Apple Magic Mouse review

It's the first multitouch mouse in the world according to Apple. Featuring just one big button and a big touch sensitive surface. But question is: is it comfortable and worth the heavy 70 dollar price-tag?

Design and software

When I review a product from the Cupertino based company I always smile when I have to review the design. Taking the product in my hand and looking at it from every angle. Like you have come to expect from Apple: the design is gorgeous. It looks way better than any other mouse out there. The top is as minimalistic as it gets. No trademarks, buttons or even textures. The only thing you see is a white smooth mass with a light grey apple logo on it which stands out more than a giraffe in the city mall. But it's a good kind of notice because it means that you are using a product from the elite company and that company just happens to be very proud of this mouse. Looking at it from the side emphasizes its low curved lines, the mouse's highest point is under an inch high. Flipping the mouse shows another apple logo, again they're really proud of this product, a button, laser, battery cover remover and last but not least two vertical black lines. The back of the mouse is as pretty as the surface.
After turning on the mouse your mac won't recognize it, unless you have those new fancy 27" imacs which are great if you have the money. If I had to save up the money it would take me a years with those low website earnings. Lucky people with their suits and dark glasses riding their Porsches around during the summer. Anyway for the mouse to be recognized I had to install a software update weighting in at 200mb. That's large but it wasn't a big problem and after the download my mouse worked like a public pool in the desert. That was my last awkward comparison I promise. So now the most important test for the mouse, how does it perform in the palm of my hand. Which is as … never mind.

In use

The first thing I noticed was that the mouse was so thin that I couldn't rest my palm on it anymore. So I kept it on the table and in a way hovered over the mouse with my fingers near the end of it. It wasn't that uncomfortable or hard to get used to because I used the mighty mouse from Apple before which is also a low profile mouse in comparison to those PC mouses from logitech or that gaming company everyone always talks about. I jumped right into the settings of the mouse to customize it to my preferences. I kept the speed, scrolling speed and double click time on the 6th fastest setting (from 8). I enabled all the multitouch features, which are few. You can scroll by sweeping your finger across the surface and by sweeping with two fingers horizontally you can switch between internet pages and photos. There is one more setting that I really like, which is momentum scrolling. Basically it makes your scrolling last longer after your hands are off the surface (like a big sweep on the iphone). Think of a wheel that keeps spinning a little even after your hands are off.
With every setting customized, well actually I left most on default because Apple knows what I like, I was ready to start computing. I loved how this new mouse clicks. The big surface comes all the way down which means that I don't have to go to the front of the mouse to click, a really nice time-saver! And the 360 degree scrolling is a great revolution is the mouse market. In the past you could only scroll down or to the sides, but now you can scroll to the right and slightly up or whatever combination you make of it. Besides this great functionality the scrolling in general felt amazing because of the smooth surface and the big space you suddenly have. It made me want to scroll all the time even if there was no reason to. After long extensive use my hands felt perfectly comfortable but again I was used to the way Apple thinks with these mouse devices. The palm of your hand doesn't actually rest on it and that can be difficult for people especially in the beginning.

Conclusion

I like apples, both the fruit and the company. Their design are always top notch and everything they release just works! Well except for MobileMe in the beginning, Apple tv has flopped oh and who can forget that 1st iPod nano that could scratch from the skin of your right thumb. But the Magic Mouse isn't one of those products, it works really well. In a marketing sentence I would say this mouse is design that performs. Highly recommended to everyone with an Apple pc.