Elecom continues their partnership with Japanese design studio nendo, this time bringing the world a compact wireless mouse that looks like it was made from a discarded D-cell battery. The unique design certainly makes it compact and easy to travel with, but at first glance the ergonomics look like they’d take a little while to get used to. (Given most of us are used to mousing with our hands laid flat.) The Kandenchi has 3 buttons in total, with the bottom one on the side doubling as a scroll wheel. And an included tiny wireless USB receiver can be stashed inside the mouse when not in use. “Shipping Soon” with a TBD price point.

[ Kandenchi Battery Mouse ] VIA [ The Red Ferret Journal ]

Cordless mice certainly have their advantages when it comes to keeping your desk free of tangled cables, but they also require batteries and tend to be a bit heavier than their tethered brethren. So to show that corded mice are still very much alive, well and occasionally even appreciated, Elecom has once again teamed up with Japanese design studio nendo.

If you recall, their last collaboration resulted in the jellyfish-inspired Otokurage earbuds, and this time around it’s the Rinkak mouse which not only still uses a USB cable, but is damned proud of it. So much so that the cord actually appears to be integrated into the mouse’s design. In Japanese, ‘Rinkak’ is a term that “refers to an object’s outline against its background” (silhouette?) so in this case it’s the colored cable that encircles and stands out against the mouse’s white facade. The mice will be available in Japan at the end of June for a yet to be specified price, and internationally sometime after that.

[ PR - Elecom rinkak Mouse ] VIA [ Dezeen ]

By Paul McCollum

Building a better mouse trap may be a phrase nearly lost to time, but building a better mouse has never been more timely. Spending 8 to 12 hours per day at a computer, you really start to develop an appreciation for the tiniest changes in your controls. Logitech, who has made a name for itself subtly tweaking and perfecting the mouse, has made more radical changes in its line of trackballs. Their latest, the M570 Trackball, has moved the almost comfortably placed trackball out from under our fingers. The bright blue, gumball-sized sphere is now exclusively controlled by your thumb.

With the ball out of the way, the rest of the M570 looks like a perfectly comfortable mouse with four conveniently placed buttons and a scroll wheel. Ergonomics aside, the trackball is exclusively made for right handed users and there’s inherently a steep learning curve, especially for first time users. Additionally, the trackball also comes with Unifying receiver so you can easily share the wireless USB dongle with other compliant input devices, such as the Logitech K800 keyboard. Although much better for your wrists, how hard will it be to switch to using your thumbs to ‘mouse’ around? Does the more natural feel of the rest of trackball make up for having to retrain your clumsy thumb? You can decide for yourself after checking out the review at Everything USB.

[ Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball Review @ Everything USB ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Well, it’s Friday, and I promised to hand out mice to three lucky winners. Since I like to keep my promises, it’s time to announce who those people are. In accordance with the rules that I made up, I picked the three comments at random. I thought about playing favorites, but then I realized that I don’t actually know any of you, and just went with the ones my cat pointed to on the screen. (It is possible that she may be playing favorites, as I don’t know what she does on the computer when I’m not around.)

The three winners are Ivan Gustavo Flores Molina, Billy Kent, and lizmoney. Each of you will be receiving a Smartfish Whirl Mini mouse! Congratulations to these three, and for those that didn’t win, we’ll be announcing a new contest happening over at GamerFront.net a little later in the day, so stay tuned!

[ Smartfish ]

This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

When I first saw this mouse I wasn’t too impressed, compared to other gaming mice it was lacking the initial wow factor that draws you to it. The M3x offers an on the fly DPI adjustment, however you must pick between eight predetermined settings (no customizing here). The eight options are associated with a colored LED so you would have to memorize which color coincides with each  resolution. The DPI selection is on a cyclic system, in other words you have to cycle all the way through to get to a lower DPI. I found this irritating, and almost counter-productive.

The mouse also features two buttons on the side which are completely non customizable, I’ve only found them useful for going forward and back on my web browser.  The M3x also has a “permanent” fire button, which all I can seem to get it to do is the same as the left click. Another thing that bothers me is when I click the back of the mouse tends to raise up. As for comfort, I feel like my hand sits to high and the grooves where my ring and pinky finger are supposed to sit are two small and not in a natural place. I thought the problem might be my big hands, so I had a friend with smaller hands try it, and she couldn’t reach the buttons to click and when she moved her hand close enough to reach them it almost flipped over.

