Gigabyte Aivia Xenon TouchPad Mouse Review

1. Introduction2. Gigabyte Aivia Xenon TouchPad (Packaging)3. Gigabyte Aivia Xenon TouchPad4. Software and pairing up with PC and Macintosh5. Real World Testing6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

Today we are looking at a world first from Gigabyte, the new Aivia Xenon Dual mode TouchPad Mouse. This device can double up as an ordinary mouse and a fully fledged touchpad, similar to a laptop model. Is this hybrid mouse actually practical, or just a cool talking point with little real world usability?

As we will show you today, this is certainly an unusual product and Gigabyte deserve some credit for bringing it to market. It can act as an ordinary wireless mouse, complete with 1,000 dpi optical sensor. This is certainly not going to get the hardcore gamers excited, however it would be fair to say that the Aivia Xenon is targeting a wider mainstream userbase.

At the press of a button the Aivia Xenon will morph (literally, not physically) into a mobile trackpad and this is obviously the main talking point. Gigabyte also supply ‘Aivia Painter software' to allow the user to mark any document. Ideal for presentations with small audiences.

Gigabyte Aivia Xenon Specifications:

Dimensions: 95mm x 55 mm x 19 mm
Weight: 68g
Sensor: Laser
Colour: Shiny Black
Resolution: 1000 DPI
Buttons: Power/Mode/Left/Right/Function. Multi Touch Gestures
Battery: 2 x AAA
Warranty: 2 year.

The Gigabyte Aivia Xenon mouse arrives in a fairly large black cardboard box with a high resolution image of the product on the front. It is certainly eyecatching, with the piano black shiny glass style surface taking centerstage along the top.

The back of the box highlights the fact that this is the ‘world's first ever dual mode touchpad mouse'. There are three diagrams explaining the intuitional gestures, free scrolling and dual mode. More on these later.

The outer shell of the box slides out exposing the main package. This is thick cardboard and opens up to reveal the mouse and accessories. Inside is a quick user guide, two AAA Duracell batteries and the wireless receiver. Unfortunately there is no place in the body to store the tiny receiver. This would help for people using a laptop system on the move.

The Quick guide is well written and explains all the aspects of the mouse interface. There is no software included, however you can grab it directly from the website, over here.

The mouse is ‘clunky' by design, which is a complete contrast to the plethora of streamlined, cutting edge gaming mice we review on a regular basis. The top surface is glossy and reflective, almost like a glass surface.

The mouse raises at the rear intentionally, so it makes more contact with the palm of your hand. The ‘Aivia' name is engraved into the plastic chassis.

The left side of the mouse has a single LED at the front corner, this changes colour depending on the active mode. The front button changes the mode – a Blue light indicates ‘mouse mode' and purple light indicates the ‘touchpad mode'. The second button turns the mouse on and off. There are angular lines cut into the plastic to improve grip.

The right side of the mouse also has two buttons. The front, fatter button is the ‘right' mouse button, which immediately raised a red flag for me. Checking with the manual I realised that the top part of the mouse could only handle the standard ‘left' click.

The secondary button next to the right button is the ‘free scrolling' option. When activated, the mouse movement will scroll the active window in the desired direction.

Underneath, the 1000 dpi laser beside the door.

The door slides open to reveal the battery compartment underneath. There is no weighted system with this mouse sadly.

The software is based around gesture control, of which there are plenty.

All of the gestures can be customised in the various sections, as shown above. We found they worked well and will appeal to people who use gestures frequently on their laptop.

As we discussed earlier in the review, this mouse can be used in two different modes. Like an ordinary mouse and as a trackpad. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TBHEdeRPFU']

Above is a quick video we recorded on Windows 7 64 bit showing the mouse in ‘TouchPad mode, meaning you can use it in the same manner as a laptop trackpad. This may be useful for presentations, and even watching media files from a sofa with a computer connected to a television some distance away. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGlaXaE601U']

Again, we tested the mouse with an Apple Macintosh 17 inch computer running the latest OS X operating system. Both modes worked perfectly fine and it doesn't require a third party driver install.

Initially I wasn't that impressed with the Gigabyte Aivia Xenon TouchPad Mouse. It is extremely light to move around and adding the two AAA batteries only increases the weight a little. I opted for a thick CM Storm mouse pad to help maintain smooth movement on a slippery surface.

The boxy shape of the mouse isn't instantly a design that I found compelling, or comfortable to use. After half an hour I found my rather large hands adapting to the shape a little.

My biggest issue with the Aivia Xenon mouse is the position of the right mouse button. There is no way to configure the primary top surface to accept both left and right button functionality. You therefore have to stretch your third (or fourth) finger over the corner of the mouse, pressing the side mounted button when needed.

After the first hour I was mentally forcing myself to stop pressing the right side of the top surface. It would be safe to say that we are all used to the left and right button taking up equal space along the top of the mouse.

