Nextbit will close its support doors end of the month
The writing has been on the wall for months now so this doesn't come as a surprise. After all, Nextbit is no longer the captain of its own ship, not after gaming accessory maker Razer bought it in January. Since then, Nextbit, or Razer, has slowly been closing doors. By the end of the month, the second to the last door will also be closed, with Nextbit ending most of its support channels once and for all.
Although it has been rumored before it happened, Razer's acquisition of "rebel" smartphone maker Nextbit is still a puzzling affair. What does a company most famous for making gaming peripherals, and at least one Android TV device, have to do with a smartphone maker? Of course, that can only mean Razer intends on creating its own Android-powered mobile device, most likely a gaming oriented one like the myriad of failed gaming phones and tablets in the Android graveyard.
That future, however, might still be far, far away. Owners of Nextbit's one and only smartphone, the Robin, are probably more interested in the present, as there is clearly no future for them. Last May, Nextbit closed down its community site, leaving users to resort to networking sites and third party forums for their fix.
By 31st July, Nextbit will no longer official support via phone or chat. In essence, that means it will no longer offer support at all. It probably shouldn't surprise owners since Nextbit/Razer did say they will only honor warranties up 6 months from the acquisition, which is exactly when support will end. They also promised security patches until 2018, but even bigger smartphone makers haven't exactly been consistent in providing that.
Hey Rebels. As announced earlier this year, phone and chat support for Robin end 7/31. Outstanding RMAs will be handled by email after that.
— Nextbit (@nextbitsys) July 12, 2017
This practically marks the end of life for the Nextbit Robin. Users who wish to take their phones forward will have to resort to Android ROMs like LineageOS, formerly known as CyanogenMod, but would lose out on the cloud services offered by the official firmware. Not that the service will remain operational forever, anyway. The last remaining "support" channel for users is for RMA requests, which can still be done via email, at least until further notice.