So now that I’m done ranting about my issues with this mouse, I now get to mention the few things I like about it. It glides over most surfaces with smooth precision. I used the M3x on three surfaces, my oak desk, an aluminum mouse pad and the glossy cover of one of my textbooks. I was surprised to see that it had the same smooth feeling on all three surfaces. There are also four removable weights, but they are not centered, which may be causing some of the rocking issues. The only thing I found the M3x to do well was first person shooters, and it does those with little or no glitz and glamor. The smooth feeling was great for every FPS I tested it on. However what good is a mouse that can only do one thing well?

So what is my final word? After a week of using this mouse I could not wait to be done with this review so I could go back to my normal mouse. The M3x is uncomfortable, has useless features, but has a great smooth feeling on most surfaces and is great for FPS’s but only FPS’s. It’s not the worst mouse I have ever used but it’s by far not the best. For $60- $75 I find it overpriced for what you get. So if you want a new mouse for everyday use look elsewhere…unless all you do is play FPS all day every day.

[ Raptor Gaming ] VIA [ GamerFront ]

By Chris Scott Barr

When you’re in the market for a a notebook mouse, you have plenty of options to choose from. However, when you really start looking closely, you’ll find that most of them are very similar. Sure, one might have an extra button or two here, or maybe a slightly different shape. Rarely do you find one that’s truly different. The Smartfish Whirl would be one of those rare devices. Today I’ll be sharing my review of the Whirl.

First Look

When first observed, you might think that the Whirl was an ordinary notebook mouse, sitting on top of something. Upon closer inspection, you’d find that the thing it’s sitting on is actually a part of the mouse. The plastic stand is what makes this mouse different from pretty much every other one on the market. The stand is only connected at a small point at the bottom of the mouse. The mouse is able to pivot on this point, providing a unique mousing experience.

Aside from the unusual base, the Whirl is rather unexceptional. It has only the two basic buttons and scrollwheel. For the lefties out there, you’ll be happy to know that this mouse is symmetrical. This of course means that it works just as well in the right or left hand.

This mouse is wireless, which is almost a necessity when it comes to portability. It functions off of two AAA batteries, and connects to your computer using a very tiny USB receiver. The tiny receiver is great because you can leave it plugged into your laptop, even when you’re storing the computer in your case or bag. If you really don’t want the receiver left there, you can open up the battery compartment on the Whirl and insert it into a slot for safekeeping.

Comfort/Usability

Since this mouse pivots on a stand, it will feel very strange to use at first. The laser is located on the bottom of the stand, so you will move this mouse around like any other. However, when you start to move your hand in one direction, the weight shift will cause the mouse to tilt accordingly. This is done to make the experience of using the mouse more ergonomic than a completely stationary mouse.

Naturally, using a mouse that pivots is going to be weird. After a few days, however, it felt rather pleasant. The most important thing is figuring out exactly how to hold it properly. This will likely be different for everyone. You’ll eventually notice that your whole hand moves much differently, and during extended periods of use, it will cause less discomfort than other mice.

Conclusion

If you experience pain or discomfort when using your laptop mouse for long periods, I would definitely look into checking out the Whirl from Smartfish. Give it a few days, and you should notice a difference. At only around $50, it’s not going to cost you much more then your average notebook mouse.

[ Smartfish ]

When I stop and think about it, between laptop touchpads, touchscreen phones and tablets and my Wacom tablet, I very rarely use a mouse these days. And if a company called Celluon has anything to say about it, the mouse as we know it may soon be extinct. Using similar technology to those projected laser keyboards, the evoMouse sits on your desk just above where you’d normally be pushing a mouse around, and instead tracks the movements of your fingers. Those movements are then translated into cursor movements on screen, allowing you to use just your fingers for everything from scrolling to dragging files to even accessing context menus.

The evoMouse itself is barely larger than an actual mouse, seemingly making it ideal for traveling, and you can connect it to your computer via USB or via Bluetooth if you’d prefer to keep things wireless. It’s even compatible with styluses if you’d like to use it as a portable drawing tablet, or want to take advantage of the evoMouse’s handwriting recognition technology. Pricing and availability are still TBA.

[ Celluon evoMouse ] VIA [ Pocket-lint ]

By Chris Scott Barr

Your mouse; It points, it clicks. Don’t you sometimes wish that it could do so much more than that? What if it could scan documents? That could be useful, right? I’m sure there’s someone out there that gets excited at the prospect of waving their mouse over a sheet of paper in order to reproduce it digitally on their computer.

