The Google OnHub router was unveiled recently as a sign that the mothership is full-on committed to getting into your digital home. Don’t be fooled by the classy, cylindrical design – although we wouldn’t blame you one bit if you did, it does look really nice – the router is powerful enough not just to bring you your internet connectivity, but also to be the central hub of Google’s plan to automate and digitize your home.
At the heart of it, the Google OnHub is a network router. Google has partnered with TP-LINK to manufacture this beautiful piece of hardware. The idea is to give you a strong connection within your household, and making security and working with your WiFi that much easier. The OnHub will be controllable via the Google On app, making it easier to secure and fiddle with your network settings.
The OnHub router supports smart devices that use Bluetooth, Google Weave, and 802.15.4 protocols – this is intentional. Google’s plan is to make the OnHub the central brain for new OnHub devices and other home automation elements. It will seamlessly connect with devices that run Google Brillo – Google’s project operating system for the “internet of things”. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai at I/O 2015, the Brillo developer preview will be coming out this quarter, so more news on that soon.
Google Weave is a communication protocol the mothership is developing specifically for Brillo-enabled devices, and the OnHub supports both Weave and Brillo. This is the beginning of “Google On”, which will be a whole batch of products and services designed for digital home automation, and the OnHub will be right smack at the center of it.
But let not these future implementations distract you from the fact that this new cylindrical router does in fact give your house a better WiFi connection, and looks good doing it. The cylindrical design is both aesthetic and functional, to give the device better throwing range for its signal. This OnHub is now up for pre-order, through Best Buy and Google online. The price range will be USD$199.99 in the United States and CAD$269 in Canada.
I don’t discount your opinion here, but the price is the head scratcher when you consider Google has a history of offering reduced or free services while they are secretly testing or refining another. The crack dealers of the tech world if you will.
If this is intended to serve as a “spy” for Google’s next phase of world domination, the price is going to hinder that plan because only techies who understand exactly what it can do will dole out the price. The early gen xers who are entering their money making years are the homes Google wants, but most of them don’t care about the routers capabilities….yet.
Considering its source, I am having a hard time disbelieving that this thing is not some sort of Trojan horse.