Microsoft have very recently announced the latest in their line of state-of-the-art BlueTrack mice, the Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 (you can see more on the Microsoft Hardware site).
BlueTrack mice use a brand new method of tracking the movement across a surface, which is actually a combination of the laser and optical methods. If your current mouse cost you less than £10 or came with your computer, chances are its an optical mouse – usually indicated by a bright red light on the bottom just after you lift it from the desk. Instead of using this wide-band optical beam, laser mice use the higher frequency and much more accurate laser light to track the surface as it moves. BlueTrack combines the best of these to make a mouse that can work on pretty much any surface. In fact the representative from Microsoft Hardware I had a chat with said the only thing it won’t do is glass that has just been cleaned (very transparent so difficult to get reflections of).
Check out the photos below for a product unboxing.
Before we get to that, the experience of using this mouse is pretty good. It’s fairly small (but then again, my large hands find the Logitech MX Revolution slightly on the small side) but its also nimble, with a decent but not too heavy weight to it. It has a 4-way scroll wheel with click button, and left and right extra buttons that can be configured in software, which always make me pretty happy.
Having played with it for a couple of days, I can say the accuracy and general use is very pleasing, but I think I would have to use it solidly for a few more hours to get a real feel of it.
Here are the unboxing shots of the Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000:
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000's Dongle
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000's Dongle
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 with Dongle
Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 6000 with BlueTrack Technology
I hope it works well! Though I can’t say personally that I like the style, and it looks pretty un-ergonomic… I will however shower Microsoft with praise when its due; that receiver dongle is mighty fine. Its in the vain of Logitech type receiver units, which have been tiny for years.
Logitech have also recently announced (Link; http://jmp.li/aaj) that a single unit of their latest version receiver dongle, will allow up to 6 devices to communicate with a single USB port. In effect they have further standardised the communication protocol, which I’m all for. Do Microsoft have similar plans for such standardisation?
It looks quite tall compared with the Dell mouse I’m currently using at work which is long and flatter – how does that feel?
Why are mice all more or less the same size when users have a variety of sized hands? Both of you chaps have larger hands than me >shrug<
I like the sound of that 6-devices / dongle
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