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$70 Cordless Notebook Mouse with No Scroll Wheel

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the interesting-new-design-concepts dept.

superfloungmous writes "CoolTechZone.com has reviewed Logitech's latest V500 Cordless Notebook Mouse that uses 2.4GHz wireless technology to transmit signal and has a scroll panel instead of a scroll wheel. The concept behind a scroll wheel is you simply move your finger in up, down, left and right directions to use the function. The mouse has a whopping $70.00 price tag as well. Could this be the end of scroll wheels? Here's a quote from the review, "One of the unique things about the V500 is its scroll panel, and this is the very first mouse to actually use this concept. Throughout our testing, we are nothing but impressed with Logitech's new idea. It worked perfectly, and it's actually better than a scroll wheel in many instances. It looks like the era of scroll wheels is short-lived if Logitech applies the same design to its desktop equivalent products."

2 of 372 comments (clear)

  1. small nit to pick by justforaday · · Score: 5, Insightful

    One of the unique things about the V500 is its scroll panel, and this is the very first mouse to actually use this concept.

    Kensington's been making a mouse with a touch panel in place of a scroll wheel for well over 2 years now. Admittedly it only does the up/down thing (no side to side action). Either way, 70 bucks is still way too much for a mouse of any kind as far as I'm concerned...

    --
    I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
    1. Re:small nit to pick by dustbin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      In addition to Kensington's product that came out in '02, there was at least a prototype displayed at CES a few years before that by Fujitsu. Never saw it for sale in the states, but it looked like production plastics, so it was probably available in Japan.

      The interesting point about the Logitech design is their best ergonomic feature isn't being noticed - it isn't even called out by Logitech. The very small sensor they're using lets them push the sensor way up to the front of the mouse. It's long been known that the mice "feel" more responsive the closer you get the sensor to a point midway between the fingertips that are guiding the mouse. Most sensors have been too big to fit up there, so they're positioned farther back, where they don't move as far as the fingertips do.

      Real ergonomics is too subtle for marketing, I guess. Maybe it's because the "ball forward" concept was originally used to promote the Microsoft Dove Bar mouse http://www.ideo.com/portfolio/re.asp?x=12328 and the standard Apple ergonomic mouse of the ~90s.