Unboxing Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse

Is this Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s Magic Wireless Mouse ? Presenting the Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse. I need to read the instruction manual quite a bit as there are different parts of the mouse that you can use to “touch” to scroll, click, double tap etc… there are still 2 “buttons” (or silver parts) on this mouse (unlike the Apple Magic Mouse).. but those 2 silver buttons do allow you to play around like a flat surface for you to play around with (basically for scrolling)… as I also own an Apple Magic Mouse (which is a COMPLETELY flat surface), I shall try to compare what’s the difference. I guess Microsoft just cannot do without buttons ….

Using Microsoft BlueTrack Technology. It is still a USB wireless mouse (in the sense that you still need a USB transmitter). Compare that to Apple which is using BlueTooth.

Nice packaging:

Longer than a normal mouse for a good reason:

The higher end is about a Singapore 10 cent coin:

The lower end is less than 1/4 of a coin:

Here’s the cool part. It bends (arc..) when you need to use it. That’s when you “switch on” the mouse !

HOWEVER, please do not think that the bending is flexible. Think of it as a switch. Bend, switch on. Bend, switch off. Dun even think of trying to adjust the bending to suit your hands. It is a ONE BEND fits all…

I got a nice mouse bag with the mouse:

And don’t worry about losing that USB transmitter. The back of the mouse is magnetic and your USB transmitter can be attached to it like a magnet. Thoughtful !

I have not used it yet on a Windows machine but have tried on a Apple MacBook Pro. When I plug in the USB transmitter, Apple recognize it as a “KEYBOARD” (WTF !) and asked that I click the Shift button to “confirm”. I just click on the mouse and immediately it is working. Moving around the mouse moves the cursor around, click on the left button works like a double click and finally, even the middle part of the mouse works for scrolling through a web page.. …. No need to install any software, not need for any device drivers.. it just works.. Irony hor 🙂