Hands-on: Microsoft’s touch mice invites you to get touchy feely
Although touch screens are deemed to be the future, there's no denying the comfort of a physical mouse to speed up your daily computing tasks. And few mice stand out more for their balance between portability and functionality than Microsoft's mice.
With the addition of two new critters, Microsoft's family of touch mice now has three members: the Explorer Touch Mouse, the Arc Touch Mouse and the Touch Mouse.
It might seem like Microsoft is deliberately trying to confuse consumers with these uncannily similar names. In reality, the three mice have quite a distinct set of features, so let's delve deeper!
Touch Mouse (S$99)
The no-nonsense name of this mouse should tell you that it means business. Designed with features exclusive to Windows 7, the Touch Mouse is a multitouch-capable mouse that lets users flick, scroll, and swipe their way through regular tasks like changing windows.
Design-wise, the Touch Mouse is perfectly symmetrical, and touch zones can be programmed and customised by the user. The build quality is excellent, and its streamlined shape is reminiscent of an aerodynamic sports car.
Discerning consumers might notice that the Touch Mouse seems to be a copy of Apple's Magic Mouse. But we can attest that the Touch Mouse is much more ergonomic than Apple's counterpart, and has more unique features which complement Windows 7.
For one, swiping up with three fingers brings up all running programmes, much like Exposé on Macintosh systems. Three fingers down will minimise all windows and reveal the desktop.
Swiping two fingers to the left snaps a window to the left, and vice versa to the right. Swipe two fingers up to maximise the current window, and two finger down to minimise.
Even the thumb isn't spared: swiping your thumb up and down the side of the mouse activated the "back" and "forward" button in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer.
It's hard to visualise these actions just by reading, so here's a helpful video showing you the various functions of the Touch Mouse:
Verdict: All in all, pretty cool — but keep in mind all that fancy multi-touch gestures are designed for Windows 7. Plug the Touch Mouse into a machine running anything but Windows 7 and it'll function like a mere mortal mouse.
Arc Touch Mouse (S$89)
Launched at the end of last year, the Arc Touch Mouse is the successor to the first Arc Mouse. There's no mistaking the look of this mouse and its ability to transform from a flat form factor to an ergonomic curve with a snap of its body.
The wireless receiver is the tiniest we've ever seen, and can be stuck on the main mouse body through built-in magnets. This could be a problem if you have a lot of other trinkets jostling around your bag which could knock the receiver loose.
The Arc Touch Mouse derives its namesake from the scrolling strip between the two. Sliding a finger up and down the metal strip scrolls a page up and down. Want to go faster? Give it a quick flick and the page will fly in the direction you choose.
To mimic a conventional scroll wheel, the strip produces pulses of vibration as you slide your finger up and down to simulate the bumps you would feel. Accompanied by ticking sounds, scrolling becomes quite a pleasurable sensation.
Tapping the top part if the touch strip is akin to pressing the "Page Up" key, and the bottom part functions as "Page Down". The middle portion works as a middle click, and is marked out by a horizontal etch. The middle click takes a bit of getting used to: it's easy for the finger to miss the middle spot, and two taps are needed instead of one.
Verdict: When flattened, the Arc Touch Mouse is great for travel, and you'll have no problems slipping it into your pocket or a slim laptop bag. But if you ask us, we'd rather dish out another extra 10 bucks for the incredibly sexy Touch Mouse with those cool multi-touch gestures.
Explorer Touch Mouse (S$59)
The sleek Explorer Touch Mouse is the lower end of Microsoft's offerings targeted at the general consumer, but still packs in all the goodies.
A touch strip in the middle is capable of scrolling both vertically and horizontally, and provides the same vibration feedback as the Arc Touch Mouse. Like the Touch Mouse above, the Explorer Touch Mouse also comes with customisable buttons, convenient for both left- and right-handers.
The Explorer Touch Mouse is such a versatile and affordable mouse that we suspect it will overtake the Arc Touch very quickly as Microsoft's best selling mouse. The only question left, of course, is which of the four colours to pick: muted colours like black and grey or what Microsoft is calling Sangria Red and Rust Red.
Verdict: The only complaint we have is how plasticky the mouse feels, which is always a curse in hot and humid Singapore. Be prepared to wipe the grime from the Explorer Touch Mouse often!
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