Features and Design

Unlike the arch-backed gaming mice from companies like Microsoft and Logitech, Apple’s Magic Mouse takes a decidedly slim approach to hand support. It’s short. The stubby aluminum base of the mouse arches up like a Pringle on either side to meet a smooth, glass-like top plate, which depresses on the finger end to deliver a click. Since nobody wants a metal slab griding away on their desk all day, Apple has given the bottom two black plastic rails to slip and slide around on. The plate between them serves as the battery door, which can be removed to replace the AA batteries. Apple ships it with two AA alkalines, but I can’t help but think that two rechargeables and a USB cable to trickle charge them would do a lot to further Apple’s green image, considering they’re only supposed to last four months (that’s a lot of alkaline disposables over a several-year lifetime). Two small cutouts in the door also make room for Apple’s laser-based tracking engine, and a tiny nub to toggle the mouse on and off. A green LED no bigger than a pinhead flashes to let you know it’s in pairing mode, and glows steadily to indicate that it has mated up with a Mac. Almost needless to say for an Apple device, the whole thing feels top notch in build quality.

The multi-touch gestures available for the lid correspond closely with the ones you might already be used to from a multi-touch enabled MacBook: drag one finger around on the surface without clicking to scroll in any direction, hold down control and drag to zoom in, or use two-fingered swipes to the right or left to navigate forward and back.

Setup and Installation

Like most Apple products, the Magic Mouse comes packaged in a Spartan and slightly pretentious plastic shell that’s really no bigger than it is, along with an instruction manual, limited warranty, and certificate of Bluetooth compliance. Despite the clean appearances, the sticky cellophane tape holding the Magic Mouse into its packaging actually left a nice archipelago of sticky adhesive on the bottom. Come on, Apple. That’s Packaging 101.

As a mature Bluetooth product, the basics of connecting the Magic Mouse are quite simple. Put it into pairing mode with a flick of the bottom switch, open the Bluetooth control panel in OS X, and click connect. However, you’ll only get basic mouse functions before installing Apple’s Wireless Mouse Software Update 1.0, which unlocks the full capabilities of the mouse. Apple’s pint-sized instruction booklet mentions this briefly, but it could have been spelled out more clearly, and I can definitely picture novice uses fretting over why it doesn’t do everything it’s supposed to prior to rereading the instructions word for word.

Usage and Testing

You don’t so much rest your hand on the Magic Mouse as you palm it, letting your thumb, ring and pinky fingers hook around the base while your pointer and middle finger hover up top for clicking. The amount of hand contact with the desk provides an excellent sense of traction, but the swoopy sides of the mouse just don’t provide very much to grab on to – it feels more like I’m pushing it around within the confines of my hand rather than really gripping onto it. The edges around the translucent top plate also feel just as sharp as they look.

Taking the first couple sweeps around the screen with Apple’s new Mighty Mouse feels quite intuitive. The scrolling requires no forethought at all: just start dragging your finger around and the computer smoothly scrolls. Besides the ease of use, I especially loved the programmed momentum (similar to what you might find on the iPod Touch or iPhone) which allows a scroll to drift to a stop after you lift your finger, rather than grinding to a halt the second you lift a finger. The zoom works just as well: hold the control button on the keyboard and the screen zooms in and out, silky smooth.

The two-fingered swiping to move back and forth on the Magic Mouse is actually quite a nice improvement I find.  The motion of moving two fingers sideways across the surface invokes a gesture evocative of Spock’s Vulcan salute to be honest. It will definitely take some getting used to – rather than to resort to the traditional methods of “back” and “forward” buttons.

One thing I will definitely criticize is the lack of other multi-touch gestures on the mouse that were missed from the MacBook trackpad – like pulling up Expose.  This is a feature that I personally use very often, and I’m not entirely sure why Apple decided to do away with this!  I guess I will have to get used to using my “F3″ button?

Pros:

• Gorgeous design
• Innovative two-finger swiping (for “back” and “forward”)
• Reasonably priced
• Intuitive one-fingered scrolling
• Top notch build quality

Cons:

• A little uncomfortable to hold
• No buttons on the sides to pull up Expose
• Install directions could be clearer
• No rechargeable batteries
• Packing tape left debris