Digital Home Thoughts: D-Link Ships Jack-of-all-Trades DIR-685

"D-Link has began shipping its Xtreme N DIR-685 all-in-one router that was first introduced back at CES in January. The device has a built-in draft N Wi-Fi module that allows it to communicate with network attached storage devices and a 3.2-inch LCD screen that lets it play streaming video or double as a digital photo frame."

Routers have gotten boring as of late. With no new wireless standards to push, and router speeds well in excess of what we can normally get through broadband, companies are looking for ways to get our hard earned money, and that leads to adding functions to their routers! In a sense, it makes sense. Routers do pack quite a bit of horsepower these days, and one might as well take advantage of it, especially since they tend to be considerably power sippers compared to a dedicated server. In fact, you see much the same thing happening to NAS devices. The DIR-685 does pretty much everything you would want, shy of being a full blown computer itself. I have seen routers with displays before, and considering where routers usually get placed, I tend to wonder about the utility of such a feature, but when a router costs $300, I guess you have to have something to explain the cost!