Razer might be looking to get into the smartphone business

Is a Razer smartphone in the works? Apparently, it is. A new report from Bloomberg claims the company is working on one. And it’s targeting an IPO in Hong Kong around October that could value the business at US$5 billion. According to the report, some of the funds will be used to build this gaming-centric smartphone. It’s not an unlikely move for the company, even with its current focus on gaming laptops and peripherals. Razer bought smartphone company Nextbit earlier this year. They have said it’ll operate as an independent company but they haven’t really spoken about plans for Nextbit since then.

We won’t know at the moment if the phone will be sold under Nextbit or Razer and when it could be released—if it does hit the market. But with the IPO scheduled later in the year, we’re sure we’d have to wait until next year for this rumoured smartphone to come out (if it ever does, that is).

Nexbit opens online store, limited number of Robin smartphones available for sale

Nextbit and its Robin Android smartphone have one of the most refreshing and exciting takes on what a modern smartphone should be. The company has just unveiled its online store and to celebrate, they have made a limited number of models available for purchase. Running the Nextbit OS, the Robin is a cloud-connected smartphone sold unlocked and with an open bootloader. 

The Robin runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor. It has a 5.2-inch 1080p IPC LCD display featuring Gorilla Glass 4, 32GB of onboard storage, 100 GB of online storage and 3GB of RAM. Cameras are a 13 MP rear shooter with autofocus, pahse detection and a dual-tone flash plus a rear facing 5MP number. It features a Fingerprint sensor, quck charge USB Type C and is compatible with most GSM and CDMA bands. Cost is US $399 but with the Canadian dollar being what it is, expect to pay upwards of CAD $530.00

Source: Nextbit

Nextbit Robin to start shipping on February 16th

Bucking the usual trend of gadgets taking too long to ship on crowdfunded sites, Nextbit has just announced they plan on starting shipment for its Robin handsets on February 16^th. The Robin is touted as the first “cloud-first” smartphone, meaning it’ll offload apps and data to a free 100GB cloud storage bucket when not in use. These bits of information will then be restored when you need it. Of course, we can’t say how smoothly this could work in real life just yet.

Early backers get first dibs, of course, so the first 1,000 should get their phones first. These are the GSM versions though. The CDMA models will come out at a later, unspecified date.

Source: Kickstarter | Via: Android Police

Newcomer NextBit to launch first smartphone next month

Who says the smartphone market is crowded? Apparently, it isn’t crowded enough. A newcomer with former Google and HTC executives running the company is looking to penetrate the mobile phone industry. NextBit, the company behind Baton a cloud-based tool to help you move files between Android devices, is planning to launch its own smartphone on September 1^st. There aren’t any leaks yet or details released by the company but according to Chief Executive and former Google exec Tom Moss, they’re trying something different with their devices because people are experiencing some sort of phone fatigue. In case you’re wondering, Moss is co-running the company with another former Google exec, Mike Chan, and with former HTC design chief Scott Croyle.

Source: Android Community