Nextbit Robin Review: This cloud has no silver lining

Nowadays, smartphones come in different storage variants, and many with no expandable storage option either. More often than not the only solution is to shell out more money to buy a higher storage variant. Even I had to settle for a 16GB model of the iPhone 6, because the higher storage variants were beyond my budget. Another workaround involves buying a lower storage variant, and back up your content on cloud services like Google Drive, OneDrive or iCloud in case of an iPhone. But what if a smartphone is able to automatically back up your data, and even your apps when your internal storage runs out? US-based Nextbit is trying to deliver this through its first smartphone, Robin.

Apple signs up to Google Cloud services

Apple has moved some of its iCloud services onto the Google Cloud, marking one of the most high-profile wins for Alphabet's rival to Amazon Web Services since it came under new leadership last fall.

Google has been a distant third in its race with Amazon and Microsoft's Azure as the trio vie for market share in cloud computing, but it has made strides since the appointment of industry veteran Diane Greene as head of that business in November.

Google also scored a victory with Spotify last month, when the music streaming service announced it would shift away from Amazon Web Services and move most of its services onto the Google Cloud platform.

Apple's move to Google comes as part of a broader diversification for its wide range of internet services, which include iCloud backups such as photo storage, music streaming and video downloads. Apple already uses cloud services from Amazon and Microsoft, as well as its own data centers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Apple could eventually take more of these services in-house, and it has disclosed plans to build three new data centres over the next two years, in addition to the four it already has.

As one of the world's biggest companies with rapidly growing needs for storage and computing, Apple is a prize customer for cloud service providers. Analysts suggested that it may be playing providers off of each other at a time of high competition.

Read More: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/17/apple-signs-up-to-google-cloud-services-in-major-win-over-amazon.html