Last Updated on 10/16/2019 by Mark Beckenbach
LatticeWork enters the crowded hybrid cloud storage market with the introduction of their new Amber Personal Hybrid Cloud Storage Device
As photographers, the issue of where to store our images is an age-old challenge going back to the analog days of prints and negatives. While the shift to digital meant that most of our images now exist virtually, we live in an age where everyone has a camera in their pockets. The ever-increasing megapixel count has resulted in the continued growth of raw file sizes. Earlier this summer, we were introduced to a new NAS (network-attached storage) device called Amber from Silicon Valley-based startup LatticeWork. As the company’s cheeky marketing claims, Amber is not just “another pain in the NAS.” It aims to be a simple to set up and easy to manage hybrid cloud storage solution that leverages Artificial Intelligence to help keep everything organized and easily accessible. There are two versions of Amber available. Amber One comes equipped with a pair of 1 TB hard drives, while Amber Plus doubles the capacity of the included hard drives. For this review, we evaluated an Amber One, which was provided to us by LatticeWork. Storage capacity aside, Amber One and Amber Plus are functionally identical. Curious to know how it fared under real-world conditions?
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Intuitive, app-based setup process
- Data is stored on a redundant array for added protection
- Face Recognition AI helps to visually locate people found in photos stored on Amber
- Works with TimeMachine for backing up macOS devices
- Allows secure and private sharing of data without having to rely on public third-party services
Cons
- Buggy mobile apps
- Many functions are not accessible via the mobile and desktop apps, requiring you to use Amber’s web interface
- Inconsistent, often sluggish performance
Gear Used
We tested the Amber One Smart Storage Device with a custom-built PC (running Windows 10 Professional, version 1903 – May 2019 Update), an Apple MacBook Pro (running macOS 10.14 Mojave), and an Apple iPhone 7 Plus (running iOS 12.4).
Tech Specs
Tech specs for the Amber One & Amber Plus taken from Amber’s official spec sheet.
| Device | |
| Processor | Intel® Dual Core Gemini Lake CPU |
| 1.1GHz Burst up to 2.6 GHz | |
| Memory | 2GB 2400MHz DDR4 Onboard Memory |
| Models | Amber One (AM1211-1) / 2 x 1TB HDD |
| Amber Plus (AM1211-2) / 2 x 2TB HDD | |
| Connectivity | |
| Connection Ports | 1 x RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet WAN Port |
| 2 x RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet LAN Port | |
| 1 x HDMI 2.0 Output | |
| 2 x USB 3.0 Ports (1 x Type-A, 1 x Type-C) | |
| Wireless | AC2600 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) |
| 2.4GHz / 5GHz Dual-Band Dual-Concurrent Wi-Fi | |
| 4X4 MIMO | |
| Wi-Fi Encryption | WPA2 Personal, WPS Support |
| Access Control | Port Forwarding, Virtual Servers |
| NAT Forwarding | UPnP, Port Forwarding, Virtual Servers |
| DHCP | Server, Client List, MAC Binding |
| IPV6 | Static IPv6 (6RD), Static IPv6 (DS-Lite) |
| Beamforming | Yes |
| Parental Control | Yes |
| Guest Network | Yes |
| Amber OS | |
| Network Protocol | SMB, AFP, FTPS, HTTP, HTTPS |
| File System | Home Folder / Shared Folder: BtrFS |
| VPHome Folder: LocFS (Optimal Cloud FS) | |
| External Drive: NTFS, FAT32 | |
| Supported RAID Type | RAID 1, 0 |
| Backup | Rsync Client / Rsync Server |
| Time Machine Server | |
| Snapshot | Supports Shared Folder Snapshots |
| Max. Snapshots per Shared Folder: 256 | |
| Max. Snapshots of all Shared Folders: 32768 | |
| Local Account Management | Max Local User Accounts: 256 |
| Max Local User Groups: 256 | |
| Max Shared Folders: 256 | |
| Data Security | Data Transferring: SSL v3 I TLS v1, |
| Volume Encryption with AES-256 | |
| Supported Client Platform | Windows 7 and 10 |
| macOS 10.11+ | |
| Supported Browsers | Chrome 60+ |
| Firefox 55+ | |
| Edge 40+ | |
| Safari 10+ | |
| Interface Languages | English, Traditional Chinese, French, Spanish, German |
| Companion Apps | |
| Mobile App | Amber Manager iOS (10+) |
