And so, despite having gone through a lot of mice over the years, and after so long, I decided to try a new Mouse that has a different form. It's more than three weeks and now, it is time to reflect on my new mouse. In the past, I have used weird ones like:
Trackball
This was a fun one. It literally saved my wrist and table real estate. The big size meant I can really rest my whole hand on it. Clicking the buttons were a breeze while the whole mouse is stationary. The only part of my hand which had to work was the thumb. It was OK but once it requires precise mouse pointing, the trackball was out. But after two decades, I am sure trackball technology has improved tremendously. This was the mouse which had additional buttons to flip the Webpages forward and back, something my thumb immediately takes a liking to.
It was also the mouse which started me on a biased journey to favour new mice with that two important back/forward buttons.
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| I think this was the A4Tech model (left) I had since Logitech was much more expensive Image courtesy of xahlee.info |
The Handheld/ Floating Mouse
I don't know what else to call it since it need to be held by the hand and is wireless. The mouse was shaped like a Star Trek Phaser and apart from the usual left and right buttons, it has a built-in laser pointer. And yes, a trackball. It was more fun as a shooting Phaser than what it was originally intended for. The trackball was positioned in the middle which I presume was for both left and right handed users. It has no gyroscopes like the ones you see now, I can put my hands down and concentrate on the trackball. It's sole function during Powerpoint presentations became quite apparent.
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| I bought two versions. The first comes with the PS/2 connector while years later, it was updated with the USB. |
The Vertical Mouse
This mouse claims to prevent problems with the wrist and the twisting of your forearm when using conventional mouse. On the first few times, my hand was not that comfortable holding what I could only describe as a sliding fin. But once the muscles have adapted to the new positions, it is quite nice.
Although my forearm is now in its natural untwisted position, there is a new problem. With a conventional mouse, where I 'ran out' of table space, I can use my fingers to kick stuff away or extend my fingers upright, lift up the mouse and drag to reset the position. But with the vertical mouse, grabbing it was sometimes difficult since the smooth tilted angles does not any 'finger-holds'. Plus, the mouse is made of two main parts, but where the two pieces meet, their sharp edges often gets snagged on the bottom of my palm. But the most irritating thing is that, sometimes the bottom edge of my palm falls to the table which the mouse then takes the opportunity to run over it. In other words, the mouse comes to a stop.
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| The Brand is called Jomaa |
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| There was a special price so I chose Red Rose trims in Black instead of Black trims on Black. There was another model which is metallic Purple. |
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| This is how I held the mouse and unfortunately, South Paws would have a big issue. There are four buttons on the mouse; two each for Left and Right and each button lets you click silently or with an audible feel. |
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| I wished there were Yellow Gold or metallic Blue trims |
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| The mouse is Wireless and runs on one AA bettery. It uses either 2.4Ghz RF or, Bluetooth. Sadly, the button for choosing the connection lies at the bottom of the thumb area. The top is to indicate your choice. |
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| See that triangle at the bottom, that's the wireless connection selection and when your thumb feels tired, and the mouse does not move, you know what happened. And this happens at least a few times a week. |
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| As for the small little button in the middle, its the dpi selection which is nicely hidden. I often forget about it even when I was using the scrolling wheel. |
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| By the third week or so, my hand has formed its own stance. |
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| I had to use some sandpaper to reduce the sharp edges and now the mouse feels much better. Maybe I should add a non-slip pad so that the whole palm would not slide down. |
