Apple's latest pointer, the Magic Mouse, is included with its new iMac desktops, but you can purchase it separately for AU$99. Just don't confuse it with the Mighty Mouse (or the "Apple Mouse" as it's called now) — apart from being AU$30 more expensive, this is a whole new beast. The Magic Mouse gets an aerodynamic facelift and also supports application-sensitive touch gestures.
New users should expect to spend awhile adjusting to the narrow shape and "button-less" design. We suspect that many Mac users will hail the Magic Mouse and its multi-touch functionality as the first in the next generation of input devices, but we still prefer the Logitech MX 1100 that gives you a more comfortable, sculpted shape, more customisable buttons, a combination scroll wheel and a more versatile sensor for around AU$15 less online.
Design
In terms of simple aesthetics, Apple has again succeeded in producing a beautifully designed product that still retains the classic Apple stamp and silhouette. The exact dimensions aren't on Apple's website, but we measured it at 114mm long by 58mm wide by 12.5mm tall. Compared with the Mighty Mouse's oval shape, the rectangular Magic Mouse is definitely smaller overall, except for its weight, which gains a few grams because of the two AA alkaline batteries that power it. The design initially brought images of Microsoft's Arc Mouse to mind, although Apple's flatter design almost makes the mouse appear to sit flush with the top of your desk.
The clicker itself is ostensibly button-less with a smooth, white top shell that blends naturally into the silver undercarriage. The only visible mark is a near subliminal grey Apple logo that sits at the bottom of the mouse to quietly send wonderful Apples flying through your dreams at night. Underneath, the mouse is almost as bare, except for a latch that spans the length of the undercarriage that covers the batteries. There's also a power switch to shut off the mouse as well as an indicator light, and it even goes into battery conservation mode while not in use for an extended period.
We've only set aside our older Logitech and played around with the Magic Mouse for a day now, but we're already suffering from separation anxiety. As was the case with Apple's previous mice, the Magic Mouse feels as if it's carved out of a lump of aluminium. While that does wonders for its looks, its comfort and usability also suffers.
The Magic Mouse's slim profile is just too close to the table to use efficiently and we found ourselves struggling around the narrow form to find a comfortable position for our fingers. Granted, its uniform shape easily accommodates both left- and right-handed users, but the average mouse jockey will certainly find the lack of ergonomics disappointing and maybe even painful after eight hours of work. The lack of two physical buttons is irritating, as usual with Apple mice, but you can go through the preferences to enable the right button and swap the left and right buttons.
The Magic Mouse connects to computers via Bluetooth, but it only works with Apple computers running Mac OS X version 10.5.8 or later and you must install the Wireless Mouse Software update 1.0 that comes included with OS X version 10.6.2. We tried to pair it with a Windows PC and it didn't recognise the mouse (although others have since made this possible). That said, the process to connect it to a Mac is almost hands-free; our new 27-inch iMac automatically discovered the mouse, displayed a small icon and we were ready to go.
The Magic Mouse incorporates a standard laser sensor that can track on nearly every surface. We say nearly because it's impossible for such devices to work properly on cloth and shiny surfaces such as glass, mirrors, marble counter-tops, and high varnish wood. Logitech recently introduced a new kind of glass-tracking technology called Darkfield that lets its mice maintain a reliable signal on fully transparent glass, carpet, pant legs, and so on. Microsoft has something similar called BlueTrack, actually beating Logitech to the punch. The feature is not as big of a deal as Logitech and Microsoft would like you to think (Microsoft reports that only 7 per cent of mouse users were interested in tracking on glass), but we're disappointed that Apple is still clinging to older laser technology.
Features
Multi-touch gestures set the Magic Mouse apart from the competition. The multi-touch user area is spread across the entire surface of the mouse, so you can swipe your finger anywhere and expect the same results. Aside from the two main buttons up top, you can also use a single finger to scroll 360 degrees anywhere around a web page, photo or document. Swiping two fingers horizontally across the top surface lets you quickly navigate forward and back on the web or while in video playback. Unfortunately, you can't pinch your media as you can on an iPhone, but you do get a basic zoom feature by holding down the Control key on the keyboard while scrolling up and down the shell with one finger. You can also achieve this function with a keyboard on any Mac by toggling the "Universal Access" setting in Preferences. Finally, Apple's momentum feature senses the speed of your drag and adjusts the corresponding action intuitively.
Our take on the Magic Mouse's multi-touch functionality is bittersweet. We like that vertical scrolling on the mouse acts almost exactly like a scroll wheel, except for the obvious fact that you don't get the precision of notched scrolling. Regardless, a simple flick of a finger can send the scroll bar flying down a page and it's easy to stop by simply tapping once again. The capability to pan 360 degrees is also incredibly useful and the most similar to using an actual touch pad, but our main issue lies with the two-finger swipes.
Up until this review, we simply used the forward and back buttons on the side of our Logitech mouse, but navigating through websites using the Magic Mouse is considerably more awkward, especially if you use your index and middle fingers as advised by Apple. Additionally, if you don't have a uniform grip on the sides of the mouse with your thumb, ring and pinky fingers, the shell can easily get away from your hand — this is why a touch surface with no hard buttons just doesn't make sense on a mouse.
Our last complaint with the Magic Mouse is that the software doesn't let you reassign the actions of your finger swipes. In other words, you can't tell the mouse to open a program or stop playback by swiping two fingers across the surface. The custom preferences for the Magic Mouse includes check boxes to turn off the secondary click, momentum scrolling and screen zoom, as well as options to alter tracking, scrolling and double-click speed, but it doesn't make sense to trade in our Logitech MX 1100 with nine customisable buttons, a ratcheted/free spinning scroll wheel, and an advanced sensor for an Apple-branded accessory with none of the same features.
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