Quick review: Nextbit Robin camera

Quick review: Nextbit Robin camera

The Nextbit Robin is a brand new smartphone that started its life as a Kickstarter project. The first units are now shipping to project backers, and the device is now available for order to other consumers as well. On the surface the Robin looks like any other Android phone, albeit one with a pretty pleasing design. However, both the Android operating system and the Nextbit hardware have been optimized to make the Robin the first real cloud phone.

When the device is connected to Wi-Fi and plugged into the charger it automatically backs up apps and photos to the cloud. When you start running out of local storage space on the device, files and apps you haven't used in a while are archived. This means they are deleted from the device but grayed out app icons and image thumbnails are still visible. When you tap on an archived app or photo it is downloaded from the cloud, so you can access it again from your device. Depending on file size and internet connection this can take a short while. On my home Wi-Fi an app typically took around 30 seconds to restore. If you prefer you can also 'pin' an app to ensure it is never archived. 

In the few days I've spent testing device, the archiving and restoring process worked without any problems, making the Nextbit Robin and interesting option for those who like installing large numbers of imaging apps and/or like to keep all their images accessible through the device's gallery app. That said, at DPReview we are of course most of all interested in the Nextbit Robin's camera performance. Read on to find out how it performs in the imaging department.

Key Specifications:

• 13MP camera with phase detection AF
• F2.2 aperture
• Dual-tone LED flash
• 4K video
• 5MP front camera
• 5.2-inch IPS LCD 1080p display with Gorilla Glass 4
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chipset
• 3GB RAM
• 32GB onboard storage
• 100GB online storage
• Stereo speakers
• Fingerprint reader
• Quick charging
• 2680 mAh battery

Camera app

The Nextbit Robin comes with a basic but intuitive camera app that offers a nicely designed user interface, in line with the Nextbit Android launcher. By default it's on full Auto which gives you very little control. A tap on the '+' symbol at the bottom opens up flash, controls, a timer, grid and HDR switch. A dot grid icon lets you switch between Auto camera, Manual camera and video mode. Having to press two controls before being able to record a video seems a little longwinded though, maybe a better solution can be implemented with a future update.

The Manual mode gives you control over AF, ISO and white balance and an exposure compensation slider but you cannot set shutter speed manually. There is currently no panorama mode but the team is planning to add one at a later stage. Overall the Nextbit camera app works reasonably well but is designed for point-and-shoot operation. Photographers who want more control over the image capture process should not have any trouble finding plenty of third-party camera apps on Google Play, though. 

Image Quality

We took a range of sample shots to have a look at the Nexbit Robin's camera performance in different light conditions. The Robin delivers good exposure across the ISO range, with punchy colors. The auto white balance produces natural results in most situations. The two images below were taken in bright sun light. As you can see in those conditions the camera does a god job at resolving fine detail. Some smearing of low contrast detail is visible but overall textures are very good for a camera in the 13MP class. Sharpness is decent across the frame but softness is noticeable around the edges. Shadow noise is fairly well controlled as well.