Remote Wonder II
We've had samples of Remote Wonder II, ATI's latest generation of own-branded remote control hardware, in HEXUS Labs for some time now. This review is the perfect time to talk about it a bit more, the latest version of ATI's software suite containing up-to-date support for Remote Wonder and Remote Wonder II products. Remote Wonder I was a remote you'd also find bundled with hardware from other vendors. It was bulky, fairly poor to use especially for mouse control and didn't impress HEXUS at all. Remote Wonder II is a result of feedback from customers who requested that ATI seek out a new remote and receiver solution so they could better utilise the AIW hardware.
The remote is very large, moreso than I'd like it to be in a perfect world. There's a lot less weight than you'd expect with only 146g to wield which is about the weight of recent mobile phones, give or take. The directional pad is far too sensitive for my liking, the slightest brush across its surface activating it. The mouse buttons are nearby and very often you'll brush the D-pad as you try to press them. When using the mouse control function in Windows, that more often than not results in moving the pointer away from the UI object you wanted to click on.
Software control over sensitivity and mouse pointer acceleration is available but, for this reviewer at least, it's not enough to mask the issue. The length of the remote means that I found myself constantly sliding it up and down in my hand (quiet at the back!) while moving from the EASYLOOK button at the top with the AUX buttons you can map to other application functions, to the mouse control in the middle (ish) and the numeric buttons I tend to use for quick channel changing near the bottom.
You can press the D-pad up and down to choose channels, but that means cycling through a whole host of channels (especially when tuning DVB-T!) in order to get to the one you want. If you're like me, you'll use memory of channel numbers to jump around the channel list a bit quicker. That navigation around the remote makes it a pain in the backside to use, in my opinion. As always, human interface devices are a purely subjective thing. My love for Apple's keyboards is anathema to friends of mine that swear by heavily canted, split ergonomic keyboards. I can't stand Logitech's MX700 mouse in my hand, but friends of mine swear by them as the best thing ever.
So my disappointment with Remote Wonder II is a personal one. With the remote and its USB radio receiver set to be bundled with the majority of All-In-Wonder standalone products, it'll make its way into the hands of many an AIW user and if like me you have girly digits, you might find the large, poorly weighted remote control a frustrating experience.
Range and response from the receiver was fine throughout testing, good range available and the software never missing a beat. I like to setup the Remote Wonder software to control Winamp for me, when I'm working away at my PC listening to music. The Winamp plugin is still part of the default software installation and works right out of the box with little setup time and cost.
Better than the terrible Remote Wonder, but far from perfect.
