The folks at Securifi are banking on the touch trend, unveiling the first touch- enabled wireless router, the Almond ($79 street). The Almond's touch interface is reminiscent of Microsoft's Windows 8 Metro interface because Almond too, has colorful tiles. Decent throughput, easy touch screen setup, plus the ability to operate Almond as a wireless extender, are all good reasons to consider this affordable Wi-Fi router. On the other hand, it lacks 5 GHz connectivity and has only two 10/100 Ethernet LAN ports. More worrisome: during testing, the touchscreen froze on me. I had to reboot the router to re-enable touch. Touch is compelling, but you may not want to give the heart of your network yet another reason it might need a restart.
Specs
Securify's Almond is a small device, measuring about 4.5 by 4.75 by 1.5 inches (HWD). The router is built to operate vertically. A large portion of the front of the housing is dedicated to the 320 by 240 pixel, 2.8-inch color touchscreen. I suppose you could operate Almond vertically, but the casing is slightly curved and the touchscreen's orientation does not change if you position the router horizontally.
The 2x2 MIMO antenna hardware provides up to 300 Mbps throughput at 2.4 GHz. The hardware is not the latest in the Wi-Fi market, but it's sufficient for connecting legacy 802.11b/g devices as well as 802.11n clients. The vendor's specs state the device can support up to 50 concurrent connections. While I didn't stress it to that extent in my testing, I did leave it running for three days straight, and the router stayed extremely cool the entire time.
There's a small stylus tucked away at the base of the router for more precise touch when selecting menu options. Since Almond and its screen are relatively small, those with less-than-slender fingers may find the stylus easier to work with.
Touch-Enabled Setup
Using a touch screen to set up a Wi-Fi router was, I have to admit, sort of fun. More importantly, the Almond's set up was quite easy.
Getting your Almond started is a matter of powering up Almond and then following simple, on-screen instructions. In a matter of minutes I had Almond configured as a wireless router. The device set up its own default SSID and passphrase (you can change both).
Menu options are on the Metro-like tiles and include, "Internet," "Security," "Wireless," "Range extender," "Help," and "More." Touching these tiles allows you to see or edit the router's configuration. Configuration options are very basic, for example, opening the "Wireless" tile lets you change the SSID or password and enable a guest network.? "Security" gives you the choice of changing the encryption level?it's WPA/WPA2 by default?or enabling a screen lock that can be unlocked with a password. You can also change the router's administrator password from the touchscreen.
Users can also view information such as device status, system log, and add devices. There are two options for adding devices; you can touch the "Add" tile, which simply displays the SSID and password needed for manually connecting other devices or you can touch the "WPS" tile/menu option on screen. There's no physical WPS button on the housing as there is on most routers, but you can press WPS and the router gives you three minutes to connect a client via that client's WPS button.
The only problem with having WPS within the touch interface rather than the screen, is if you accidentally touch the WPS tile and want to cancel there's no way to do so, you are stuck on that screen for three minutes. If you accidentally press an external WPS button on a typical router, of course, that does not interfere with you continuing to work in the management interface.
Touch Trouble
One issue I had in testing was that the touchscreen froze on me at one point. There was nothing to do accept reboot the device to resolve this problem.
Some features are more useful than others. "Connection" for instance gives you very light, basic network mapping as it graphically depicts your network connections. A really handy feature is the ability to update firmware with just a touch. After touching the "Firmware" tile, the screen indicated that a firmware update was available.? At a touch, Almond downloaded and applied the firmware? a far easier and more elegant process than most other routers provide for updating firmware.
You don?t have the option of setting any granular wireless settings with Almond, but it's targeted for users who probably wouldn't be interested in tweaking advanced settings (for more on tweaking routers, take a look at "10 Wireless Router Features You Should Be Using but Aren't") such as Frame Burst.
Oddly, within the wireless settings is an option to set the network to 5 GHz. Knowing the specs stated this is a 2.4 GHz-only router, I asked the Securifi team why this option was present. I was told this is a bug and there will be a firmware upgrade coming to fix it soon. It does make me wonder if the 5 GHz in the menu might indicate a dual-band version of Almond in the near future?
Fortunately, you aren't limited to the touch interface in case you aren't near the router, or there's an issue with the touch screen because Almond also has a web interface. It's got that same Metro-like UI as the touch screen's display. You can do a little bit more management in the web interface, for example, this is where you can change the wireless mode from Mixed to 802.11n-only.
Performance
For a 2x2 router, performance is decent, even on par with some 3x3 300 Mbps dual-bands I've tested. In 2.4GHz Mixed mode, throughput averaged about 55 Mbps. That speed did not get much of a bump when I switched into N-only mode; at the same distance I received 57 Mbps throughput. Here are charts comparing Almond in both modes to other single-band routers tested:
Novel Networking Device
Let's cut right to the chase; you aren't going to want to use Almond as a router for high-definition video streaming or for a network that has heavy gaming, or VoIP traffic.
There's no QoS and no 5 GHz band. What Almond provides is an easy way to setup a wireless router for Facebooking, chatting, emailing and your garden-variety Internet activity. I would consider Almond appropriate for my Dad, because he doesn't need an intense, expensive dual-band.
Almond is not available on the market just yet, but the Securifi website states, "Coming soon." The attractive interface and touch display is bound to draw tech neophiles looking for the latest, shiny gadget. And Almond looks more like a gadget than a router, making it more attractive than the typical router. Even better, for light Internet needs, it's got decent performance. I am a bit cautious about the touch screen freeze, and even though this is designed for those with light throughput needs, there ought to be at least Gigabit on the two LAN ports.? You can also get a router with similar or even better specs for about $30-40 online. Although the only pricing information available on Almond so far is "below $70," if the company prices the router not much lower than $70 keep in mind, you are paying a little extra for the touch screen. At the moment, Amazon lists Almond for $79, which seems a bit high.
Securifi tells me that a new firmware is due in August. The firmware is going to include Weather and Photo Viewing apps. That update is going to make Almond even more gadget-like. It's a novel approach to wireless networking and aside from a few concerns mentioned, it's not a bad single-band router, earning three out of five stars.
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