Hasta La Gadget!

If you are mad about gadgets, then surely shows such as CeBIT, the grand daddy of them all, CES, or even a more oriental slant like Computex would capture your attention, as you lap up the different kinds of news as well as press releases that different companies come up with. Asus is one such company, using the opportunity of launching yet another computer peripheral in their own backyard in the form of the Asus VivoMouse. Just when you thought that a mouse is a mouse, is a mouse, Asus comes along to try and prove everyone wrong. Now the Asus VivoMouse is not any kind of gaming device, but rather, it will be oriented more towards the office and serious crowd.

Just what kind of goodies does the Asus VivoMouse come with? For starters, it is highly versatile, since it can double up as a standalone touchpad and wireless remote. In a nutshell, you can go around to claim that the Asus VivoMouse is the first wireless mouse with an integrated multi-touch touchpad in the world, delivering not only full desktop but handheld control as well.

Certainly the lines of normal hardware categories are being redrawn all the time with each successive generation of peripherals that enter the market. Take the smartphone for instance – this category of gadgets have moved on from carrying a QWERTY keyboard to being a full touchscreen device, and now we have the screen size getting larger and larger until they start to encroach on tablet territory. I guess you can more or less say that the same is happening with the Asus VivoMouse, where it combines mouse, touchpad, and wireless remote into a single device.

It is said to be an entirely new kind of pointing device, courtesy of its innovative combination of traditional desktop input and a wireless handheld remote for a more casual PC control. When you want to use the VivoMouse as a standard optical mouse, it will fit comfortably in the hand, although its top surface would also boast of a large circular touchpad with full support for Windows 8 multi-touch gestures. Since it is wide and flat, you can use the VivoMouse interchangeably as a mouse and desktop touchpad, which makes it the ideal partner for Windows 8 machines. No idea on pricing, but the Asus VivoMouse will be out later this Q3.

Press Release
[ Asus VivoMouse announced copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

ASUS was rather cryptic about this little peripheral with its “It’ll move you” teaser, but now we get it. Dubbed the VivoMouse, ASUS claims this to be the world’s first mouse-and-touchpad hybrid, and it’s also wireless. One bonus feature here is that you can use it as a handheld remote with thumb control — presumably the thumb stays on that circular trackpad with ASUS’ iconic spin finish. We’ll know more once we get our hands on this optical mouse in a moment, so keep an eye out for an update here.

Update: Hands-on gallery added below, and there’s also a demo video after the break. The VivoMouse is actually slimmer than we expected, and when held in air, you can scroll pages by simply stroking along the lower edge of the circular trackpad. Other usual Windows 8 gestures are supported, including pinch-to-zoom, rotate, start menu toggle and sidebar toggle. The LED underneath the device uses blue light for better tracking as well. It’s a pretty slick device, but hopefully it’s won’t be too pricey, either.

Filed under: Peripherals, ASUS

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