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Gyroscopic mice have been around for years - they pioneered the technology used for the Wii's flail-tastic controller - but they've never made much of an impact, probably because they never looked as good as this.
The MX Air is designed for the high-tech living room, a black-and-silver teardrop obviously from the same family as our media keyboard of choice, the DiNovo Edge. On the desktop it's a serviceable wireless mouse, marked out by its touchpad scroll rather than the usual spinning wheel. But it's on the sofa that the hefty price tag is justified.
Put your hands in the air
Simply wield it like a TV remote and the mouse pointer follows suit, from up to 30ft away. You can adjust the volume by flicking from side to side, and tracks can be skipped by rotating.
Not quite Minority Report, but it works well and doesn't require the rock-steady handling demanded by earlier motion-sensing kit.
The built-in controls - volume/mute, scroll pad, and back and select buttons - glow orange to the touch, so they're easily found in the gloom of the screening room, and they look sharp. Back on the desk, the Air slots into a recharger that tops up the built-in battery.
Take care of business
The same features that work so well for media are well-suited to the conference room too, making this a particularly flashy aid when you're attempting to wow the board with your Q4 sales projections.
The Air's main limitation is how self-conscious you feel using it. Rattling through your album art still feels slightly awkward, even if you're a dab hand at Wii Sports. But if you can no longer stand in front of a screen without flailing your arms around, this is the mouse for you.
Comments
PavPev
5 years ago
I bought one of these mice a few months ago along with a Logitech diNovo Edge cordless Bluetooth keyboard and here's what I think so far... This mouse looks amazing, it sits on your desk/sofa/table like a black panther ready to pounce, and when you pick it up the buttons light up in orange text and icons. The L and R buttons are very nice to use, they're firm enough, but with short travel so your fingers won't get tired from lenthy use. The other buttons all have slightly more travel, which suits it well as it stops them from getting pressed accidentally. The scroll area down the middle is slightly over-packed with funtionality. You can either press up & down on it to scroll as you would with a scroll wheel, or gently touch and run your finger up and down too. You can also flick your finger over it to make it fast-scroll through massive documents or web pages. It's useful to have, and the small in-built speaker gives a rolling-clicking sound that is an innovative addition, but thr touch sensitivity can lead to you using it without meaning to. The other buttons are Back, Sel, Play/Pause and Vol. The Back button is a godsend. It is extremely useful when browsing webpages or folders, saves manually selecting it from the toolbar or hitting backspace all the time. The Play/Pause button does exactly what it says, even when your media player isn't the selected window, and the Vol and Sel buttons are tied into the air useage of this mouse. So then you pick up your mouse, and in about half a second it realises it's in the air and you can start moving the cursor around the screen, holding the mouse like a remote! The shape makes it comfortable to hold, and the cool metal underside feels great in your hands. Now you can see why the Sel button is easily within thumb-reach as the L click is a bit of a stretch in this position, and there are even more funtions to come. I pressed the Vol button and it muted my computer. I was a bit disappointed at that as I hardly ever need to mute my computer, but then as I tried it again, I moved my hand and suddenly realised that the volume will rise & lower as you move left & right! It's a very nice touch and well incorporated; it would have been nice to see something like this done with the scroll too, to overcome the occasional accidental useage of it. The final trick this mouse has up its sleeve is an ability to skip tracks with a rotation of your wrist. Hold down the Play/Pause button and rotate clockwise to go to your next track and anti-clockwise to go to previous track - Couldn't be simpler. There are a few well thought through finishing touches on show too. The on/off button underneath is great for when your travelling with it and don't want to run down the battery, the charging cradle is sexy and a little battery charger icon lights up on the bottom of the mouse so you know when it's full and they even give you a little cleaning cloth to keep fingerprints off the sheen black finish. Overall, this is a mouse you can easily use everyday on your desk. It feels slender and angular whenever you go to use it and whenever you want to show off or use it from your sofa it will easily rise to the challenge. So is it worth the price tag? If, like me, you want one mouse that will do it all from your desk, table, sofa and bed, then yes! If it's for everyday use on your desk then it of course still works beautifully, but you will probably be able to find a cheaper substitute that will perform upto the same standard for those uses.