14 DAY TRIAL // Mice (or mouses) have evolved quite a lot over their very long history, from those clunky boxes developed by Xerox to those ring mice we've seen a while back. However, it seems that one of the most important leaps ahead in the history of these peripherals has just been taken by Logitech, who has announced the MX Air Mouse, a device that works equally well on the ground and in the air and allows users to control various computer functions by simply...waving in a certain direction.
The secret behind this "magic" controller is Freespace motion control technology developed by Logitech, which is a combination of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) sensors, DSP (digital signal processing) technology and RF (radio frequency) wireless technology (actually, it's not entirely different from Nintendo's Wiimote, albeit the functioning principle is a little bit different). The Freespace technology allows users to hold the mouse in any orientation, point in any direction and enjoy effortless, intuitive cursor control. Moreover, the device's control system works with some sophisticated algorithms for distinguishing between intentional and unintentional hand movements.
However, the MX Air Mouse holds even more surprises. Thus, the scroll wheel has been replaced with a touch-sensitive scroll panel, whose inertial scrolling mechanism that adjusts its speed according to the speed of the finger swipe. Moreover, the various media functions such as Play/Pause, Volume/Mute, Back and Select can be easily accessed in the air by pressing the large, orange backlighted buttons with the thumb.
Despite its numerous innovative features, the mouse from Logitech still uses the "classical" 2.4 GHz Digital Cordless technology in order to connect to a computer from up to 10 meters away. Moreover, the device sports a built-in rechargeable battery and comes with its own recharging station.
"The MX Air mouse offers a radically new way for people to control their PC entertainment," said Rory Dooley, Logitech senior vice president and general manager of the Control Devices business unit. "It's for anyone who has listened to music on their PC and been frustrated by having to return to the desk to change songs or volume. It's for people who want to share vacation photos with friends and family without being tied to the desk. It's for any of the millions of people using the Internet to browse and watch videos on sites such as YouTube or Grouper. And it's for people with a living-room computer or media PC who want to navigate their media content on their terms."
The MX Air Mouse will hit the shelves in both U.S. and Europe beginning in August at a MSRP of around $149.99, which is quite a small price to be paid for what's probably the world's most advanced wireless mouse to date.
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