Gigabyte has introduced the Aivia Xenon, a dual-mode touchpad mouse that resembles the flat head of a black serpent. As the description indicates, this peripheral lives a double life, serving as both a laser mouse and a handy touchpad thanks to its shiny black surface. Gigabyte calls it the "world's first-ever," and we believe it.
According to the specs, the new peripheral provides a "mode" button, allowing users to easily switch between the touchpad and mouse functions. In mouse mode, an LED glows blue and turns most of the gadget's top surface into one large "left" key. On the side is a button for the "right" key and one for free scrolling, the latter of which activates limited touch capabilities in the "operation zone."
When the peripheral is switched into touchpad mode, the LED turns purple. The operation zone then splits into a touchpad zone and a smaller scrolling zone, requiring users to turn the gadget horizontally. The previously assigned "left" key switches into "right" key mode, but the free-scrolling key remains the same while adding an Aivia Painter function.
In both modes, the Aivia Xenon is capable of multi-touch gesture controls which can be customized by the gadget's accompanying software. Surf two fingers on the operation zone right to left to visit a previous page, or do the exact opposite to pull up the next page. Touchpad also includes two extra gestures including "previous picture" and "next picture" commands.
Included with Gigabyte's peripheral is the company's exclusive Aivia Painter software. As previously stated, it's activated within the touchpad mode by pressing the free-scrolling key once it's downloaded and installed from Gigabyte's website. In addition to the software, the Aivia Xenon offers 1000 DPI resolution, a wireless distance of 10 meters, and a report ratio of 125 reports per second. It's compatible with Windows 98, 2000, ME, XP 32-bit, Vista, and Windows 7.