Scrolling will never be the same again with the Magic Mouse hitting the markets. N. Nagaraj has a go at this little wonder and tells us if it matches up to Apple’s reputation of innovative, yet user-friendly products

Apple has done it again; it has designed a product that you will drool and obsess over because of the design. We are only talking about computer accessories here. One look and you could get really excited. What we have on hand is the Magic Mouse, the new wonder product from Apple.

At first glance

It’s different! And it barely looks like a conventional mouse except for the overall design. But, the details make it stand out and the level of attention that the guys at Apple’s design labs have lavished on the Magic mouse shows in its minimalist finish – a very Apple trait.

The sleek mouse looks pretty much ordinary from a distance, but the moment you get closer you notice that there are no buttons, no wheels, not even a track ball from the previous generation Mighty mouse. There is absolutely nothing on top, just a plain translucent, white, curvaceous surface.

There are a few ergonomic issues though. Most standard mice are taller than this mouse and have more ‘volume’ to them. The mouse follows Apple’s product design and looks like a sculpted paper-weight, but is uncomfortable to hold. And because the curvature of the mouse is low and it is smooth all over, without a hump, the mouse feels smaller under the hand.

Gestures

While we love and look forward to such delights as the large touchpad-and-button idea in the new MacBook lines, the surface area of the mouse is too small to get too adventurous with gestures. While the scrolling function with finger up-and-down motion worked fine, the two-finger side-to-side swipe for navigation wasn’t easy, needed quite some getting used to and, more importantly, wasn’t all that comfortable to operate. The need to press a key while scrolling to zoom in or out on the screen was again neither very convenient nor comfortable. Comparatively, it was also not as intuitive as the pinch-and-zoom or pinch-and-rotate gestures available in the new touchpads.

On the surface level

Moving the mouse around on the table/counter was also not a great experience; the under-side of the mouse has a couple of black plastic strips along the battery hatch to stabilise the mouse and this grates on typical surfaces and was a little irritating, at least to this reviewer.

The tracking of the pointer based on mouse movements was satisfactory but not great given our experience with typical desktop and travel mice. Also, it was certainly not in the same league as Apple’s new glass touchpads.

Do keep in mind that the Magic mouse works best only with Apple’s Snow Leopard OS, so you are not going to exploit its full potential if you have an older Mac.

There is no point trying to use this one with Apple’s portables; you will enjoy the touchpads better. If you do need a mouse with your notebook, stick to the standard one. There is a twist though; the new Magic mouse’s gesture recognition has been maximised for scrolling, video editing and for enjoying the convenience of wirelessly connecting to an iMac or Macbook.

With the iMac, this is a good option only if you are enamoured with gesture recognition, the looks, and the cachet it adds to your lifestyle Mac.

Feedback: nagaraj@thehindu.co.in