Nextbit hit the public eye hard with the release of the Robin, the first Android smartphone built for the cloud by allowing apps, games, files, and more to be stored in the cloud when not in use. This resulted in much appreciation by customers who purchased the device as many have seemed to be pleased.

The main reason the Robin is capable of this storage management method is the software installed on the device called Nextbit OS. It’s based on Android Marshmallow and does all the cloud computing stuff necessary to make the phone operate more off the internet and not so much natively on the device. And it works. If you read anyone’s review of the Robin, you’ll see it in full glory operating how it was intended. However, Nextbit wasn’t satisfied with the challenge to make cloud computing on an Android phone via software possible. They had bigger dreams.

Thus, today in a post in the Nextbit Community, Nextbit confirmed that the next version of Nextbit OS will focus on bringing lots more battery life to the Robin and at the same time be based on Android N. This update will be released in Q4 of this year and not just focus on little tweaks to disable Wi-Fi when you’re not on your phone to save juice, but go inside the device and actually improve operating time.

In Q4 we will launch a new version of Nextbit OS that gets to know your habits and optimizes functions at the system level to ensure you get the most screen time possible. Just like with smart storage, we can apply this on top of the features Google has implemented in Marshmallow and even on what has been announced for N, compounding the power savings to offer you true peace of mind.

No specific details are available about Nextbit’s efforts behind this battery saving-focused approach to Nextbit OS 2(?), however we do know that the company is especially going for longer standby times. Whether this will work in real life or not is undecided, however future testing of the OS will confirm if these new approaches to saving battery life actually work.

If you’re on Nextbit’s beta testing program for Nextbit OS, you’ll be one of the first to try out the new software update before it’s released to the public this fall.

You can read Nextbit’s full article about the upcoming update to the Robin below.

Damn, Nextbit. At it again.

Last year we said enough was enough. We didn’t see any innovation anymore. No one was solving the real problems people have now that everyone has a smartphone.

 

Most people run out of space on their phones and because they couldn’t or didn’t want to pay for additional storage. So we solved the problem by making the smartphone smarter instead of more expensive. We showed the industry you can launch a phone with a reasonable amount of flash and use the cloud to seamlessly augment that for near infinite storage. Since our launch, Google has been moving in the same direction with Google Photos, their new space creation dialog on Play Store installs, and to some degree Instant Apps. Even Apple has started to adopt similar methods, announcing a “store in iCloud” feature for macOS that works like smart storage. These are all steps in the right direction, but they still don’t work automatically behind the scenes like Nextbit OS does, – with true integration of phone and cloud.

 

We believe we are helping to push the industry forward, and it’s time to do the same thing again with the other big problem that nearly everyone experiences — battery life.

 

Because battery technology has improved slower than other technology, the industry has relied on more efficient processors and larger batteries (What do you think is under all those 5.5”+ screens?) to do their dirty work. These steps do give you more battery life, but the improvement is only incremental. Nextbit will solve this problem a new way – once again offering performance beyond just what the specs say.

 

We can apply the same intelligence we’ve used for smart storage towards making your battery last significantly longer. In Q4 we will launch a new version of Nextbit OS that gets to know your habits and optimizes functions at the system level to ensure you get the most screen time possible. Just like with smart storage, we can apply this on top of the features Google has implemented in Marshmallow and even on what has been announced for N, compounding the power savings to offer you true peace of mind.
Let’s save your battery before it needs saving. It’s time for a different approach. We can’t wait to share ours with you later this year.

Source: Nextbit

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