by Paul Mah

Hands-On with Microsoft’s New Wedge Touch Mouse

Opinion
Aug 28, 20122 mins
Computers and PeripheralsLaptopsMobile

Microsoft's cool new, wedge-shaped Wedge Touch Mouse is meant for use with tablets, but the Bluetooth mouse also works with Windows PCs. It's not cheap at $70, but it works well and it's sure to draw attention in the coffee shop or while traveling.

Microsoft’s Wedge Touch Mouse is a sleek, compact mouse designed specifically for use with tablets. Microsoft says the Bluetooth mouse is the company’s smallest mouse ever, and it works well with Windows 7 laptops and upcoming Windows 8 devices in addition to tablets.

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Microsoft Wedge Touch Mouse (right) beside the Microsoft Explorer Touch.

The entire top surface of the Wedge Touch Mouse is a touch surface that serves as a four-way scroll wheel. The touch scrolling works well, and you can scroll slowly with a gentle swipe or quickly with a flick of your finger. A tap of your finger brings rapid scrolling to a stop. And you can scroll even if you have another finger or two resting on the surface.

Thanks to Microsoft’s BlueTrack technology the mouse works on a wide variety of surfaces. It doesn’t work on clear or highly reflective surfaces, but it works on many more types of surfaces than mice with standard optical or laser sensors. 

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One AA battery sits beneath a spring-loaded door that slides open.

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Wedge Touch Mouse battery-release toggle (left) and on/off and Bluetooth pairing button (right)

A “Backpack Mode” powers the device down when a connected PC or tablet goes to “sleep.” This is a great feature, which essentially makes it unnecessary to manually power off the mouse. The actual on/off button is somewhat awkward; switching on the mouse lights up a green indicator on its side, but nothing happens when you turn it off.

The Wedge Touch Mouse is powered by one AA battery, which sits beneath a cleverly designed spring-loaded door. The battery fits snugly, and it’s somewhat difficult to remove. This probably isn’t much of an issue, though, given its lengthy estimated battery life of nine months.

Conclusion: Microsoft Wedge Touch Mouse

The Microsoft Wedge Touch Mouse is small, light and sleek. I particularly like the satisfying “click” you get after tapping the mouse button, and the metal finish along its sides feels comfortable when gripped by the thumb and ring/little finger.

However, I wish that Microsoft included some sort of carrying case or even a simple drawstring pouch. And its price tag of $70 is hardly insignificant. The Wedge Touch Mouse is expected to ship very soon.