Touch-enabled devices have come a long way from their early days and today we have a rich variety of input devices that will convey commands at the touch of your fingertips. One such application which has not seen any dramatic evolution is the touchpad, commonly seen in notebooks. The ubiquitous pointer peripheral has remained the same all throughout its inception but has received revitalized application thanks to gestures and such but the fact remains that it has been tied down to the laptop space all its life. For the desktop, the mouse still reigns supreme and there is by far no comparison but as with the touchpad, nothing has evolved from the simple point-and-click function.
ASUS has thought outside the box and presents to consumer a fusion of both input devices. A radical attempt but still manages to pique our interest. Today we have the ASUS VivoMouse 3-in-1 PC controller, touted as a multi-functional input device that offer maximum versatility. Is the VivoMouse all gimmick or do we have a winning formula here? Read on and find out.
SPECIFICATION
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ASUS packages the VivoMouse in a showy little box with the product showing through. Sandwiched between the top layer and main packaging are the included accessories for the VivoMouse which is a humble inclusion of a pair of AA batteries (DuraCell), a USB extension cord and the wireless mouse transceiver.
The ASUS VivoMouse Metallic Edition is well, metallic.But that only rings true for the paint job, the device itself is all plastic giving it a light build. The sandblasted paint looks fantastic and feels nice to the touch. The bottom of the mouse however features a soft-touch coating making it rough like very fine sandpaper. When done right, this kind of coating feels good but for some reason the one ASUS uses doesn’t jive with me.
The ASUS VivoMouse’s software (download from ASUS), includes gesture tutorials which guides the users on the possible actions with the mouse. The software also installs the Mission Manager utility which allows the VivoMouse to handle multi-window navigation without using the keyboard.
USER EXPERIENCE & CONCLUSION
We usually get peripherals in the lab that are mostly aimed for gaming and this surely is a huge departure from my typical long gaming sessions / usage testing. Regardless, we’ve given the ASUS VivoMouse a fair amount of excercise for each of its intended function: mouse, touchpad and remote.
As a mouse, the ASUS VivoMouse feels alright in the hand. The ambidextrous design makes it appropriate for both left and right-handed users and the body is just the right size for a good grip. What makes the VivoMouse different from most if not all mice is its touchpad which also acts as the left and right click button. The natural feel of clicking is there but the wide surface that replaces our traditional buttons takes a bit of getting used to, especially for those that swear by a scroll wheel. In terms of performance, the tracking on the VivoMouse is a letdown. We used the Razer Vespula, CM Storm HS-I and Roccat Sense mats to gauge which kind of surface the VivoMouse responds to well and as an optical mouse, it was obvious that the Sense soft mat would be the best choice. Sadly even with the use of a high-quality soft mat, the VivoMouse proves a bit unweildy as its tracking usually gets tied up and becomes unpredictable.
Moving over to touchpad duties, the ASUS VivoMouse proves a bit more cooperative. This may have been more its intended purpose as the mouse feet, which sorely need more glide, prove better suited as stands. Familiar gestures make the VivoMouse great for browsing and light usage. Last up, we have the VivoMouse on one hand as a remote controller. It takes a bit of getting used to as the feeling is a bit awkward as the immediate reaction when holding a device as such is that its capable of motion-sensing. Pretty much the same function as a touchpad but you can opt to use 2-hands. Perfect for a lazy browsing session.
So wrapping things up, we have ASUS presenting us with a new approach in navigating our computing experience. Although the idea is great, execution falls quite short of its presentation. The tracking problem, the choice for the glide base and the lack of gestures utilizing the full surface of the touchpad makes theรย รขโยฑ3,999 asking price seem like a steep premium for an obvious market experiment. We appreciate ASUS’ effort in creating such an attempt at unifying the different pointing peripherals and even trying to improve the Windows 8 experience, but with the wireless touchpad function the only function we think is the most functional a 5×4 touch-capable tablet seems to be the better option.
If you are looking for a wireless mouse or wireless touchpad, we suggest you look elsewhere.