Review: Voviggol Finger Ring Presentation Clicker

I was packing for FOSDEM when I suddenly realised that I'd lost my clicker. Disaster!

Here's a shortlist of what I need in a presentation remote:

1. Ring style to fit on my finger
2. USB-C
3. Works on Linux
4. Frickin' lazor beams!

The only one I could find which matched all that was this Voviggol unit.

Ring

Here's how it looks hooked to my hand:

The ring is stretchy and will fit around the thickest thumb. It grips the finger tight and didn't fly off even when I was gesticulating wildly.

USB-C for everything

It uses USB-C for charging and comes with a removeable dongle which has both A and C connectors. The dongle attaches into the clicker with a magnet.

If you connect the clicker to a computer to charge, it doesn't show up as a device.

Linux Compatibility

On Linux, the dongle shows up as:

1ea7:1066 SHARKOON Technologies GmbH Wireless Present

It worked with both USB-A and -C, and showed the same information.

Android

It also shows up as a keyboard on Android. Mostly useful for if you're reading a book and want to flick through the pages without using the touchscreen.

Connecting it to Android will temporarily show a mouse cursor on screen. Running evtest on Linux shows the device presenting as:

/dev/input/event18: Wireless Present

/dev/input/event19: Wireless Present Mouse

/dev/input/event20: Wireless Present Consumer Control

/dev/input/event21: Wireless Present System Control

So a fairly generic dongle, but with a restricted set of inputs.

LAZORS!

Press big button. Red beam of light. Attracts cats. Nice.

Buttons

The left and right buttons can be reprogrammed. By default, a short press gives you page up/down and a long press gives you volume up/down.

The top button is screen-blank (it literally sends the letter "b").

The bottom button is odd. The first time you press it, the device sends esc. The second time you press it, Left Shift + F5

Personally, I'd've preferred if the remote just had larger left and right buttons, but I guess the others are kind of useful.

All buttons worked on Linux and Android.

Change the buttons

Press and hold < and > for 3 second and the clicker will swap between 3 modes:

1. Up / Down
2. Left / Right
3. Page Up / Page Down

There's no way to change the other buttons.

Interface

There's a tiny and somewhat flimsy switch on the side to turn it on or off.

A little LED goes red when it is charging, and flashes blue when you press a button. Fairly unobtrusive.

Distance

I didn't formally test how far away it worked, but I pranced around the stage in a noisy radio environment and the 2.4GHz radio worked just fine.

Is it encrypted? Dunno. Probably best not to leave it plugged in all the time.

Verdict

For £20? Basically fine. I prefer ring-style presentation remotes because they let my flap my hands without losing the controller.

The buttons are a smidge small, and you'll probably forget how to reprogram it. But it does the job well. It came with a comically short A-C charging cable which was immediate e-waste.

Let's hope I don't lose this one!