I didn't realize at first they hadn't corrected the need to lift one finger off to do a right-click. That is a major cause of frustration and leads to a few accidental clicks. I suppose when you think of how the surface works, they can't really do anything about it.
The surface will only detect where it's being pressed so it can track position and movement. If you click when two fingers are on the mouse, it can't know which finger pressed it. It has to assume the left by default as that's the most common click.
The solution is pretty simple though, you just need a spring on each top corner of the device, whichever side is pressed down the most determines which side you clicked. Anything above 40% in favor of the left spring is left click, otherwise right-click.
The main reason that I could never use the Mighty Mouse was that it had so much latency that it drove me nuts. I tried several units on a couple of machines, and they all had the same issue. I don't know if this is an inherent issue with Bluetooth, or if it had something to so with the design of the MM itself, but I am curious to see how the new unit compares. I am a bit surprised to see that nobody else has commented on this. I can't wait for the hands-on reviews to start coming in.
I've been having lots of headaches with a bluetooth mighty mouse since moving to snow leopard. The pointer gets laggy and jumps around. I tried a kensington bluethooth mouse and a new logitech m555b (I really like the mouse) and they all behave this way, so it's not the mouse - Its like there is a lot of interference or something, and it wasn't an issue with leopard. I did some googling and found a couple vague references to some problems with interference with the airport wireless, but nothing solid. If I turn off airport it seems to work fine. I'm switching to a wired mouse or a non-bluetooth wireless until this gets sorted out, and since this new one is neither I'm gonna have to pass. I could never get used to having to pick up one finger to click with the other anyway.
Has nothing to do with dexterity. There are situations where you have to use both left and right click functions at the same time. You cannot do this with the Mighty or Magic mouse.
I can understand people's qualms with this new Magic Mouse. It is amazing and I'm blown away by the design. Awesome job, Apple. However, my current Mighty Mouse (though dirty as it's little scroll ball gets) has two additional "gestures" that I believe the Magic Mouse is missing. I currently have Expose tied to the scroll ball, so when I hit it, all open windows slide apart. I also have the side "squeeze" buttons on the Mighty Mouse tied to Expose to separate the windows of the current application. This really helps my productivity. When I want to see everything I have open, I just click the little scroll ball and I can quickly switch from one window to another without moving my hand to the keyboard or elsewhere.
Obviously a four-finger swipe isn't very practical, but I'm sure there is another way to add two more clickable areas.
So, if these were added to the Magic Mouse, I believe it's full feature set would be as follows (new features adopted from Mighty Mouse in bold:
-Move Cursor
-Left Click
-Right Click
-Scroll (vertical & horizontal)
-Zoom
-Two-Finger Swipe
-Middle-click (expose all)
-Squeeze (expose app)
Like others have said, maybe Apple will add these in some sort of future update.
While I would also like to have the extra functionality on the mouse to engage expose/spaces, I suspect that Apple believes that the new expose dock functionality in Snow Leopard frees them from the need to offer additional shortcuts to this functionality (from the mouse).
Why can't apple take out the touchpad, put it in a box with bluetooth, and then we could have for our desktops or iMacs something that any laptop user would say is superior to a mouse? You would have all the one, two, three and four finger swipes, and all the other good stuff that would be in a very sexy, plain Apple-like aluminium box.
While I would also like to have the extra functionality on the mouse to engage expose/spaces, I suspect that Apple believes that the new expose dock functionality in Snow Leopard frees them from the need to offer additional shortcuts to this functionality (from the mouse).
I forgot about this expose-dock function. It looks like a good one. However, looking at the steps they show, (click & hold on the application's icon, or click F3 on the keyboard for all apps), neither of these functions beats the speed of clicking the scroll ball or squeezing the Mighty Mouse, if that's how you have it set up to work.
All these workarounds require a keyboard. The point of "squeezing" the sides of the Mighty Mouse is that it doesn't require a hand on the keyboard. Hardly equivalent functionality in my book.
