Review: Xencelabs Quick Keys shortcut remote

Review unit was provided by Xencelabs

Xencelabs Quick Keys is an extremely customisable shortcut remote you can use with any brand of graphics pen tablet or pen displays.

Retail price is US $109.99 (was USD 89).

Items included are:

• Shortcut remote
• A hard fabric case
• USB-A to C charging cable
• USB-C to A adapter
• USB-A wireless receiver

The zipped case is really well made. All items have individual pockets in the case.

Xencelabs Quick Keys can be purchased separately or together as a bundle with the Xencelabs Pen Tablet Medium (US $279.99). The bundled price is US $359.99 with a savings of just $10.

Design looks good. It's almost the same size as a large smartphone but more narrow and weighs 142g.

The narrow design allows for handheld operation where your thumb can still reach all the buttons.

This shortcut remote comes with a dial with a button in the center, 8 physical shortcut buttons and a button for switching shortcut sets.

Build quality is excellent. Texture on the front is matte.

On the back is almost all rubber for extra grip on the table.

USB-C charging port is located at the top. Battery life is rated to last for 25-53 hours

You can set the time it takes for the remote to sleep after inactivity.

The power indicator is at the bottom. Orange light means battery is low. You can still use the remote while it's charging.

The blue light means it's connected and flashing blue means it's searching for connection.

Wireless connection is through the USB type A receiver included. There's no Bluetooth.

On the dial is an indent for your thumb to hold onto. Turning is smooth with no audible clicks.

You can set up to four functionality to the dial, and switch between the different functionality using the button in the middle. E.g. You can set the dial to zoom in/out, change brush size, scroll and rotate.

There's ring of light outside of the dial. Colour of the light can be set to specific functionality. E.g. You can set zoom to yellow, change brush size to red. Each time you switch dial functionality, the colours will change according and you can know exactly what's the current functionality.

The 8 physical shortcut buttons have firm clicks and good feedback. The OLED display will show the names of the shortcuts.

Combination keys can be used. E.g. You can use Ctrl+Space to zoom in and Ctrl+Alt+Space to zoom out.

The remote driver is the same as the tablet driver.

If you buy Quick Keys and tablet bundle, the two devices are already paired to the wireless receiver.

If you buy Quick Keys separately, you can bind the connection using the driver to the tablet receiver. Just connect the cable first, then use the driver to bind to the tablet receiver.

The physical shortcut buttons can be customised to specific keyboard shortcuts, mouse clicks and more. There's a lot of customisation possible.

Names of the shortcuts can be change. Even the angle/orientation of the names as they appear on the OLED can be changed. E.g. you can have the names upside down so that you can have the dial at the bottom, buttons at the top.

Up to four functions can be set to the dial. Each function can be set with a specific colour.

I only use zoom and change brush size, so I disabled the other two functions.

Up to five shortcut sets can be created. E.g. You can create a shortcut set for each app you use.

Technically speaking, you can create up to 40 (8 x 5 groups) shortcuts.

Each shortcut set/group can be named as well.

Overall performance of the Quick Keys shortcut remote is great. There are no glitches. Everything works as expected.

Having names of the shortcuts on the OLED display is incredibly helpful especially when you have to remember the (up to) 40 shortcuts you set.

While this shortcut remote is pricey, it does look good, has excellent build quality and performs well. You can decide whether it's worth your money. I can certainly recommend this easily for anyone look for a good shortcut remote.

Availability

You can buy the Xencelabs Quick Keys directly from Xencelabs webstore or Amazon (USA | CA | UK | DE | FR | ES | IT | JP)