Hardware :: First Look - Apple's Wireless - Multitouch Magic Mouse

Apple has broken its decade-long chain of terrible mouse designs with the new multitouch, wireless Magic Mouse, although its multitouch features are somewhat limited in functionality. If previous versions of Apple's Bluetooth wireless mice and the sticky trackball of the Mighty Mouse have left you skeptical of the company's ability to design a desirable mouse, you may be in for a surprise with the new Magic Mouse. There's no real magic; just a highly accurate laser optical mouse paired with a hard plastic, multitouch surface that supports smooth document scrolling, right clicking, screen zoom, and two finger swipes. Given that Apple has pioneered practical applications of multitouch technologies in consumer products, you might have high hopes for the new mouse's multitouch surface. While scrolling up and down and left and right is smooth and satisfying, the surface of the mouse isn't big enough to act like a trackpad, so don't expect it to act like one.

Unlike Apple's multitouch trackpads, there's no provisions for touching to click (which makes little sense on a mouse), or for fancy gestures like four finger expose. You'd be hard pressed to even get four fingers in contact with the mouse's surface at once. Instead of trying to make a mouse with a conventional trackpad surface, Apple has delivered a usable Mighty Mouse that primarily uses touch sensitivity in place of a scroll ball. Touch to scroll This part works very well; there's no small ball to target, so you can freely move your fingers anywhere on the surface to scroll within documents. You can even scroll by touch without the mouse making any contact on a surface. There's also an option for scrolling with momentum, which provides a little scrolling inertia when you flick, similar to the iPhone. Scrolling within documents or menus (such as the slides list in Keynote) seems appropriately accelerated at the default speed setting. However, trying to scroll within Cover Flow requires subtle finger action, because the touch surface is tremendously sensitive (and Cover Flow exaggerates this sensitivity). Your first attempt to scroll in iTunes will likely whip you through a couple hundred albums. With some practice and patience, you'll be able to scroll album by album with finger motions that seem almost imperceptible......