After playing with this mouse at the Apple store yesterday I realized that this mouse is alot like the Mighty Mouse. It does have two buttons.. sort of. It's basically a very well balanced rocker switch. If you have your fingers resting on the mouse, and you push down with the right finger it "right clicks". If you push down with the left finger it "left clicks" and you actually feel the surface go down and click in that direction. It's better balanced than the mighty mouse so I always got this feature to work which occasionally didn't with the mighty mouse. Where it supercedes the mighty mouse is the scroll wheel. The surface works perfectly for scrolling.. I had no errors doing what I needed to do. My only gripe about the mouse is that I would prefer a wired one. having to buy batteries or even use rechargable ones makes no sense to me. I use my computer at my desk so a wired mouse for me is a luxury.
Nope.. I played with one.. It works EXACTLY like the might mouse when it comes to right and left clicking. You DO NOT have to lift your fingers. the whole top of the mouse is a balanced Rocker Switch and IMHO is even more balanced than the mighty mouse. I never once clicked in the wrong place to do a right click. VERY NATURAL
Here's my $0.02. Sounds like it uses a real "click", i.e. microswitch, to sense button pushes, so that alleviates some of my fears about resting fingers on the body.
- Jasen.
Yes it does.. VERY accurate and VERY natural. I played with one at the Apple Store. I just wish Apple were more clear about this because I too thought it would be a touch click but it is indeed kind of like the bottom part of the Apple's new Touch pads on their Macbook lines. Of course it's at the top part of the mouse where the fingers rest. You do have to enable secondary click however in the systems preferences.
After playing with this mouse at the Apple store yesterday I realized that this mouse is alot like the Mighty Mouse. It does have two buttons.. sort of. It's basically a very well balanced rocker switch. If you have your fingers resting on the mouse, and you push down with the right finger it "right clicks". If you push down with the left finger it "left clicks" and you actually feel the surface go down and click in that direction.
Thanks for sharing the review. Do you mean that it's {b}not{/b} like the Mighty Mouse if it has a rocker because the Mighty Mouse only had a single button and required you to lift off to do a right-click?
Quote:
Originally Posted by webraider
My only gripe about the mouse is that I would prefer a wired one. having to buy batteries or even use rechargable ones makes no sense to me. I use my computer at my desk so a wired mouse for me is a luxury.
Yeah, wired would be nice as an option but it might have been too light for doing touch movements. I think 2 x AA will make it too heavy but it needs to have some weight. They could have added extra weight to the wired one though. Plus, they sell the wireless keyboard standard now. I hope the batteries get the 4 months they claim otherwise it does become a bit of a pain switching them.
Would you be able to test out the pairing ability? I'm interested in how easy it is to use with a laptop and a desktop. Can you for example pair the mouse with 2 machines and switch between them without having to pair it up again? Also, if two machine are close to each other, does it control both at once or does it just start working with the nearest one?
Filling up landfills with expensive (environmentally expensive to produce) toxic batteries is not very green of Apple. I wonder with the new gesture capable mouse how long a pair will even last...
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigpics
At least they're cheap and available everywhere... ...and you don't have to send your mouse to California.
I have major doubts about the "reviews" so far. I found the magic mouse on display at Apple, and it had no multitouch functionality yet, due to no software update yet.
And NO, right click did NOT work without lifting up the left finger. This is how it worked in the store on a new iMac running 10.6.1.
So again, I highly question anyone who has reviewed this product yet, as without a public 10.6.2 the multitouch features are not active.
Filling up landfills with expensive (environmentally expensive to produce) toxic batteries is not very green of Apple. I wonder with the new gesture capable mouse how long a pair will even last...
Get a grip on yourself. Unplug your house, light a candle, and feel better about absolutely nothing. That's what you accomplish by doing so.
Wacom bamboo. Wired only. Some support pen, touch, or both. On the touch models No 3 or 4 fingers supported, though. Supports pinch to zoom and a couple of other things that the magic mouse doesn't. Im limited to 2 finger scrolling and the magic mouse disappoints.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bigpics
At least they're cheap and available everywhere... ...and you don't have to send your mouse to California.
I love Apple products in general, but have hated every mouse they've ever brought out. I couldn't get a Mighty Mouse to do anything I wanted it to.
