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In the future, every wall will be a multi-touce interface, there will be no buttons to confuse our little brains, and everyone’s arms will be sore from holding them out at the wall to type on their computers.
We already knew Apple didn’t like buttons, but I don’t think anyone saw it coming when they announced a new mice with not one, not two, not three, but zero buttons. With zero tactile feedback, zero division between the left and right buttons, the same pointless 360 degree scrolling you never used before, and an insanely high cool factor, the Magic Mouse is clearly something that will be desired by…
For years Apple’s mice have been the least practical part of Apple’s line of products. In answer to $20 ergonomically comfortable mice with two buttons, a scroll wheel, and smaller back and forward buttons for easy navigation, Apple has introduced the $70 Magic Mouse that promises to work just like a normal mouse, as long as you imagine the tactile feedback and remember where the left and right buttons are. On the plus side, it is pretty.
I applaud Apple for trying something new, but a buttonless mouse is not ready to be a real product.Perhaps in ten years we will all have touch mouses, but its too soon for that now. Deliberately decreasing usability in an effort to create art is not a good tradeoff when it comes to our mice. Sorry, but I still like buttons.
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I think that this mouse is criticized for all the wrong reasons and was never used. I have a magic mouse which i received with the new iMac and: 1 it has all the feedback you want. It has buttons under it and you actually click using a regular button that is located under it’s shiny plastic cover. Secondly it has right click and I as well miss the middle click as it does so much for a linux dude that it can’t be replaced. The 2d scroll is just amazing and coupled with the momentum feature, let’s just say that I would not want to see a wheel ever again. However it’s biggest con is that they have sacrificed ergonomics for design. It should have been bigger so you can actually hold it. You can’t rest your hand on it as it is too small. You can’t grip it properly with the pinkie or ring finger(i’m not a native english speaker and don’t know how the fingers are called) and this, coupled with the small size factor, let’s just say that it’s a better workout then wii fitness. I don’t know how others utilize it but i’m pretty sure everyone will get that feel, us having all pretty much the same hand shape and all. In time, for people seeking comfort, it might turn into a very expensive paperweight, and an excellent one since it’s made out of aluminium and is heavier then your average mouse.
So let’s review:
###Pros###
- Excellent feedback and even though there is no clear separation between left and right buttons, it will do what you want and it feels natural.
- Amazingly intelligent 2d scrolling with momentum that makes regular scrolls seem like stone age.
- Decent dpi and it’s very accurate and from ONLY this point of view excellent for games.
- Excellent for fitness purposes(see cons below)
- Battery lasts pretty long so no worries about zombies eating you while replacing.
- No green red and blue constantly blinking led lights on it so you won’t need to shove it under your ass while watching movies and no cataract development in less then a month as the case is with vista/7 flatulentio(aero actually) based interfaces and other mice.
- Cool to show to your friends and at first they’ll be jealous.
###Cons###
- It’s too symmetrical, too small in size and you can’t properly grip it or rest your hand on it so the zombies will eat you eventually if you play a shooter with it, as you will most probably lose it at some point. I’d say a little more aluminium at the right and 1.5 cm(half an inch) more height would have done the trick.
- Not cool to show to chicks as they are not as technologically inclined(been there, done that). So if you think she’s gonna say “OMG Magic Mouse! You’re in for a BJ” forget it.
With all of this said, with proper and logical arguments, and since i am not an Apple fanboy drone, I guess this sums it up.
NEVER SAY BAD THINGS ABOUT APPLE ITEMS !!!
1st/ Apple’s items are great.
2nd/ If you don’t agree to 1st point, just remember : Apple’s items are great ! That’s it.
3rd/ If you don’t find apple’s items are great, that’s because your mind and body are not prepared for this revolution.
Example : I have a magic mouse, and when I use it, most gestures are not easy to do. That’s not mouse’s fault, it’s just an item. that’s my body fault ! my body is just to poor to adapt itself to magic mouse.
You feel the ‘right click’ is not very easy to do when moving your mouse fast ? Your body is out-dated !
Now you understand the way Apple’s items are designed, they are designed for the next hype generation. All ppl unable to use those 100$ items are just loosers and out-dated prehistorics.
Normally I don’t really care about persons making up all sorts of reasons for rejecting apple products without ever having used any, but this one really ennoys me.
I use a magic mouse and it really is a comfortable mouse, it provides all the feedback you could ever wish for and it is has a huge potential when you think of developers who will be able to use te gesture and multitouch features in their applications. Take the momentum scrolling as an example of software adding to this hardware. I’ve used momentum scrolling a dozen times to scroll to the top of the page and back in a single swipe.
“not one, not two, not three, but zero buttons”
Have you ever touched one? the top surface is a button and it clicks too!
“zero division between the left and right buttons”
Why would you need a division? you should know where you are clicking since you’re holding the thing!
but this might be different for you since you seem to forget occasionally: (“and remember where the left and right buttons are”)
“the same pointless 360 degree scrolling you never used before”
Many people benefit from this feature (me for example). By saying this you’re only stating that your not a graphical orientated user…
I really don’t understand why apple product cause you so much trouble? no one is forcing you to buy them is there? You’re attitude towards innovation just reminds me of old people not willing to use a mobile phone or such.
