Playing around with Apple's Magic Mouse
Looks like a Neolithic spear head or a weirdly cut slice of bread – but it is Apple’s new Magic Mouse. Where Apple’s recent raft of new products are souped-up version of the old ones, this mouse is something new. The Bluetooth battery-powered mouse comes free along with a Bluetooth keyboard whenever you buy an IMac.
It has no buttons, the whole thing is a sleek curved shell with multi-touch sensitivity in classic Apple white. Flip it over and it’s got a green winking Cyclops eye with two black runners. It has a chip inside that knows what your fingers are doing.
Since I haven’t used a mouse for about a year, my standard touch-experience is my iPhone screen or my laptop’s touch pad so trying it out, I was initially disappointed because I was expecting something as responsive as a touch pad. But after readjusting to the mouse idea, and jabbing ineffectually at it for a while, I got to like it.
Aside for the standard point and click, it reads four movements:
1. Right and left clicks
2. A two-finger side-to-side swipe – this can flick you through a gallery of pictures, or a web history, making it the equivalent of the back button
3. Scrolling – this shoots you down the page and you can stop it with a touch
4. Zoom – this is fun. Hold down the Ctrl key and scroll anywhere and the whole screen zooms in
The Magic Mouse runs on batteries – lasting about four months on normal ones, and can also take rechargable ones.
Free with an IMac or can be bought separately for £55
On Apple
