Google unveiled the first OnHub router about two months ago, promising it would deliver speedy wireless internet access and easy-to-use controls. Now there’s a second OnHub router… and it has at least one new feature.

Unlike the original TP-Link OnHub router, the new Asus OnHub router supports motion control: you can wave your hand over the top of the router to boost the speed for a specific device using “Wave Control.”

The Asus OnHub router ain’t cheap: it sells for $220, which is about $20 more than the TP-Link model.

asus onhub_04

The Asus model is also a little larger (but lighter), measuring about 7.9″ x 5″ x 5.2″ and weighing 1.7 pounds (compared with 7.5″ x 4.1″ x 4.6″ and 1.9 pounds for the TP-Link model).

Other features include a tri-color LED for lighting at the base, a proximity sensor (for Wave Control), a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 4GB of eMMC flash storage. The router offers dual-band AC1900 speeds and has a single Gigabit Ethernet port.

Since these routers basically have the guts of low-power computers (some folks have noted that they’re practically Chromebooks), Google says they’ll get better over time thanks to software updates.

The company is rolling out the first software update soon, promising it’ll use a new algorithm to improve performance by figuring out which of the many antennae in an OnHub router should be used for which tasks.

Support Liliputing

Liliputing's primary sources of revenue are advertising and affiliate links (if you click the "Shop" button at the top of the page and buy something on Amazon, for example, we'll get a small commission).

But there are several ways you can support the site directly even if you're using an ad blocker* and hate online shopping.

Contribute to our Patreon campaign

or...

Contribute via PayPal

* If you are using an ad blocker like uBlock Origin and seeing a pop-up message at the bottom of the screen, we have a guide that may help you disable it.

Subscribe to Liliputing via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 9,544 other subscribers

10 replies on “Google and Asus launch an OnHub router with motion control”

  2. Isn’t it bad enough that Google is reading our email and tracking what we search for? Do we really want them to monitor everything we do online and in our home via wifi?

    1. It’s a wifi router. Why would it work any differently from any other wifi router out there?

      Importantly, the Google On app and your OnHub do not track the websites you visit or collect the content of any traffic on your network.

    2. What’s so bad about it? I love it. Great service and for some reason people pay them a boat load of cash on the other side. I’m not sure why. But I like what they’ve done with their money generally and am pretty happy being one of the tiny cogs that make it for them.
      Overall impact on my privacy online from using Google services as opposed to something else. Zero.

  3. Is it a cultural thing or an age thing or…. I mean, motion control on a router? What the hell…
    You know what would have been a cool feature? If I could just use it easily as a WAP. I understand the first one has no allowance for this so I’m assuming the same here as they probably spent all their time on that motion control feature. For a router.

  4. Ok, note to self: Resist urge to smack the person frantically waving their phone near this router.

    2. Idiot proof is technology’s Holy Grail.

      We’re living in a transitional time where much of the guts of computer technology is still exposed to the end user. That’s not going to last forever. In another generation or two, nobody will need to know how to configure a router, or figure out which cable connects your laptop to your TV, or install a new operating system, etc.

Comments are closed.