| Amber Manager Android (6.0+) | |
| Amber LiFE iOS (10+) | |
| Amber LiFE Android (6.0+) | |
| Desktop App | Amber LiFE Windows (7 / 10) |
| Amber LiFE macOS (10+) | |
| Amber LiFE Apps | |
| Backup | Amber LiFE Desktop: Real-time Folder Backup via EzBackup |
| Amber LiFE Mobile: Auto Camera Roll Backup | |
| Sync | Amber LiFE Desktop: Sync Folder Between Desktop and Amber |
| Casting | Output: HDMI + Chromecast + DLNA |
| Media Format: Videos + Images | |
| Video Streaming | HLS streaming for Video Playback with Smart Play |
| Adaptive Streaming Resolution Based on the Quality of Connection | |
| Support for up to 4 Concurrent Video Streams | |
| Al Indexing | On-Device Al Object Recognition of File Contents |
| Accessibility | Companion Apps can Access Amber from the Internet or Local Network |
| File Versioning | VPHome Versioning File System |
| Version Quantity: Limited Only by Disk Space | |
| Version Retention: Up to 30 Days | |
| Cloud Service | 2GB LatticeNest Cloud Storage: Free |
| Appearance | |
| Size (H x W x D) | 6.69 in x 6.30 in x 6.30 in |
| 170 mm x 160 mm x 160 mm | |
| Weight | 4.4 lbs / 2000 g |
| Other | |
| System Fan | One, 92 mm x 92 mm |
| Ring Indicator | Adjustable Brightness |
| Night Mode Feature | |
| Error Notification | |
| Power Recovery | Yes |
| Acoustic Noise Level | 19.9dBA at Idle |
| Power Adapter | 65W |
| Input Voltage | 1 00V to 240V AC |
| Power Frequency | 50/60 Hz, Single Phase |
| Power Consumption | 16.0W (Access) |
| 12.4W (HDD Hibernation) | |
| 7.1W (Router Only) | |
| Certifications | FCC, UL, CE, BSMI, USB-IF, HDMI |
| Wi-Fi Certifications | FCC, NCC, MIC |
| Warranty | 1-YR Standard Warranty |
| In the Box | Amber Unit x 1 |
| Quick Start Guide x 1 | |
| Welcome Card x 1 | |
| AC Power Cord x 1 | |
| AC Power Adapter x 1 | |
| RJ-45 LAN Cable (CAT Se) |
Ergonomics
Ergonomics for the Amber Personal Hybrid Cloud Storage Device taken from our First Impressions article.
Here’s what the Amber looks like from the front. As we said, it’s pretty much just a black box with LED lights, vents, and ports. Don’t think of it as something Apple-esque. Liken this instead to something more on its own playing field.
The top of Amber has this vented area along with the blue ring. This lets you know that it is on and activated for you to work with.
At the back of the Amber units are the ports. There is one USB C, one older USB, HDMI, ethernet, and power.
Build Quality
The exterior of the Amber is made from high-grade plastics with a matte black finish. At a glance, it looks like a rounded black cube with a glowing ring on top. Think Borg Cube meets Tron. All of the ports are tucked away in the back of the device. This helps to keep cable clutter to a minimum. Glowing ring aside, Amber is designed to be a set-it-and-forget-it device. As long as you’re not moving the Amber around after you’ve set it up, not much harm will come to the device. Treat it as you would a desktop computer or printer. Storage capacity differences aside, both Amber One and Amber Plus are functionally identical.
Ease of Use
Getting the Amber setup out of the box is simple, and you can do it from your phone using the free Amber Manager app. Begin by connecting the Amber to your modem or router, and then connect the power adapter and power it on. Simply follow the onscreen instructions on the Amber Manager app at this point, and your Amber should be up and running within 15 minutes or so (longer if your Amber needs to install firmware updates). After the setup process is complete, you’ll need to download the separate Amber LiFE app to interact with your device. We’re not quite sure why LatticeWork decided to utilize two different apps instead of combining all of the functionality into one unified interface. Perplexingly, you can’t access a lot of Amber’s advanced functionality and management features through the apps. This requires you to log into the device’s web user interface instead. Once the Amber is up and running, you can begin using it to store your valuable data. You’ll have to upload files manually from your computer onto Amber using the desktop version of Amber LiFE.
