Apple's Mighty Mouse hit the streets in August 2005 (with the Bluetooth version about a year later) and was the first "buttonless" mouse, it also had the little gray scroll ball thingy and (hard to squeeze) side buttons. Apple took a lot of flack for the clickable trackball (it's infamously hard to clean) and I've never found the side squeeze buttons terribly useful (I find them uncomfortably hard to squeeze). When Apple made their big hardware announcements last month one of the most interesting new things was then new "Magic Mouse", which not only lacks buttons, but seems to lack any way to do much with it. Looks are very deceiving in this case because the Magic Mouse is a multitouch mouse like the iPhone, iPod Touch, and newer MacBook trackpads. Now that could be interesting, but is it?

I'm a sucker for new gadgets. A friend gave me her wireless Mighty Mouse and wireless Apple keyboard before she left for Yellowknife. I used the heck out of both of them, but I "shiny new toy" syndrome got the best of me when I was doing a marathon dash to finish my first book. The original Apple wireless keyboard was hard on my fingers to type on, so I asked around and got the new aluminum wired keyboard (my fiancée agreed that the original wireless keyboard key feel was pretty harsh). I keep flipping between the wireless Mighty Mouse and a wired, two-button mouse that has the more standard scroll wheel. I find the MIghty Mouse scrolling to be wonky at the best of times and the whole mouse action to be sluggish sometimes as well (it's also much heavier with the two AA batteries on board).

Well Apple got my gadget lust going again with the Magic Mouse (renamed because Apple recently lost a trademark battle over the "Mighty Mouse" name--and it wasn't even over the cartoon!). Man does that mouse look sleek. No real buttons, but multitouch like my trackpad. Oooh and my birthday is coming up too! Wait a second. This is another

$70 mouse. What if it is a total failure? Ugh.

Like a (somewhat) patient consumer I've been waiting for the reviews to come in. I was expecting a pretty decent split between love it and hate it. The mouse is pushing industrial design just like the first iPod click wheel did. The shape and size is very new (slimmer, lower, smaller). Thus far I've seen a lot of reviews and most are very positive— Magic Mouse is Mighty | TotalApps - Magic Mouse unboxing video: Man vs. Tape —the video in the second post is pretty interesting (man vs tape is apt) for seeing the mouse in action.


One complaint that I have seen from more than a few people is that the edges of the mouse are sharp. I don't know how sharp, but that gives me pause. I'm going to have to check out the mouse for myself soon (it hasn't kept me from putting it on my birthday-holiday wish list though). I think the bigger question here is what the long-term effect of this new multitouch device be?

People are getting pretty used to (and liking I gather) the whole multitouch bit. I find that I certainly miss it when I'm using laptops without it (Apple and non-Apple). I often find myself forgoing my mouse and reaching up to my trackpad to do a three-finger-swipe on the trackpad to change apps (at home my MBP is on a stand). I wonder what the next devices for multi-touch will be? An obvious candidate are eBook readers. Being able to spin, zoom, flip through books and manuals could (heck would) be just amazing. What about TV remotes? Pass your finger up and down for volume, two fingers left right for channels. Sure you'd need special areas on the device for other functions, but I think that isn't too hard to get working.

Has Apple done it again with the Magic Mouse? If this the beginning of a real multitouch revolution. Yep, I'd say so.

Update: A good review from Ars Technica gives an honest, and mixed, review .

Message Edited by trishussey on 11-02-2009 10:11 PM