I could see this being useful for oversized documents that won’t fit on a normal scanner, but that’s really about it. Honestly, with a resolution of only 300dpi, I can’t say I’d be all that excited to use it. Maybe if they could increase that to at least 600 by the time they bring this thing to market, LG might be able to sell a few units.

[ LG ] VIA [ Engadget ]

The technology exists to make most of our compact gadgets even smaller than they already are. But unfortunately there’s a point where things get too small for human hands and fingers to operate. And that’s exactly what I thought the first time I saw the Swiftpoint mouse, which has been around for a while, but only recently available in North America. It’s smaller than even the smallest of travel-friendly mice offered by the likes of Logitech, and I wondered if its compact design traded functionality and usability for portability.

But it turns out my concerns were completely unfounded, and after only a few days the Swiftpoint has not only become my travel mouse of choice, but it’s even starting to encroach on my Apple Mighty Mouse’s territory for day-to-day use. I’ll explain why in my full review after the jump.

I first came across the Swiftpoint mouse online a month or so ago, but when I discovered they’d have a booth at CES I decided to hold off writing about it until I had the chance to play with it in person at the show. I liked the idea behind it, but like I already mentioned, I had my reservations as to how usable it could really be given its size. But when you first start using the Swiftpoint you instantly realize that the designers have put a lot of thought into its ergonomics and usability, and not just “how do we make this thing smaller?”

The photo above is actually a shot of the front of the mouse, and when using it the red rubber textured grip ends up on its left side. But given how small it is, you don’t use it like a traditional mouse where your hand basically covers the whole thing. Instead, you kind of hold the Swiftpoint as if you were holding a stylus or a pen, as pictured below.

So you really only end up holding it with the tips of your fingers, which not only actually feels rather comfortable, but also feels like you have finer control than with a larger mouse. There’s a reason designers prefer to work on a PC using a Wacom tablet and stylus, myself included, and the Swiftpoint provides a surprisingly similar user experience. I still wouldn’t use it for heavy Photoshop or Illustrator work, but it’s certainly better than relying on just your laptop’s touchpad. The mouse is also incredibly lightweight making it easier to move and slide around with just your fingers, but I can’t help but feel that even just a little more weight would have provided some much appreciated resistance when using it. But maybe that’s a personal preference derived from using larger and heavier mice my whole life.

On the top of the Swiftpoint you’ll find the left and right mouse buttons arranged in a vertical orientation instead of side-by-side, but it feels completely natural and is a non-issue. There’s no middle mouse button though, so if you’ve come to rely on that for certain applications this isn’t the mouse for you. You’ll also notice a perfectly positioned rubber scroll wheel on the right side of the Swiftpoint. While it doesn’t have the ‘fly wheel’ capabilities of Logitech’s mice where you can disengage the ratcheting mechanism and give the scroll wheel a good spin to navigate a long page, its half-sphere shape means if you angle the Swiftpoint just right you can actually drag it along a flat surface to quickly spin the wheel and scroll a page.

Instead of Bluetooth the Swiftpoint comes with its own USB receiver which plugs into your PC for wirelessly connectivity. And while it’s not the smallest receiver available today, there’s a good reason for that. It also doubles as a miniature charging dock!

Because of its compact size the Swiftpoint mouse features a built-in rechargeable battery, but instead of requiring some additional cables to top it off every now and then, the USB wireless receiver does double-duty. It features a magnetic nub and a couple of leads that connect to a similar set found in a cutout section of the underside of the mouse.

So besides serving as a wireless receiver and a charging station for the mouse, the USB dongle also serves as a secure dock allowing you to easily up and move your laptop with the Swiftpoint securely in tow. And speaking of charging, that’s one thing I particularly like about this mouse. On a full 90-minute charge you can expect to get about 2-4 weeks of normal use which is totally reasonable given how small the mouse is. But on just a quick 30-second charge with the battery depleted you can actually get a full hour’s use which is fantastic if you’re in a situation where you need to get work done but don’t want to sit and wait for a full charging cycle to complete.

I also like that the Swiftpoint has some simple but effective power-saving techniques to maximize its battery life. Built into the finger grips are touch sensors that know when you’re actually holding the mouse, and when you’re not. So if you happen to brush the mouse out of your way with your arm, or move it in any way without holding the finger grips, the movement won’t be detected or translated to the cursor. So besides conserving battery life when not in use, it’s also a handy way to get the mouse out of your way when typing, without pushing the cursor to the far side of the screen.

