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Razer Buys Nextbit (betanews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the out-with-the-old-in-with-the-new dept.

BrianFagioli quotes a report from BetaNews: Today, startup Nextbit announced that it has been acquired by PC accessory maker Razer. True, it seems like an odd acquisition, but not any stranger than Razer buying THX. With that said, getting into the smartphone game seems like a very risky business, as more established companies -- such as HTC -- are struggling lately. Has Razer made a mistake? "I'm thrilled to announce that we're joining the Razer family! They're rebels like us, they speak from the heart, and they share our need to push boundaries. Nextbit will operate as an independent division inside Razer, focused on unique mobile design and experiences. To put it simply, we'll be doing exactly what we've been doing all along, only bigger and better," says Tom Moss, Co-Founder and CEO, Nextbit. Nexbit turned a lot of heads a couple of years ago when it released the Robin, "the first Android phone that makes running out of space history." The device's onboard storage is merged with the accompanied cloud storage, allowing Robin to seamlessly back up your apps and photos, archive the stuff you're not using and restore items when you need them. Unfortunately, you will no longer be able to purchase the Robin from Nextbit as the company has stopped selling the device and all accessories. Though, they "will continue to fulfill warranties for 6 more months" and "will continue to provide software updates and security patches through February 2018."

12 comments

  1. Who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who is Razer and Nexbit? No one has even heard of "Robin" either. And who is Brian Fagioli? Sound like a fat geek?

    1. Re:Who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Does Razer still require users to make accounts and login to a remote server to use drivers and software for their peripherals?

    2. Re:Who? by Pax681 · · Score: 1

      Does Razer still require users to make accounts and login to a remote server to use drivers and software for their peripherals?

      Yes they do if you want the full functionality of the devices

    3. Re:Who? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gay.

      Oh well, Logitech still makes the best stuff anyway.

  2. LOL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm thrilled to announce that we're joining the Razer family! They're rebels like us, they speak from the heart, and they share our need to push boundaries. Nextbit will operate as an independent division inside Razer, focused on unique mobile design and experiences. To put it simply, we'll be doing exactly what we've been doing all along, only bigger and better

    Translation: We'll never release another product and the acquisition will be written down in a couple of years when Razer gets bored of us losing money.

  3. Re:Go Trump by PopeRatzo · · Score: 1

    Not enough is done to kick stupid useless indo-chimps and sand n1ggers out the country.

    Uh-oh it looks like Steve Bannon's hitting the cocaine and flavored vodka again. He better be careful, because he looks like he's about two bumps away from having a Breitbart.

    --
    You are welcome on my lawn.
  4. Seems consistent with the Razer philosophy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Buying a company whose business idea is based on putting your data in the cloud is consistent with what Razer is doing with their f..ing drivers. Required to login to use the f..ing mouse for god sake!

    1. Re:Seems consistent with the Razer philosophy by decipher_saint · · Score: 1

      A few years ago Razer changed it's driver software that gives you configuration options you can save to their cloud

      Why anybody would ever use this is beyond me, but it's par for the course for a lot of gamer-marketed hardware support (see: nVidia's GeForce Experience)

      --
      crazy dynamite monkey
    2. Re:Seems consistent with the Razer philosophy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Disclaimer: This is the situation from two years ago, not sure if it is different now.
      You needed to be logged in to use the full functionality of the driver. It is a mouse (razer naga), used for moba games, with additional buttons on the side. It worked without being logged in, but not all the functions were enabled, for example those side buttons were just mapped to numeric keys. Could be that some other functions were also disabled, but don't remember now, and I wont be bothered to find out. It was very uncomfortable mouse to use anyway.

  5. Re:Go Trump by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    dont quit your day job.... well, assuming you have one. And given the amount of blathering you do here, I guess you probably don't.