Nextbit is a fresh mobile startup that's already off to a hot start with its first phone, Robin, which raised more than $900,000 on Kickstarter in just its first week of crowdfunding. The phone isn't coming to retail until early in 2016, but we've had an opportunity to get our hands on some pre-production units and see what Robin — and Nextbit as a whole — is all about. Here's an early look at the hardware it's bringing to market, and a little more on its company strategy as well.

Robin is one of the most interesting looking (and feeling) devices I've had my eyes and hands on in some time. Part of that is the unique "mint" and white color scheme, but this is a very cool device in the darker blue (almost black) color as well — and the color I expect a majority of sales to come in. Robin looks nothing like the rest of the smartphone industry today, and it's refreshing. It looks nothing like the rest of the smartphone industry today, but Robin certainly has ties to the look of the solid polycarbonate Nokia phones of yesteryear as well as the color and sharp lines of HTC's Desire phones (Scott Croyle, Nextbit's designer, is formerly of HTC). The phone is flat on all sides without feeling sharp, and it has just a few subtle design flourishes that make it stand out. Dual speakers flank the display, there's a notification LED on the top edge of the phone (so it can be seen even when the phone is face down), and an array of four LEDs on the back plate indicate cloud activity happening in the operating system. Some more subtle additions are a fingerprint sensor in the side power button, and a USB-C port on the bottom for charging. Robin definitely stands out without trying too hard to be flashy and intense. There aren't any chamfered metal edges, swoopy curves, bits of chrome or superfluous design elements — and I find that incredibly refreshing. It's just a phone, with some very clever design decisions, and one that I'm initially a fan of aesthetically. Reactions from around the Internet have been slightly more mixed to be fair, but I think the overall feeling is positive, as is mine. On the inside you're getting plenty as well — particularly considering the $399 price. Robin has a Snapdragon 808 processor, ample memory and a decent 32GB of storage, a 5.2-inch 1080p display, 2680 mAh battery, 13MP camera, and a few other little perks like quick charging, NFC and a two-tone camera flash. The internals aren't really the big focus of Robin, and I'm OK with that so long as there's enough inside to power the experience it wants — and it seems like there is.