Microsoft Touch Mouse Review

The Microsoft Touch Mouse is a futuristic-looking wireless mouse with an all-touchpad surface. Specifically engineered to work with Windows 7, you can use one, two or even three fingers to control the device. However, its steep learning curve is an understatement, and even after three weeks I was never able to gain complete confidence using the device. It also showed to have poor battery life during testing.

The Good: Windows 7 tricks, BlueTrack

The Bad: Difficult to learn, never able to master certain techniques, poor battery life, better for larger hands

The Touch Mouse not only comes with a driver download, it comes with a tutorial, complete with trial runs. I would suggest all users to complete the (brief) tutorial. It goes through all the different possible taps, swipes and sweeps your fingers can do to accomplish tasks.

Here's a breakdown:

• Swipe thumb up and to the left to go back
• Swipe thumb down and to the right to go forward
• Sweep two fingers right to snap windows to the right
• Sweep two fingers left to the snap windows to the left
• Sweep two fingers up to maximize a window
• Sweep three fingers up to show all windows that are opened
• Sweep three fingers down to minimize all windows

Some of this swiping and sweeping is pretty cool and fun to practice. The three-fingered gestures allow a new dimension to Windows 7, although I admit I didn't use it very much. It would have been nice if I could have X-ed out of the Windows when I was able to view them all at once, but you can only select the windows and zoom into them for use.

But some of these gestures -- the thumb ones, really -- I just couldn't seem to get down. Since the Touch Mouse has no programmable side buttons, you really have to rely on the thumb swiping if you want a quicker way than using the browser's toolbar. Unfortunately, no matter how much I practiced, it just never felt right, and it rarely worked for me.

Scrolling on a touchpad isn't anything new for Microsoft; it also has touchpads on its Arc Touch and Explorer Touch mice. However, scrolling on those mice was fun and effortless, and I think it's because they both included haptic feedback that mimicked tactile (detent) scrolling. The Touch Mouse has nothing of the sort, and the scrolling was difficult to control and imprecise. I often found myself at the very bottom or top of a page when I'd intended just to scroll a few clicks.

The scrolling wasn't the only gesture that was unpredictable. If you're used to keeping your hand on the mouse while you use a computer (and I'm willing to bet that most of you are), this isn't a good choice because any slight finger movements can have unintended consequences. I felt nervous and on edge using this mouse, especially when doing important tasks like online banking, because I never felt fully in control of the touchpad. It was common for me to end up in places I hadn't intended.

As far as shape goes, the Touch Mouse is large mouse (4.7 inches long), and it would be a good choice for those with large hands. I have hands on the smaller side for an adult, so I found it to be an awkward fit that never really got more comfortable with use. This is an ambidextrous device, so there are few ergonomic curves. It does have a nice weighty heft to it.

It's certainly an attractive, interesting-looking mouse, with a black body with tiny x's decorating the top half, and a white underside with Microsoft's trademarked BlueTrack light. The mouse uses 2.4GHz wireless technology with a nano receiver. Like all good mice should , the Touch Mouse comes with a nano receiver placeholder.

Battery Life

Unfortunately, the AA batteries that were provided with the mouse died on me after just two weeks of use. There is an on/off switch on the Touch Mouse, and I've been trying to be more diligent in using these switches. Even if I had completely ignored it, however, two weeks is not an acceptable battery life period.

BlueTrack is Microsoft's proprietary laser technology that enables the mouse to be used on nearly any type of surface - exceptions include clear glass and mirrors. This means you can use the mouse on your couch or on a granite countertop without requiring a mouse pad.

The Bottom Line

At a $79.99 MSRP, the Touch Mouse is one of Microsoft's most expensive mice and certainly one of its most difficult to use. I really wanted to enjoy using the Touch Mouse because I always appreciate new ways to get things done. Unfortunately, I was never able to master the most basic tasks, which lead to a overall frustrating experience.

Disclosure: Review samples were provided by the manufacturer. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.