Moving a finger down the side of a boxy chassis is awkward to do on a regular basis, and I found my finger would accidentally click the thinner button spaced physically closer to the hand. To compound the frustration when this button is accidentally pressed it toggles the ‘free scroll' mode, stopping the mouse pointer from moving completely.

Due to the small size of the Gigabyte Aivia Xenon my fingers were often close to the top edge of the mouse. Not a problem you might think, but I noticed that sometimes the mouse didn't seem to register a click when I pressed down.

The official Gigabyte diagrams highlight a dotted blue area called the ‘operation zone' (image above), and it would seem that there are a few millimeters on all corners which will not register activity.

To seek a second opinion on this problem I asked a (physically small) teenage clan gamer to play with the mouse for a full day. He didn't experience the ‘edge' problem, but he did mention that the limited DPI resolution was more of a concern for him, especially with first person shooters. He wasn't impressed.

Gaming with this mouse is not the best experience. I don't seek out mice with extraordinarily high sensitivity ratings to play games. Regular readers will remember my review of the CM Storm Sentinel Advance II Mouse – I found the best settings to be around 2,000 dpi. Opinions on this will obviously vary greatly.

Sadly, there were times when I felt 1,000 dpi just wasn't quite high enough, especially when gaming. Thankfully many games have a sensitivity option, however it never seems quite as good as native sensor settings.

When using Windows 7 on a 30 inch screen, 1,000 dpi on this mouse was relatively comfortable, although I used the Windows 7 mouse properties panel to enhance the pointer precision and increase the speed just past the half way point. This was ideal for Adobe Photoshop and other professional applications.

In this regard the mouse tracking is very smooth and impressive, although I still found myself flailing awkwardly for the right mouse button.

Touchpad mode is quite impressive initially, and just as good as a quality laptop trackpad experience. That said, I tend to try and avoid using a laptop trackpad at all when possible, opting for a small bluetooth mouse, such as the Razer Orochi.

The Aivia Xenon TouchPad has been set up with a side section just for scrolling as can be seen in the image above. Sadly, the ‘free scrolling' and right click button are now underneath the mouse which is also impossible to access, without moving your hand completely from the Touchpad zone.

I found the greatest use for this mode was when I had a computer attached to a television and wanted to control the mouse pointer directly with a finger. If i was being completely honest however I would still prefer to use my long standing Gyration Universal MediaPC remote and keyboard suite as shown above.

The Gigabyte Aivia Xenon TouchPad Mouse is a unique design and has grabbed plenty of attention recently from the public. When I first saw the product I was impressed with the concept and was really looking forward to getting my hands on it for a longer period of time.

First impressions unfortunately didn't live up to my self inflicted hype. The Aivia Xenon is very small and large hands just dwarf the product completely. This makes it less than intuitive to use as fingers overhang the top area of the chassis.

There are several millimeters on each edge of the mouse which don't register at all so I found myself often readjusting my hand position to target the active section across the top. If you have small hands then it should be a more positive experience.

After much perseverance over the course of several days my hand adjusted to the light weight and diminutive size reasonably well. The 1,000 dpi resolution is far from state of the art, but in the majority of circumstances it was actually quite responsive and easy to use, particularly with applications such as Adobe Photoshop.

There is however a massive issue with the mouse which I simply couldn't overcome, no matter how hard I tried.

The position of the right mouse button is unforgivable in my opinion. It is almost unusable, offset on the side of the mouse chassis. This alone would make me question the research and development stage of the product creation. Did no one raise a concern with this position?

It is even more awkward to access in Touchpad mode as the mouse is rotated 90 degrees to the right, moving the button position to the underside of the chassis, bottom right. It doesn't help that Gigabyte have positioned a ‘free scrolling' button millimeters from this button. If you accidentally press this, then the mouse pointer refuses to respond to general movement, until it is pressed again.

The Aivia Xenon is almost a fantastic product, but not quite. It falls short of greatness.

Gigabyte need to make it 20 percent larger and find a way to incorporate the right mouse button into the right side of the top panel. If they can do this and increase the engine sensitivity to a maximum of 2,400 dpi then it would be a more viable option for a wider audience. Building a little slot into the bottom of the chassis to store the tiny receiver would also be beneficial for laptop users.

UK pricing has yet to be confirmed, however we are expecting it to cost around £30 inc vat.

The Gigabyte Aivia Xenon TouchPad Mouse is certainly worth a look if you are interested in using a new device with your computer, but I would be surprised if it replaces a main system mouse.

Pros:

• Looks great.
• 1,000 dpi sensor is surprisingly capable.
• versatile gesture commands.
• wireless.
• good option for a media center environment.
• software download for custom configurations.

Cons:

• gamers will want more than 1,000 dpi.
• right mouse button is awkward to access in both modes.
• not suited for big hands.
• No location in the chassis to store the tiny receiver.
• No weighting system.

Kitguru says: If you want to play with a new gadget it is certainly worth a look, even with the aforementioned problems. I hope to see some improvements with the next revision.

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