And while I chose not to use it myself, the Swiftpoint even comes with what the company refers to as a ‘Parking Accessory’. It’s basically just a clear, reusable decal that you can cut down to size and attach to the palmrest area of your laptop. In addition to providing some texture for the 1,000 dpi optical sensor to read if your laptop happens to have a polished, high-gloss finish, there’s also a thin magnetic patch that will hold the Swiftpoint when it’s placed on top of it, stopping it from sliding around or off onto the floor.

Overall the Swiftpoint mouse is a well-designed product that’s hard to fault after having had the chance to actually put it through its paces. It’s difficult not to be skeptical at its minuscule design at first glance. Particularly since we’ve all spent our lives using monstrous alternatives. But the Swiftpoint is well designed for the task it was created for, which is basically on the palmrest area of a notebook computer while it’s being used on your lap, on an airplane’s tray table or anywhere with limited desktop space. It may not be the perfect solution for everybody’s day-to-day needs, but I certainly recommend that road warriors who are not completely satisfied with their laptops built-in solutions give it some serious consideration.

Pros:
+ The smallest mouse you can buy that still remains completely usable. Even to the point of being more useful than some full-sized mice.
+ No drivers to install, perfectly plug-and-play on MACs and PCs.
+ Tiny wireless USB receiver doubles as an extremely handy charging dock.
+ Provides a user experience similar to using a tablet and stylus.
+ RapidCharge feature gives you an hour of use after just a brief 30-second charge when the battery is depleted.
+ Intelligent battery conserving features knows when you’re not actually using the mouse, just moving it.

Cons:
- It’s a little on the light side, I would prefer a bit more weight and resistance.
- No middle mouse button.

Links:
Swiftpoint Mouse – $69

If you have any questions about the Swiftpoint Mouse you’d like answered, please feel free to leave them in the comments, and I’ll try to respond to them as best I can.

This post is syndicated with permission from GamerFront.net

Thermaltake is a very well-known computer hardware company, and although they are most commonly recognized for their computer tower cases, they also have their own line of gaming peripherals for the PC. The company just recently rolled out these new additions to their hardware resume, and we were lucky enough to get a few pieces of this equipment in for review. The first up – the Thermaltake Black Gaming mouse. Let’s see how it performed.

Look and Feel

The first thing I noticed about this gaming mouse is how light it feels. The peripheral has almost no weight to it. I found that the mouse does come with weights already installed into its chassis, but they don’t provide much of a resistance when using it. I was able to slide the mouse across the desk with ease, and even pick it up with no effort. This was an issue for me, only because I like my mice heavy and stout. It’s real easy to shift the mouse all over the desk if you’re not careful.

The Black looks, however, extremely slick and modern. With matte and black gloss styling, the mouse makes a perfect addition to my desktop environment. It has red LEDs that light up when the PC is powered on, which makes it look even more like a mean, down-to-business mouse. Perhaps one of the best aspects of the aesthetic that the Black puts on is the thumb grip. Ridges on the left side of the mouse make for an easily-accessible grip that is very comfortable. With a braided cable, the mouse surely knocks it out of the park with looks.

Performance
In terms of performance, the mouse is hit and miss. The cool thing about the Black is that right below the scroll wheel lies the DPI buttons, to change the sensitivity up and down. The great thing about this mouse is the ability to click up – and back down. Most gaming mice make you cycle through the available settings over and over again, whereas the Black allows you to go back and forth until you find the right setting for you. Cycling from 200, 800, 2000, and 4000 DPI, the mouse makes these options easily available.

The problem with the above mentioned DPI settings is this: these are the only settings. There’s no option to fine-tune the DPI, nor is there software available to change the settings. It would be great to have this option available, because I found myself constantly switching back and forth between 2000 and 4000 DPI until I finally settled with 4000. It becomes frustrating sometimes.

The forward and back buttons work perfectly, and most of the time the Black is spot-on when I need it. There’s honestly not too much to complain about.

The Verdict

I would honestly say that the Thermaltake Black gaming mouse is solid, but not something I would dump a lot of money into. Right now the mouse is available anywhere from $40 to $60 online, which isn’t too bad. If you happen to pick this mouse up, it will do the job, but it won’t be a crucial piece of hardware to have and I can see consumers swapping out sooner than later.

While gaming the mouse did it’s job, but it did only that. With the prices I’ve seen for the Black, you’ll be paying for aesthetics and possibly comfort. If you’re okay with that, then go ahead and pick it up. Other than that, I would say continue looking.

[ Thermaltake ] VIA [ GamerFront ]