On the other hand, I looove Apple trackpads, especially when I have to use a Windows TP for more than 10 seconds and start swearing. And the more I use TP's, Mac TP's that is, which are always where I want them to be, the less I like fumbling around for a mouse.
The most "innovative" thing to do IMHO would have been to offer an optional KB that included the current MBP TP! Also one less piece of desktop clutter, one less device with batt's to go dead.
Does any 3rd party offer such a thing?? Or could they even do so without violating Apple IP?
Is it possible to tell if the hardware in the new magic mouse would support 3 or 4 fingers, pinch to zoom, reverse pinch, or rotate? I know the hardware in the MB without multi-touch, but with 2 finger scrolling are limited. Are more features something that a third party could activate or a future update?
Comments
The surface will only detect where it's being pressed so it can track position and movement. If you click when two fingers are on the mouse, it can't know which finger pressed it. It has to assume the left by default as that's the most common click.
The solution is pretty simple though, you just need a spring on each top corner of the device, whichever side is pressed down the most determines which side you clicked. Anything above 40% in favor of the left spring is left click, otherwise right-click.
The main reason that I could never use the Mighty Mouse was that it had so much latency that it drove me nuts. I tried several units on a couple of machines, and they all had the same issue. I don't know if this is an inherent issue with Bluetooth, or if it had something to so with the design of the MM itself, but I am curious to see how the new unit compares. I am a bit surprised to see that nobody else has commented on this. I can't wait for the hands-on reviews to start coming in.
I've been having lots of headaches with a bluetooth mighty mouse since moving to snow leopard. The pointer gets laggy and jumps around. I tried a kensington bluethooth mouse and a new logitech m555b (I really like the mouse) and they all behave this way, so it's not the mouse - Its like there is a lot of interference or something, and it wasn't an issue with leopard. I did some googling and found a couple vague references to some problems with interference with the airport wireless, but nothing solid. If I turn off airport it seems to work fine. I'm switching to a wired mouse or a non-bluetooth wireless until this gets sorted out, and since this new one is neither I'm gonna have to pass. I could never get used to having to pick up one finger to click with the other anyway.
Whay has this post not been removed, it is very offensive to disabled people.
Its more offensive to those with a sense of humour.
Can't wait to stroke it...
Lemon Bon Bon.
Has nothing to do with dexterity. There are situations where you have to use both left and right click functions at the same time. You cannot do this with the Mighty or Magic mouse.
Could you refresh me when?
I can understand people's qualms with this new Magic Mouse. It is amazing and I'm blown away by the design. Awesome job, Apple. However, my current Mighty Mouse (though dirty as it's little scroll ball gets) has two additional "gestures" that I believe the Magic Mouse is missing. I currently have Expose tied to the scroll ball, so when I hit it, all open windows slide apart. I also have the side "squeeze" buttons on the Mighty Mouse tied to Expose to separate the windows of the current application. This really helps my productivity. When I want to see everything I have open, I just click the little scroll ball and I can quickly switch from one window to another without moving my hand to the keyboard or elsewhere.
Obviously a four-finger swipe isn't very practical, but I'm sure there is another way to add two more clickable areas.
So, if these were added to the Magic Mouse, I believe it's full feature set would be as follows (new features adopted from Mighty Mouse in bold:
-Move Cursor
-Left Click
-Right Click
-Scroll (vertical & horizontal)
-Zoom
-Two-Finger Swipe
-Middle-click (expose all)
-Squeeze (expose app)
Like others have said, maybe Apple will add these in some sort of future update.
While I would also like to have the extra functionality on the mouse to engage expose/spaces, I suspect that Apple believes that the new expose dock functionality in Snow Leopard frees them from the need to offer additional shortcuts to this functionality (from the mouse).
Why can't apple take out the touchpad, put it in a box with bluetooth, and then we could have for our desktops or iMacs something that any laptop user would say is superior to a mouse? You would have all the one, two, three and four finger swipes, and all the other good stuff that would be in a very sexy, plain Apple-like aluminium box.
John
Its more offensive to those with a sense of humour.
and you have one?
I think it's looking good. Ahead of the 'clit' mouse, fer sure.
Can't wait to stroke it...
