Page 3: Use, Conclusion
Use
When you boot the router, you'll be greeted by the nice and small display ready to go. Most people will want to setup a FrameChannel account if you don't already have one for use with this device. ASE Labs has three devices that use FrameChannel and to get separate content on each, you must sign up with multiple accounts. This is a hassle if you use multiple devices since you need to have a different name and password to get into FrameChannel's website. Maybe FrameChannel will change this in the future, but for now, you're stuck using multiple accounts. If this is your only device, there is nothing to worry about.
Navigating the device is straightforward. The only issue is the slight lag between the key press and the action. This becomes much worse while the router is under heavy load. We're pretty sure that the routing portion takes priority over all the other features of the device. To use use the picture functionality of the device, you need to add a SATA drive. If you don't have any drives available your only option is to use the FrameChannel website to add show pictures on the device which isn't a bad option but you lose the ability to show off pictures you haven't uploaded to the internet.
The frame is only 3.2 inches which is very small. The »DSM-210 we reviewed earlier had a 10" LCD and this was a good size to look at. With a 3.2" LCD, FrameChannel content is nearly unreadable. Forget about using the device for the latest RSS news since you basically can't read the text since it is too small. Pictures are a bit better, but not much. You'll have trouble getting details of pictures since you don't have much screen space to work with.
The LCD is very useful for giving status information. Without looking at a computer, you can see if you have a proper IP address and if the connection is working. This router is great for troubleshooting if you aren't near a computer. The speed of the router was fine, we never noticed any hiccups in the connection while in use. The NAS portion was a bit too slow for any sort of media sharing, but would be fine for storing pictures and documents. We had trouble getting the unit to push mre than 6MB/s on reads which is pretty low. This might be the Mtron SSD, but still. Laptop drives aren't really the fastest thing anyway.
We are proud to have a video review to go along with the textual counterpart. Please feel free to comment.
Conclusion
The D-Link DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router sells for about $230 (Newegg $229 at time of review). This is pretty expensive for a router, but since this device combines three things into one, it is a better deal than it looks. The routing portion is excellent, D-Link has experience making good routers. The storage portion is good. Hopefully D-Link will enable the device to use USB mass storage, though. The picture frame is just a bit too small to be very useful. It is fine for viewing pictures at a glance, but not for any detail.
Even with the small LCD, the DIR-685 is the only router that has this many features packed into one small package. Techies should be very happy with this type of purchase, but most readers will be better off purchasing a dedicated router along with other options for a NAS and picture frame. D-Link makes singular devices for these category as well so check those out. If you want a router that does it all, the DIR-685 is it.
ASE Labs would like to thank D-Link for making this review possible.
When you boot the router, you'll be greeted by the nice and small display ready to go. Most people will want to setup a FrameChannel account if you don't already have one for use with this device. ASE Labs has three devices that use FrameChannel and to get separate content on each, you must sign up with multiple accounts. This is a hassle if you use multiple devices since you need to have a different name and password to get into FrameChannel's website. Maybe FrameChannel will change this in the future, but for now, you're stuck using multiple accounts. If this is your only device, there is nothing to worry about.
Navigating the device is straightforward. The only issue is the slight lag between the key press and the action. This becomes much worse while the router is under heavy load. We're pretty sure that the routing portion takes priority over all the other features of the device. To use use the picture functionality of the device, you need to add a SATA drive. If you don't have any drives available your only option is to use the FrameChannel website to add show pictures on the device which isn't a bad option but you lose the ability to show off pictures you haven't uploaded to the internet.
The frame is only 3.2 inches which is very small. The »DSM-210 we reviewed earlier had a 10" LCD and this was a good size to look at. With a 3.2" LCD, FrameChannel content is nearly unreadable. Forget about using the device for the latest RSS news since you basically can't read the text since it is too small. Pictures are a bit better, but not much. You'll have trouble getting details of pictures since you don't have much screen space to work with.
The LCD is very useful for giving status information. Without looking at a computer, you can see if you have a proper IP address and if the connection is working. This router is great for troubleshooting if you aren't near a computer. The speed of the router was fine, we never noticed any hiccups in the connection while in use. The NAS portion was a bit too slow for any sort of media sharing, but would be fine for storing pictures and documents. We had trouble getting the unit to push mre than 6MB/s on reads which is pretty low. This might be the Mtron SSD, but still. Laptop drives aren't really the fastest thing anyway.
We are proud to have a video review to go along with the textual counterpart. Please feel free to comment.
Conclusion
The D-Link DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router sells for about $230 (Newegg $229 at time of review). This is pretty expensive for a router, but since this device combines three things into one, it is a better deal than it looks. The routing portion is excellent, D-Link has experience making good routers. The storage portion is good. Hopefully D-Link will enable the device to use USB mass storage, though. The picture frame is just a bit too small to be very useful. It is fine for viewing pictures at a glance, but not for any detail.
Even with the small LCD, the DIR-685 is the only router that has this many features packed into one small package. Techies should be very happy with this type of purchase, but most readers will be better off purchasing a dedicated router along with other options for a NAS and picture frame. D-Link makes singular devices for these category as well so check those out. If you want a router that does it all, the DIR-685 is it.
ASE Labs would like to thank D-Link for making this review possible.