But you have not say why is not productive. Just because you like bottons… That’s more a matter of taste not of usability
You lost me when you said it has no buttons. The whole thing is a giant button. Just the same as the old mighty mouse they sold. This time around you can do gestures and scroll the most natural way possible. It’s not all that different from a standard mouse and for a laptop user it’s very natural. I bought one with an Apple keyboard for my linux PVR. Why? Long battery life, durable design, and cost. Cost. Go lookup a nice high quality media center keyboard / mouse. Not cheap. Microsoft and Logitech both make excellent sets, but there’s much more expensive than the Apple setup and don’t feel as high quality. $70 might be expensive, but in its category it’s fairly well priced.
I agree that tactile feedback is important. But it seems like this mouse provides that in the important senses of clicking. It also seems like even the scrolling — accomplished by dragging your finger over the mouse — provides that (you feel your finger moving over the surface). Running off of AA batteries isn’t so great though, nor are the reports of its tracking issues.
I’m sticking with my Logitech MX Revolution though, great mouse.
This is a VERY ignorant article – no tactile feedback?… what do you suppose that the CLICK is, then?. If you want to live in the dark ages, so be it; this is what we call “progress”, and I’ve even spelt it for you.
I got one of these magic mouses and they rock!
If you have a MAC it is incredible… and really makes various programs much faster and easier to use..
I also have hooked it up to Ubuntu 9.10, XP, Vista sure it is missing gesture features.. But it works…
Think about the games that will come out of this device?
Lesiure suit larry, you have to caress and rub the mouse to turn her on.. LOL!
This new mouse would be a cool toy, but I could probably never get used to it let alone be able to use it for working, and I don’t like wireless mice, so as I said, cool toy, but I couldn’t work with it.
Have you tried using it? It actually feels quite natural to use. Don’t knock it before you’ve tried it.
Also the whole mouse surface is a button, complete with clicking sound, 360 scrolling is actually quite useful in documents where you have two axis of scrolling, eg photoshop, CAD, iTunes, etc, and I don’t think I’ll be forgetting how to right click anytime soon.
You guys have no idea what you are talking about. I actually bought one because my other mouse broke and this seemed an interesting buy. This mouse is really awesome. The best feature _by far_ is the momentum scrolling. I really enjoy being able to flick across the mouse’s shell and have it scroll (iPhone and iPod Touch users can relate it’s about the same). I do web development but I also do most of my own graphic design (I use a Mac for the GD and Linux for the development), the Magic Mouse’s gestures are very natural to use and the mouse seems to be pretty high precision. While it looks awkward at first glance, the Magic Mouse is really an elegant device that is very comfortable to use. The most impressive thing for me was that it feels like it is hovering over the mousepad when you use it because of the low friction sliders and the weight of the mouse.
About tactile feedback, it it incorrect that there are no buttons, the entire top shell is a button and it depresses with quite a noticeable click when depressed. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say it has a firmer click than the Mighty Mouse. To compare with a standard PC mouse, the click seems to be about the same same to a little firmer. Anyway, for a Linux user of 10 years to get impressed by something like this I have to say you really should give it a closer look. First impressions can be very deceiving.
A little devil’s advocate. I get zero tactile feedback on my laptop touchpad and i use it 95% of the time.
Yeah, when I first heard about it, I thought about that. Clicking without feedback really isn’t that bad. I stopped by the Apple store one day before school and was almost disappointed to find that there was an actual physical button. The couple minutes I played with it I found the mouse rather awkward to use, but I have not had sufficient time to form a good opinion of it.
I don’t want a magic mouse, and I intentionally don’t buy apple products.
The thing is, apple will sometimes innovate with hardware. They introduce a new piece of hardware that looks gimmicky from afar, but once it gains momentum, every PC OEM starts putting out a knock-off.
Your argument that, “a buttonless mouse is not ready to be a real product. Perhaps in ten years we will all have touch mouses, but its too soon for that now,” is invalid. Why will it be ready to be a real product 10 years from now? What will change?
What would have to happen would be for some company to innovate and create a buttonless mouse that consumers adopt and competitors copy, but why couldn’t that happen now with the apple magic mouse?
Steapenhyll – That’s a fair point, but I was imagining some changes in touch sensing technology. For example, some touch screens today attempt to give some tactile feedback, usually by vibrating. Improvements in this kind of technology could lead to a touchscreen where you could feel the buttons. Then, a touch screen mouse would be ready to be a real product.
What for advancement does a mouse faking mouse-buttons provide on top of the usual mouse buttons?
Are you f’ing serious? When touch interfaces reach the point where UI metaphors like buttons can be physically simulated, click and all, the mouse will be totally obsolete. What will take its place would be a multitouch display in a form factor not unlike the Cintiq.
The Magic Mouse is a wonderful device, as other commenters have explained. Your loss if you’re so boxed in by your bias that you have to make crap up to justify yourself.