Lemon Bon Bon.
HaHa! Is that clit, doube clit?
While I would also like to have the extra functionality on the mouse to engage expose/spaces, I suspect that Apple believes that the new expose dock functionality in Snow Leopard frees them from the need to offer additional shortcuts to this functionality (from the mouse).
I forgot about this expose-dock function. It looks like a good one. However, looking at the steps they show, (click & hold on the application's icon, or click F3 on the keyboard for all apps), neither of these functions beats the speed of clicking the scroll ball or squeezing the Mighty Mouse, if that's how you have it set up to work.
Agreed. Absolute deal-breaker. I don't often play FPSs, but when I do I want them to work right.
Guess I'll be sticking with my trusty Rocketfish.
Nope.. I played with one.. It works EXACTLY like the might mouse when it comes to right and left clicking. You DO NOT have to lift your fingers. the whole top of the mouse is a balanced Rocker Switch and IMHO is even more balanced than the mighty mouse. I never once clicked in the wrong place to do a right click. VERY NATURAL
Here's my $0.02. Sounds like it uses a real "click", i.e. microswitch, to sense button pushes, so that alleviates some of my fears about resting fingers on the body.
- Jasen.
Yes it does.. VERY accurate and VERY natural. I played with one at the Apple Store. I just wish Apple were more clear about this because I too thought it would be a touch click but it is indeed kind of like the bottom part of the Apple's new Touch pads on their Macbook lines. Of course it's at the top part of the mouse where the fingers rest. You do have to enable secondary click however in the systems preferences.
After playing with this mouse at the Apple store yesterday I realized that this mouse is alot like the Mighty Mouse. It does have two buttons.. sort of. It's basically a very well balanced rocker switch. If you have your fingers resting on the mouse, and you push down with the right finger it "right clicks". If you push down with the left finger it "left clicks" and you actually feel the surface go down and click in that direction.
Thanks for sharing the review. Do you mean that it's {b}not{/b} like the Mighty Mouse if it has a rocker because the Mighty Mouse only had a single button and required you to lift off to do a right-click?
My only gripe about the mouse is that I would prefer a wired one. having to buy batteries or even use rechargable ones makes no sense to me. I use my computer at my desk so a wired mouse for me is a luxury.
Yeah, wired would be nice as an option but it might have been too light for doing touch movements. I think 2 x AA will make it too heavy but it needs to have some weight. They could have added extra weight to the wired one though. Plus, they sell the wireless keyboard standard now. I hope the batteries get the 4 months they claim otherwise it does become a bit of a pain switching them.
Would you be able to test out the pairing ability? I'm interested in how easy it is to use with a laptop and a desktop. Can you for example pair the mouse with 2 machines and switch between them without having to pair it up again? Also, if two machine are close to each other, does it control both at once or does it just start working with the nearest one?
At least they're cheap and available everywhere... ...and you don't have to send your mouse to California.
And NO, right click did NOT work without lifting up the left finger. This is how it worked in the store on a new iMac running 10.6.1.
So again, I highly question anyone who has reviewed this product yet, as without a public 10.6.2 the multitouch features are not active.
Filling up landfills with expensive (environmentally expensive to produce) toxic batteries is not very green of Apple. I wonder with the new gesture capable mouse how long a pair will even last...
Get a grip on yourself. Unplug your house, light a candle, and feel better about absolutely nothing. That's what you accomplish by doing so.
Ever hear of rechargeable AA batteries?
At least they're cheap and available everywhere... ...and you don't have to send your mouse to California.
I love Apple products in general, but have hated every mouse they've ever brought out. I couldn't get a Mighty Mouse to do anything I wanted it to.
On the other hand, I looove Apple trackpads, especially when I have to use a Windows TP for more than 10 seconds and start swearing. And the more I use TP's, Mac TP's that is, which are always where I want them to be, the less I like fumbling around for a mouse.
The most "innovative" thing to do IMHO would have been to offer an optional KB that included the current MBP TP! Also one less piece of desktop clutter, one less device with batt's to go dead.
Does any 3rd party offer such a thing?? Or could they even do so without violating Apple IP?
Hardly. See above.