, a cloud based smartphone from the company Nextbit as reported in the article “The smartphone with crazy cloud storage just hit its Kickstarter goal”, published September 1, 2015 by Roger Cheng, CNET News.

The Robin Cloued smartphone Kickstarter launched on Monday September 1^st 2015 has already achieved its initial kickstarter goal of US$50,000 with some 3,182 backers.

With just ten (10) days to go to its Thursday, October 1^st 2015 8:45 AM EST deadline, the Robin Cloued smartphone Kickstarter has already raised some US$1,195,070 in funding as reported in “Cloud-based smartphone hits $1M on Kickstarter -- double the original goal”, published September 15, 2015 by Steven Musil, CNET News.

They'll now be launching their Robin Cloud based smartphone on Verizon, adding to the AT&T and T-Mobile Version they've made thus far as reported in the article “Nextbit's Robin phone, which taps cloud for 100GB of storage, adds Verizon version”, published September 17, 2015 by Roger Cheng, CNET News.

So what's so exciting about this cloud based smartphone that’s got even Telecom Provider excited?

Nexbit's Robin Cloud based smartphone - Why Cloud OS smartphones may be the next evolution of smartphones

Founded by former Executives who'd worked with HTC and Google now CEO and Co-Founder Tom Moss and CTO, Co-Founder Mike Chan and Chief Product & Design Officer Scott Croyle, the Robin promises to be a smartphone that has no limitations on Storage of Apps.

Because it leverages the power of the cloud for External Storage, its measly 32GB of internal storage is augmented by a whopping 100GB of Free Cloud Storage.

Like the Xiaomi, makers of the low cost smartphone the Xiaomi Redmi as detailed in my blog article entitled “US$130 5.5” Xiaomi Redmi Note Phablet goes on sale in China on Tuesday March 26th 2014 - Low-cost Unlocked Phablets the next Tablet in China's Year of the Horse” , it's being sold directly to customers.

So although you can go to the Carriers and purchase your Robin smartphone, because it's a kickstarter, your Robin will be shipped to you by May 2016. Quite a bit of time to wait for a smartphone which may result in its specs becoming dated! So expect frequient updates of their design to challenge the latest and the greatest in the future.

The Robin smartphone is a 5.2” IPS LCD Screen made of Gorilla Glass 4 with a rather rectangular profile. It’s very lightweight at 150g which isn’t surprising, given its dimensions of 149mm x 72mm x 7mm. It comes in two (2) colour schemes as shown below:

1.      Mint

2.      Midnight

It's running Google Android 5.0 Lollipop smartphone with a 1080p screen that’s powered by a Qualcomm's hexa-core Snapdragon 808 chipsets with 3GB of RAM support. It also support USB-C port, which means no more fiddling with the microUSB cable to find which end is up.

 

It’s got a 13 Megapixel Rear-facing Camera with phase detection autofocus, dual tone flash and a 5 Megapixel Front-Facing Camera, which means this rectangular beast is perfect for selfies.

For the entertainment minded it has Dual front facing stereo speakers with support for Bluetooth 4.0 LE, making it easily pairable with a set of US$300 Sennheiser Urbanite XL Wireless headphones as detailed beautifully in my MICO Wars blog article entitled “US$300 Sennheiser Urbanite XL Wireless headphones unique Touch Interface in Wireless Mode”. 

Support for Wi-Fi A/B/G/N/AC and LTE Bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 17, 20 and 28 means you can connect to the Internet via any router or 4G LKTE enable cellular Network, a must for this smartphone to really work.

it also a very versatile smarpthone with support for 850Mhz, 900Mhz, 1800Mhz and 1900 Mhz GSM (Global System Mobile) Networks such as AT&T and T-Mobile as well as 850Mhz, 900Mhz, 1800Mhz, 1900 Mhz and 2100Mhz on the WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiplex) Networks such as Sprint and Verizon.

Fingerprint sensor and NFC suggests that this smartphone also comes ready to support Android Pay as described in my blog article entitled “1 million US Retailers for Android Pay - Why Samsung Pay Alliance with Asus, HTC, Lenovo and Xiaomi is coming”, should you opt to use it in the future.

The support for Wireless Charging is not included, but the Robin makes up for this flaw with support for Quick charging for it fairly large 2680 mAh Li-Ion Battery.

More interestingly is the internal storage of 32GB. This is augmented by 100GB of Cloud storage an special software that detects the apps, photos, videos and MP3 files you use the least and slowly backs them up into the cloud using any available Data Service it can detect, be it 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution)or Wi-Fi.

This is the magic that’s got everyone excited, as that means no more running out of cloud storage space and having to choose between keeping files or deleting them.

Best of all this feature is automated and free, unlike other manually-initiated third party cloud storage options for smartphones, such as OneDrive, Google Drive and even Dropbox's Loom for Apple iPhone users as reported in my Geezam blog article entitled “Dropbox acquires iOS App Loom as it steamrolls towards the launch of its IPO”.

Nextbit Robin Cloud OS smartphone - Why Motorola, HTC, Xiaomi, Asus, Lenovo and LG will partner with Google and Microsoft 

The promise of this smartphone is what has many excited; unlimited storage on a smartphone. So no more deleting smartphone apps and other of your precious content!

Currently most Cloud Storage Service are third party app that you have to install and pay for storage above 100 GB as detailed in my blog article entitled “How to create and manage a 100GB Virtual Cloud Drive including Google Drive and Dropbox - My 100GB+ Cloud Drive Dream as the popularity of my blogs is Hunger Games Catching Fire”.

To get that much Cloud Storage, you'd have to pay for it; the Robin comes with free Cloud Storage built in for free, almost like a Google Chromebook.

However, due to the ease with this can be done, I'm surprised that Google hasn't thought of make a Google Chrome OS smartphone as well. Rest assured other smartphone OEM like Motorola, HTC, Xiaomi, Asus, Lenovo and LG will easily copy this feature in an alliance with their Google Drive or Microsoft OneDrive.

But what if the OS was also cloud based as well as I'd predicted a long time ago in my blog article entitled “HP TouchPad a target for Modders - PopCaan Raving Chicken Run Lazarus Effect for Cloud-Based Chrome OS Tablet”? 

That is to say, the entire smartphone's interface was just one big browser window with Web Apps that would only work on the Internet? Quite possible, albeit that would mean that the price for 4G LTE would have to be very low for you not to worry about breaking your Data Cap or the caps would have to be set very high.

Also it couldn’t be Google Android or Google Chrome OS, which is already hosted on its own set of Google Servers. This implies a new Cloud based OS, tailored specifically for smartphones, may be in coming in the future to create this cloud based smartphone that I’m dreaming and speaking about in my article.

This may seem far-fetched, but with 5G on the horizon by 2020 as pointed out in my blog article entitled “ITU publishes 5G IMT-2020 Roadmap - Why US Telecom Providers, @Digicel_Jamaica and @LIMEJamaica like to travel off the beaten Path”, Cloud OS for smartphones and even Tablets may not be too far off in the future.

With Cloud Storage getting cheaper and cheaper, the Nextbit Robin, albeit not a Cloud OS based smartphone, may be the first step in the direction of this delightful and elusive Unicorn.

Here’s the Link;

Nextbit’s Robin Cloud Smartphone on Kickstarter