Magic Mouse: First impressions
I’ve been using the new Apple Magic Mouse for a couple of weeks now. That isn’t long enough to fully judge the product, but I know what I like, and I like the Magic Mouse.
It isn’t perfect, but after using Apple’s previous attempt at a wireless mouse, the Magic Mouse is a huge improvement.
Even the box is pretty. Pretty, but not very functional. Like newer iPod packaging, it’s clear plastic and just big enough to house the product and those tiny manuals, but the mouse is stuck into the box with what is basically a self-adhesive plastic sheet, the kind they use to seal the boxes. Removing the plastic can leave a little residue on the bottom of the mouse if you’re not careful. Peel slowly!
Once out, the batteries are already installed, so it’s a simple case of flicking the power switch to get started. The power switch is similar to the hold switch on newer iPod models and much better than the plastic thing on the wireless Mighty Mouse.
Overall, the Magic Mouse feels solid and looks great. The low profile might take some adjusting to, but it seems like it will be easier on the wrist; there’s much less arching of the hand going on. The top is a clear acrylic-like material which adds a nice shine to the surface and protects the Apple logo. The aluminium base is sturdy and doesn’t flex if you have a tight grip.
The mouse has two hard rubber-like strips on the base which eliminates the horrible scraping noise of the older mouse. It isn’t silent as you drag it across the desk, but it’s far from unbearable. It will also, I imagine, not wear away as easily as the grey ring on the Mighty Mouse did.
Set up wasn’t as simple as it could have been. Pairing with my Mac took seconds, but as we’re still waiting for 10.6.2, the touch-sensitive scrolling and swiping required a software update. I did check seconds before turning the mouse on for the first time and got nothing, but checking after pairing the mouse revealed the update. Not a problem, but could confuse some people.
You can switch between left and right handed setups in the new Mouse System Preferences pane, as well as enabling scrolling with momentum and two finger swiping and setting the tracking, scrolling and double click speed.
Clicking works. I don’t know what could possibly go wrong with that. You still need to adopt a rocking motion when secondary clicking. If you secondary click with a finger on the primary “button”, you’ll get a primary click. Lifting your primary clicker finger before a secondary click solves the problem, as before, and if you’re used to the Mighty Mouse it will feel natural. The surface is sensitive to clicks in the top half, so small hands should be okay using the mouse.
Scrolling. I haven’t been able to do this for a while so it’s quite exciting. It works well and after getting over the lack of physical scroll ball/wheel, I started to really like it. Like the Mighty Mouse, it has full 360º scrolling, but unlike the old thing, it actually works perfectly. Throwing a large image around in Photoshop takes a few flicks on the top half of the mouse, although the surface is sensitive to scrolling gestures right down to the Apple logo. If you need to be more precise, smaller movements are easily made by, well, not moving your finger so much.
Scrolling with momentum is good. WIth a single flick you can move to the bottom of a long document or webpage, another flick taking you back to the top. It doesn’t work with everything though, Tweetie being a good example.
Two finger swiping is useful when web browsing for back/forward, but I haven’t used it for anything else yet. It will certainly work for moving through a batch of images in Preview or iPhoto or flicking between emails, so if you do a lot of that, it could save you some time. Like scrolling, the mouse is sensitive to swiping right down to the Apple logo.
I miss the side buttons for Exposé and I had the middle button mapped to Overflow, so getting used to using the keyboard for these things again is a little frustrating, but in time I’m sure it will be fine. Three finger swiping up/down would have been great to invoke Exposé, the application switcher or, like with the Mighty Mouse, an application of your choice.
The Magic Mouse is a huge improvement over Apple’s last effort. At £55, it’s certainly not the cheapest mouse in the world, but it’s far from being outrageously expensive. Whether it’s worth it or not is up to the individual, I suppose. If you want an Apple mouse that’s solid, looks good and lets you scroll again, and you have £55 to spend, go buy one. I’d definitely play with one for a while first though. It feels different, and the lack of physical scroll ball and buttons 3 and 4 might put people off.
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