PRODUCT REVIEW: Microsoft Arc™ Touch Mouse

Look at those CURVES!

Let me start off with this: Happy Belated New Year.

Things have been busy as hell with my job and crap storm of a personal life, but things are looking up, so hopefully This is the first of many new and interesting posts for you. I only wish I would have had more time in January and February for writing here,...

Ok, with the apologies out of the way, I thought I would start off 2011 with a product review: The Microsoft™ Arc™ Touch Mouse™

Clearly Microsoft is proud of this thing (notice the copyrights?). Honestly, though, they have every right to be. The device is not only beautiful in design, but also very functional and even brings a few new ideas to the table when it comes to mice designed for travel.

NOTE: After writing this article and re-reading it, I realized I became really preachy about why mice rule and everything else sucks. If that is something that will cause you to insert rage into an email or comment directed at me, please stop reading now. I do apologize for the length, but I think its interesting enough to let slide.

Thanks for understanding. Let's Begin.

The History of Mouse Design

Mice are designed to fit the human hand, and therefore they are forced to have large, bulky curves. The curves are functional, though. The shape fits well into the natural position of the human hand and over time the computer world has continued to enhance it. We have achieved a level of design so high in quality that now, you may forget you are using it. 

All these old mice were wireless? I call Shenanigans.

This is great for desktop computers. Every working man or family member can, while sitting at a desk, make magical things in Photoshop, play games, and poke people on Facebook with precision that no other form of input can match. We continue to refine them over time. We add a button here, add another groove for thumbs there. We even added a wheel to make scrolling easier, and then turned that wheel into a third button. 

Short of mind control, there isn't much more we can do with this traditional form of input.

But what about the Laptop? Laptops are the class of machine that outsells every other device on the planet, including cell phones and televisions. From the home user to the working professional, laptops have replaced the desktop as the computer that gets things done. In order to make this happen, we needed to continue to improve input into the device.

Laptops, in this writer's opinion, are vastly inferior to their desktop and tablet brethren, mostly because of the input options. First there was the nub. The Mouse Nipple. The dot that made the arrow move. It sucked, so we moved on.

Notice the lack of nipples.

Next, we had the track pad. It was cool. We invented a nifty little panel that was sensitive to the touch of a finger. To this day, it is a solid alternative to the mouse, but let's face it: its not precise at all. Companies like Microsoft and Apple tried adding enhancements to help here, but despite these new ideas that actually quite useful, they still didn't help make control of the cursor fluid. Despite scroll panels on the sides, tap clicking, and larger areas on the machine designed for our fingers, they failed to match even that of early touchscreen control, which they would end up borrowing from later anyway. They added multitouch features, like what you use on your iPad or Android device's screen. 

Let's do a quick experiment to help us figure out why many people still use mice with laptops. Do me a favor and relax your hands. 

Come on, humor me for a second!

Let go of all the muscle control in your hands and hold your arms in the air so they aren't resting on anything.

What do they look like?

Unless you have bone structure that departs from the norm, your hands probably are curled up. Curved to almost resemble fists. Now, lay your dominant hand down on a computer mouse. Just let it sit on top, don't grab it or anything. Continue to let go of muscle control.

Now your hand should still be at rest when sitting on a computer mouse. The only muscle movement you need is when you manipulate the device. Your hand is naturally inclined to sit like that way. Your muscles are still at rest while using the mouse. This is why laptop track pads under preform: they are simply not designed for use with your hands!

Now stay with me here: I'm not saying track pads are bad devices. They serve their purpose, which is more about giving users a method of input while not taking up any space within the design limitations of the laptop. Their design is inherently inadequate when we think of how the shape of our hand works, and this is why travel mice are a huge part of the computer accessory market.

Microsoft has historically been a software company, and to this day it is their primary focus. A small branch of the company, however, has always been dedicated to the design and manufacturing of some hardware: Mice and Keyboards.

Today we look at one of their projects, the Arc Touch Mouse. They researched most of the information above and determined that those traveling with laptops deserved the most convenient travel mouse possible, and the Arc Touch represents this mentality perfectly.

The Hardware:

The first thing you notice: The mouse lays flat. Really flat. Flat like a Pancake, but I certainly don't recommend eating it.

Didn't we say before that flat was bad? Yes, flat doesn't work with the hand, but the Arc Touch doesn't do anything when laying flat. In this shape, the device is not turned on. After investigating the device for a bit, you'll find that the back half, made of a comfortable, flexible, rubber... and it bends. 

It snaps into a curved shape, meeting the traditional requirement of a computer mouse. It fits the palm of your hand, and the smooth plastic and rubber backing feels good while griping it. You'll notice that a small green light blinks, indicating that now it is turned on. Underneath, the BlueTrack technology, which I'll talk about in a second, shines brightly.

The mouse itself is a joy to use. You'll first notice that it is actually somewhat big. It is larger than traditional travel mice, but the flat design when it is turned off is how it justifies the size when curved. The flat mode makes it perfect for travel. It can fit in the pocket of your laptop bag, or even in your pants pocket.

Underneath the bendable back is where you store the tiny USB adapter. It's magnetic, so it just sticks on there. Not the most secure feature, but still very simple. There's no pairing needed either. The adapter that ships in the box will only work with the mouse that it came with. According to the Microsoft tech blog, the same magnet that holds the adapter in place is also used to reinforce the device when flattened. They put some serious tech into the design of this mouse.

