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.
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.
Funny they picked that shape. Does it remind anyone else of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooling_tower?
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?
It’s a wifi router. Why would it work any differently from any other wifi router out there?
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.
Use bing…problem solved
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.
Ok, note to self: Resist urge to smack the person frantically waving their phone near this router.
So basically, we’re bringing technology to idiots.
Idiots need technology too.
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.