Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Newton Peripherals MoGo Bluetooth Mouse mini review
A while ago I was on the lookout for a new mouse specifically to carry around with my laptop. One such mouse that caught my eye but wasn’t at the time available was a new folding Bluetooth mouse by Newtown Peripherals. What made this particular model so attractive was its ability to fold down into the size of a standard PCMCIA card and be stored inside your laptop. Fast forward a few months and I finally got the chance to try out this device first hand.
The MoGo mouse truly is an exceptional design; a flat unit with folding kick stand that is easily stored inside a free PCMCIA slot and also makes use of this bay to recharge when not needed. Being a Bluetooth device, you will need to pair this mouse with your laptop upon first use. This is simply a case of folding down the kick stand to turn the mouse on and then holding in the connect button on the underside for a second using a pen tip or similar to make the mouse visible – indicated by a quick flashing blue led. Using your laptop’s Bluetooth, you will now be able to find the MoGo and then select it to complete the pairing which is straight forward using the standard HID profile.
As much as I was impressed by the design of this mouse, I had reservations about how good it would prove to be as a day to day replacement to a more conventional size and design. These reservations were blown away after only a few minutes of use as the MoGo proved to be as comfortable as any other travel sized mouse I had experience of; not quite up there with a full sized desktop equivalent for extended periods of use but more than adequate for an average days work. The kick stand raises the rear end into a hand friendly angle with index and middle fingers sitting perfectly on top on the slightly recessed buttons, proving a far more attractive proposition when pitted against a track pad or stick. The only thing missing from this design is a scroll wheel although his will be addressed in a future release thanks to a touch sensitive strip between the buttons.
Performance from this Bluetooth mouse was excellent with smooth and speedy tracking and no discernible lag with the pointer or button presses. The quoted resolution of 500dpi worked fine for standard tasks although could prove a little limiting for scenarios where absolute precision is desirable such as graphic editing or gaming. Being a rechargeable device, power saving is in place and the mouse will go to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity however wakes up in around a second after a button press. Powering off is as simple as folding in the kick stand which allows the super slim profile to slide perfectly into a vacant PC card slot for storage meaning the mouse will also be carried around with you. In this state, the mouse will also charge up with the red led changing to green when fully replenished so you will never have to be concerned with replacement batteries.
I must admit to being very impressed with the design and thought behind the MoGo Bluetooth mouse. Using the PCMCIA slot solves two issues, storage and recharging and the kick stand approach makes it a simple yet surprising comfortable fit for the hand. If you hate having extra accessories in your laptop bag or tangled cables and your laptop is armed with Bluetooth then the MoGo could prove to be a real bonus for you. Only people who have a dependency on very high accuracy should be put off by the slightly limited resolution. More details can be found at the Newton Peripherals website and UK readers can purchase MoGo at EasyLaptopShop for £49.99.
The MoGo mouse truly is an exceptional design; a flat unit with folding kick stand that is easily stored inside a free PCMCIA slot and also makes use of this bay to recharge when not needed. Being a Bluetooth device, you will need to pair this mouse with your laptop upon first use. This is simply a case of folding down the kick stand to turn the mouse on and then holding in the connect button on the underside for a second using a pen tip or similar to make the mouse visible – indicated by a quick flashing blue led. Using your laptop’s Bluetooth, you will now be able to find the MoGo and then select it to complete the pairing which is straight forward using the standard HID profile.
As much as I was impressed by the design of this mouse, I had reservations about how good it would prove to be as a day to day replacement to a more conventional size and design. These reservations were blown away after only a few minutes of use as the MoGo proved to be as comfortable as any other travel sized mouse I had experience of; not quite up there with a full sized desktop equivalent for extended periods of use but more than adequate for an average days work. The kick stand raises the rear end into a hand friendly angle with index and middle fingers sitting perfectly on top on the slightly recessed buttons, proving a far more attractive proposition when pitted against a track pad or stick. The only thing missing from this design is a scroll wheel although his will be addressed in a future release thanks to a touch sensitive strip between the buttons.
Performance from this Bluetooth mouse was excellent with smooth and speedy tracking and no discernible lag with the pointer or button presses. The quoted resolution of 500dpi worked fine for standard tasks although could prove a little limiting for scenarios where absolute precision is desirable such as graphic editing or gaming. Being a rechargeable device, power saving is in place and the mouse will go to sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity however wakes up in around a second after a button press. Powering off is as simple as folding in the kick stand which allows the super slim profile to slide perfectly into a vacant PC card slot for storage meaning the mouse will also be carried around with you. In this state, the mouse will also charge up with the red led changing to green when fully replenished so you will never have to be concerned with replacement batteries.
I must admit to being very impressed with the design and thought behind the MoGo Bluetooth mouse. Using the PCMCIA slot solves two issues, storage and recharging and the kick stand approach makes it a simple yet surprising comfortable fit for the hand. If you hate having extra accessories in your laptop bag or tangled cables and your laptop is armed with Bluetooth then the MoGo could prove to be a real bonus for you. Only people who have a dependency on very high accuracy should be put off by the slightly limited resolution. More details can be found at the Newton Peripherals website and UK readers can purchase MoGo at EasyLaptopShop for £49.99.
