No Pet Sounds Here
Newcastle Herald
Monday November 6, 2000
Logitech iFeel mouse Three-button optical mouse with scroll wheel Platform: Windows 98/2000 Connection: USB
Price: $99
WHAT remains to be done to the humble mouse?
It has been sculpted and moulded and reinvented sans tail and ball. Apple has even seen fit to do away with buttons in favour of a single big see-through clicker.
Now the mouse-masters, Logitech, have added vibration.
The iFeel mouse is a pointer that talks back. A pointer with attitude, if you like. A pointer that taps out a morse code of movement on the palm as its cursor passes over the icons, menus, command bars, folders, tool bars, buttons and hyperlinks in Windows applications and the Internet.
Logitech calls it `tactile feedback'. Information about what the cursor is touching is fed to a chip in the mouse, which uses a tiny camera (instead of a ball) to record movement. The chip activates a small motor inside the mouse (fitted where the ball usually goes) and the user feels the motor's movement as subtle impulses or bumps.
The intensity of the feedback can be adjusted using a sliding scale or turned off completely.
The user can select vibration `themes' from a list that includes crisp, metallic, rubbery, spongy, steel drum or sonic vibe. It's also possible to customise the feedback by telling the mouse how to react when it hits particular elements.
The result is a stylish and comfortable pointer with all the benefits of optical technology (no moving parts, nothing to clog up) that glides smoothly around the desktop, snorting, blipping and burbling when it hits active elements.
And that, for me, was the rub. Even at a low setting, the mouse's vibration is noisy. At full power the sound struck me as like a cross between an arcade game and water hammer.
After several hours of testing, I couldn't work out what was annoying me more ? the vibration or the accompanying sound effects. In the end I decided I could do without either.
On the plus side, the mouse was easy enough to hook up, with a simple USB connection and a straightforward software installation. Be warned, however, that it won't work with anything less than Internet Explorer 5.0 or Navigator 4.5.
The mouse comes with Logitech's WebWheel software, a useful feature that provides shortcuts to frequently used Internet functions.
VERDICT: A good optical mouse, but the optional sound and vibration is a distraction from the main game. 6/10.
© 2000 Newcastle Herald