A Wi-Fi router is our gateway to the information superhighway. Once connected, Google tends to be our first stop. According to them, “we count on Wi-Fi more than ever to be entertained, productive, and stay connected, we’re streaming and sharing in new ways our old routers were never built to handle.” With that in mind, Google announced its newest product, the OnHub Wi-FI router.
Google, along with TP-Link, designed the router to be showcased instead of hidden away. They claim to have “replaced unruly cords and blinking lights with internal antennas and subtle, useful lighting.” I – and my wife – find it slightly resembles Amazon’s Echo.
The OnHub also provides consistent, high-speed transmissions. It scans available channels and selects the fastest to use. You can also select a device to be prioritized above others to ensure it gets the fastest speeds.
In the name of simplicity, the OnHub is controlled by an app that will be available for Android and iOS. The app will allow you to set up and manage the router. Additionally, it lets you run diagnostics and suggests solutions when issues arrive. It even allows you to text your friends the router’s password when they need to connect to your Wi-Fi.
Google states the OnHub will support Bluetooth, ZigBee, and Weave. They’ve also partnered with Asus to bring other OnHub devices to the market later in the year.
The OnHub is currently available for pre-order for $199.99 from the OnHub site, but there no shipment date provided. For more information visit the Google Blog or OnHub.
Source: Google
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
I think for this high $200 price they should have included a minimum of 3 LAN ports, and not just 1.
Apple Airport Extreme, close in price, offers 3 Gigabit Ethernet Ports.
Yes, one can buy a gigabit switch to go with this Router, but that is more money to spend, and yet another powered box one has to have on the table.
You are missing the point of this device. It is not supposed to have a ton of cables hanging from it so you can locate it more centrally in the home. Besides, who the hell still uses LAN?
Don’t be one of those persons who think that because you don’t use something, nobody does. Like some teenager comment I read about “who still uses e-mail” in the era of smartphones.
Who uses LAN? Almost anyone using a desktop. Yes, you can use WiFi with then too, but in the first big file transfer you really miss Ethernet.
My Samsung laser printer is Ethernet connected into my Router, as is a small computer connected to my TV via HDMI.
Oh, and so many of my friends and family also have multiple devices connected via Ethernet.
It would have been very easy for them to put in 3 Gigabit Ethernet ports into this new router, just like Apple has in their tall Airport Extreme.