The adapter sticks to the bottom magnetically, and the mouse ships with two AAA batteries.

On top you'll see the two traditional buttons and a grey strip between them. This strip is where the "touch" part of the device's name comes into play. Much like a track pad, you can slide your finger over top and the mouse will scroll the page. The mouse rumbles softly and clicks, simulating the clicking of an actual scroll wheel. You can tap the top or bottom of the strip to page up or down, and double tapping in the center of the strip will activate the traditional third button action (clicking the scroll wheel).

The double tap is annoying, but you can adjust the button to accept a single tap using the included software. This, however, can sometimes be accidentally activated when you try to scroll, since scrolling starts off with a single tap. I recommend keeping the double tap there to avoid accidental taps. You'll get used to it.

 The bendable section is made of many smaller parts, to provide stability, longevity, and like Skittles

One really cool note: The software used for all Microsoft mice, called "Intellipoint" is very good and seems to be hard-loaded on the USB dongle. As soon as you plug it in, it installs the full software suite, not just the mouse's drivers. Very cool.

BlueTrack Technology:

I won't go too much into Microsoft's method of tracking here. Simply put, once we ditched the mouse ball underneath, we typically used optical sensors or lasers to track how you move the mouse. These methods worked great, but were often ineffective on strange surfaces, like cloth or reflective glass tabletops. 

BlueTrack works on just about anything. Your pant leg, your couch cushion, even glass. It works as they advertise, but I suppose by now it really should be on all mice, not just Microsoft ones. I'm sure other companies will catch up eventually with their own tech (and their own lame naming schemes). That being said, BlueTrack really makes the Arc Touch useful as a travel mouse, since you can use it wherever you find yourself.

Also, I'm not sure if the color of the sensor absolutely needs to be blue. I suspect they could easily apply the sensor technology with other colored lights to add a level personalization in the future. For now, I'm actually glad it isnt red, like the billion other optical/laser mice I've used in the past.

Cons and other Gripes:

As I continue to rant about this mouse, let me talk about some of the downsides.

1. The mouse uses replaceable batteries.

Come on guys! Its 2011! PUT A DAMN RECHARGEABLE BATTERY IN EVERYTHING!

This isn't just Microsoft either, every company still does this. Sure, there is probably business reasons behind it with companies like Duracell and Energizer, but I'm sure either of those companies could be contracted to make a specialized rechargeable for these devices. I don't mind having to plug it into a USB slot if I never have to see batteries again. Get with the program, everybody.

2. I'm not confident that the battery door will last. I'm sure you've had television remotes or something similar that, over time, had their battery door's latch break. On the Arc Touch, the door is mighty small, as I'm sure you can see in the picture above. If the latch breaks, I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable using tape to hold the thing shut. I'd probably just ditch the whole thing.

3. This isn't as much of a downside as it is an open-ended worry: How long will I be able to snap the handle (turning it on and off) before the bendable section break? Nothing lasts forever, and from experience I'm sure we can all agree that plastic/metal isn't going to bend forever without breaking. Just a thought.

4. The touch scrolling is nice, but it is vertical only. There is no horizontal scrolling at all unless you double tap the middle, activating your computer's 4-way scroll. A Minor gripe here, as I don't use horizontal scrolling often, but it would be a nice addition to the Arc Touch 2.

5. I suppose the USB dongle could be smaller, although it's mighty small anyway. I'm sure laptop users would love to just leave it plugged in all the time instead of putting it underneath the mouse when traveling. The smaller it is, the more likely people will leave it in their usb slot all the time.

6. There are ZERO variants of the device. No Bluetooth version, no color options. Nothing. Everyone buys the same one. Personally, I like the black, but I can definitely see the value of other colors. People like to customize everything to suit their fancy, and colors go a long way.

As for bluetooth, I'd love to have it. Sure, the dongle is tiny, but bluetooth eliminates the need for one at all. I'm sure one is in the works, so if that is a deal breaker for you, wait it out.

It started out as a slab of silicon, but ended up being built like RoboCop!

Price and Closing Thoughts:

MSRP is listed at $69.95, which is INSANITY.

I bought mine at a local electronics store for $38, which is still a bit borderline for me. I think Microsoft wanted the thing to have a stylistic feel to it, much like every Apple device has (and is priced at). It definately has that Rolls-Royce look and feel to it, but for $70 you can buy a very capable Logitech mouse/keyboard combination, as well as one of Microsoft's many other fantastic mice and/or keyboards. I'd be very interested in knowing how much it costs to manufacture and ship the Arc Touch compared to the suggested retail price.

So there you have it: a damn good travel mouse with a few conversation starter features. I love the look of the mouse, and it functions as well as one could hope. BlueTrack adds some great reliability when on the go, and when you flatten it, you can shove it in any bag or pocket without much worry.

Overall this is a great mouse, and I hope it gets a follow up.

4/5 Stars again. I know. Everything on this site gets 4/5 Stars. Shut up already.

~ Jimmy "This mouse ain't no fruity hockey puck" the G.

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This post has a Shenanaganary rating of:

"I went this whole post without bashing the shitty mice that Apple has designed for decades."