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Securifi doesn't just want to make a router. Over the past year, it's been adding smart home features into its Almond series of routers, allowing them to control smart home products that work with ZigBee, and in some cases Z-Wave and Bluetooth (plus Wi-Fi, of course). Now, it's taking that work a step further with a new Almond router that is itself also a smart home device: a big alarm that can sound in the event of an intruder.
As we have always dreamed, our router can now blare a loud noise through the house
The new router, the Almond 3, can't do the entire job of a securing a house on its own. You'll still need to buy compatible sensors to tell if a window or door has been opened when it shouldn't have been. But once those are set up, you can have the Almond 3 sound an alarm whenever a sensor is tripped.
One of the benefits of Securifi building an alarm into a router is that the alarm can then do some smart tricks. For instance, the alarm can be set up to only monitor for intruders when it detects that you're away from home, something that it can tell based on whether your phone is connected to the home Wi-Fi network or not.
The Almond 3 is otherwise pretty similar to other Almond routers — although that still makes it pretty different from other routers. The Almond 3 isn't something you're supposed to hide away in a drawer: you're supposed to mount it on a wall in a central place in your home. That'll improve how well the Wi-Fi reaches every corner of the house, and it'll also let the router function as a central controller for your smart home products. As with prior versions, there's a touchscreen built into it that can display information like the weather and let you control your home.
The Almond 3's smart home connectivity is limited to ZigBee products by default, but Securifi says Z-Wave and Bluetooth access can be added on. This version of the router is also includes 802.11ac Wi-Fi. Unfortunately, Securifi has not addressed a key complaint with the original Almond router: it still looks more like a fat chip clip than an almond. It'll be available for $119 with sales starting in the "coming months."