Amber allows you to share files stored on it securely with others by generating unique public links. You have the option to limit who can access the data as well as when the links will expire. You can also set up backup tasks to automatically backup specific folders on your computer onto Amber. Most NAS devices have a dedicated backup utility running automatically in the background. But you’ll need to fire up the desktop Amber LiFE manually. Then you’ll need to keep it running at all times for the backup tasks to be able to watch for changes in the backup enabled folders. Apple acolytes can use Amber as the backup disk for TimeMachine. According to Amber’s online support knowledgebase, you have to log into Amber’s Web User Interface (WebUI) to configure this functionality. Why this wasn’t an option within the Amber LiFE app, we’ll never know. Sadly, the frustrations don’t end there. You can also set up bi-directional syncing between your computer and Amber using the Amber LiFE desktop app, but there is no way to sync more than one folder. This is an odd design choice on LatticeWork’s part. Unfortunately, it limits Amber’s syncing capabilities, and I’ve never run into this issue using other NAS devices.
“We’re not quite sure why LatticeWork decided to utilize two separate apps instead of combining all of the functionality into one unified interface. “
Unlike the desktop app, the mobile version of Amber LiFE is designed for you to access the data while you’re on the go. With the mobile version of Amber LiFE, you can generate outgoing public links to files stored on the Amber as well as backup images from your phone’s camera roll onto the device. When you fire up the Amber LiFE app, it will automatically back up new images that haven’t been uploaded from your phone’s camera roll.
One of the technologies that LatticeWork built into Amber to set it apart from other network-attached storage devices is AI-powered facial recognition. When enabled, images uploaded onto Amber are automatically analyzed so that you can easily and quickly locate images using the faces rather than finding them manually. Throughout our time testing Amber, we believe its facial recognition AI to be a bit hit or miss. Understandably, faces that appear to be looking straight at the camera were most likely to be correctly identified. The faces that are looking off-axis or semi-covered by things like sunglasses easily threw the AI for a loop.
Every so often when trying to locate images using the Face Recognition AI, we got this sad-looking error robot seen in the above screenshot. We’re not quite sure what resulted in this error, but it happened with enough regularity that it warranted mentioning.
In fact, we encountered the sad robot every so often as well when trying to access other files. Seeing too many sad robots turned us into sad humans.
In addition to managing your data and allowing you to find images of people using facial recognition, Amber can also function as a WiFi router. Plus it can stream music and transcode videos stored on the device using the mobile app. Since most photographers in America already have a pretty advanced wireless network setup, we didn’t test out Amber’s WiFi functionality. However, that can be handy for someone using an older router or setting up a new office and doesn’t have one in place yet. While music streaming worked as advertised, the mobile app’s built-in music player failed to display embedded metadata from the MP3s I was playing. Transcoding video never worked properly, whether locally on wifi or remotely using 4G. Whenever we tried to play a video stored on the Amber via the mobile app, it would get stuck trying to load for what seemed like an eternity.
“In fact, we encountered the sad robot every so often as well when trying to access other files. Seeing too many sad robots turned us into sad humans.”
Conclusion
While LatticeWork’s tongue-in-cheek marketing claims that Amber isn’t just “another pain in the NAS,” the reality is that Amber fails to deliver on that promise. It feels very much like a product stuck in beta. Much of Amber’s more advanced functionalities are all but inaccessible via the desktop and mobile apps. This means you need to log into your Amber’s WebUI from a browser before you can manage them. This is a huge knock against Amber in terms of ease of use. Many leading network-attached storage devices on the market have excellent mobile apps that allow you to interact and manage your device while you’re on the go. Unless you’ve got a solid foundation in working with network storage tech, having to dig around Amber’s WebUI can be daunting for many. Speaking of mobile apps, the Amber LiFE mobile app suffers from regular slowdowns and graphical glitches, and frequently failed to communicate with the Amber One we were testing. When it worked, the Face Recognition AI did help to visually locate photos of people by face quickly. In reality, we saw the sad error robot more often than the photos we were looking for.
The inclusion of LatticeWork’s own LatticeNest cloud storage services feels like an afterthought. It’s not really tied into your Amber’s local storage, and honestly, 2 GBs worth of storage is laughable by 2019 standards. The inclusion of a Wireless-Ac router may have been a novel idea to the engineers at LatticeWork when they were designing Amber. In practice, it just adds a feature that will only be helpful to a tiny group of people and further drives up Amber’s cost. In 2019, you’re really not going to be in the market for a network-attached storage device if you don’t already have a good enough wireless router. Hopefully, LatticeWork can address at least some of these issues via firmware updates along with polishing their desktop and mobile apps.
The Amber Personal Hybrid Cloud Storage Device earns three out of five stars. The Amber One (equipped with a pair of 1TB hard drives) and Amber Plus (equipped with a pair of 2TB hard drives) are shipping now for US$549 and US$649, respectively. That’s a big chunk of change to drop on a storage solution that doesn’t deliver on all of its promises. We’d probably look for alternatives or wait for a product revision.
