Confession: At home, I use Apple’s Magic mouse, even though the hacked Windows 7 Bluetooth drivers are sketchy as hell. I have a Logitech mouse, too, but I love how the Magic Mouse scrolls. So I’ve been eagerly waiting for Microsoft’s Touch Mouse — with proper drivers — and full multi-touch gesture support. A Microsoft rep just told me it’s hitting Aussie distributors right now, and though its RRP isn’t cheap at $100 — competitive street pricing will be cheaper than that.
The gestures should sound familiar:
- One finger scrolls in any direction inside of a window
- Swiping your thumb up/down acts like the back and forward buttons common on Windows mice
- Two fingers to the left or right activates Aero Snap, pinning the selected window to the side; two fingers up or down minimizes or opens minimised windows
- Three fingers activates a Mac OS X Expose-like view, showing all of your windows in a neat grid.
You’ll start seeing the Touch Mouse at stores in early September, though its official local launch date isn’t until September 12. Stay tuned for a full review. [Microsoft]-Thanks Matthew for the tip
dale
Friday, August 12, 2011 at 7:04 PMfinally
Riavan
Friday, August 12, 2011 at 8:03 PMWhy do people like these mouses? It’s like using a touchpad on a laptop, it’s a huge downgrade navigation wise.
In semi-relevant news, I’ve noticed some keyboards that actually have track pads on them, wouldn’t they be better?
olearymo
Friday, August 12, 2011 at 9:02 PMRiavan, the touch isn’t for moving the cursor, it’s basically touch instead of the scroll wheel, and optionally touch instead of click. You still move the mouse normally.
Aliasalpha
Friday, August 12, 2011 at 11:47 PMAre the buttons a kind of pressure sentitive thing or actually clicking like a normal mouse?
Richard
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 12:55 AMThe Magic Mouse has a physical clicking action. Not sure about this one but I’d have thought its the same in order to distinguish an actual click vs simply adjusting your fingers.
olearymo
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 8:28 PMoptional, depending on your settings.
There really are a lot of places around where you can try out Apple Magic mouses or Microsoft Arc Touch mouses and see this for yourself. Just give one a try in a store.
Richard
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 12:53 AMI’m half inclined to say a good touch pad such as the one on my MBP in many cases will trump a mouse. I know not everyone will agree but I find using two fingers to scroll nicer and somewhat more tactile than a mouse wheel, not to mention the additional gestures you get such as pinching or three finger app swapping (under OS X)
Certainly games or anything where you need quick precision movements a mouse comes out on top…for web browsing etc I now just use the touchpad.
Where I do use a mouse I swear by Logitechs free spinning mouse wheels but. Disable the functionality in games (for a more mechanical feel) but for anything with a scroll bar I love it.
Steve
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 5:59 PMAs mentioned, the touch isn’t for moving the cursor. A mouse is technically superior because it concentrates the large, and relatively unrestricted movements of several fingers and a wrist onto a single point on the screen.
And while it uses only the wrist for moving, it frees up the fingers to be reserved for clicking and gestures only.
While trackpads have made huge improvements in the last few years, mice haven’t been slouches either. And imo the newest free-spinning multi-button assymetric Logitech mice are as good as it gets.
olearymo
Friday, August 12, 2011 at 9:01 PMYou’re welcome for the tip Danny and thanks for the shoutout!
It’s starting to look like this is Windows only, which I guess makes sense. When it was first announced I hadn’t got a Mac yet, it’s been that long coming. A shame, as I’m one of the odd Mac users who prefers Windows’ mouse movement curve,
Nice lookin mouse tho.
EckyThump
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 8:53 AMHmmm,.. olearymo…Matthew…? #]
olearymo
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 8:28 PMyou’ve discovered my secret!
Mark
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 12:13 AMwill it be cordless only?
Nematic
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 12:58 AMI think I’ll stick with proper (and reprogrammable) buttons and logitech’s hyperfast free scroll wheel or whatever it’s called.
Scrolling thorugh large documents or long webpages has never been easier.
Gary
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 3:03 AMIt’s only a bloody mouse for chrissake. :|
EckyThump
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 9:18 AMNo no,.. it’s a bloody expensive mouse, Heh heh.. #]
olearymo
Saturday, August 13, 2011 at 8:30 PMWell really that can work for anything.
It’s only a bloody computer for chrissake. :|
It’s only a bloody car for chrissake. :|
It’s only a bloody phone for chrissake. :|
…why even bother getting out of bed Gary? :P
Max
Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 12:29 AMBut it’s not a computer, a car, or a phone. It’s a mouse.
olearymo
Sunday, August 14, 2011 at 6:32 PMHow astute.
So… You’d like gizmodo to never talk about them?