Where it does have one over the Magic Mouse is in its two mouse buttons. Where the buttons are located is also a touch sensitive area and a key part of the Touch Mouse's design. Its mid-section through to its rear-end are also covered in small raised bumps which make handling it a pleasant experience.
Experience
Powering up the Touch Mouse is a simple matter of inserting the two included AA batteries into the device and switching it on, while making sure that the included ultra-petite USB wireless receiver is slotted in a spare socket. On Touch Mouse's underside Microsoft has also thoughtfully added a slot for storing the USB dongle when not in use (which if you commute with your laptop bag between the office and home like me is an absolute godsend).
As you'd expect, Microsoft's mouse driver software is also pretty polished and is near idiot proof to install. Installing it allows you to tweak various aspects of the Touch Mouse, ranging from pointers through to left-handed or right-handed button orientations.
Getting in touch with its functions also proved a largely intuitive experience. Using a single finger sweeping up and down the touch area, I was able to scroll up, whilst a quick finger flick also resulted in fast yet controllable page scrolls. Moving a digit from left to right (or right to left) on the mouse also saw me navigating forwards and backwards on the web. As cool as the Touch Mouse was, using it with Windows 7 really saw it come into its own.
Moving two fingers forwards I was able to maximise the current window. Moving two fingers backwards saw the same window restored to its original size. Using three fingers, I was also able to quickly bring up a representative view of all windows on my PC, and equally as intuitively, moving them backwards restored everything back to normal.
Whilst you'd be forgiven for thinking this sounds somewhat confusing, it actually proved to be surprisingly intuitive in practice. After using the Touch Mouse for an hour I was throwing windows about with wild glee. Going back to a non-touchy feely mouse now feels frustratingly limiting and slow.
Touch gestures may be the mutt's nuts, but it doesn't count an iota towards desktop nirvana if the mouse isn't able to accurately represent my wishes on-screen. Thankfully the Touch Mouse incorporates Microsoft's BlueTrack technology, which did a pretty decent job of tracking my mousing across a wide array of surfaces which ranged from my computer desk to a Persian rug and even the fur on my long suffering cats' back - all of which delivered the goods on-screen.
Verdict
Just when PC mice were in danger of becoming about as boring as PC peripherals get, Microsoft has leapt to the rescue and revved things up by adding some much-needed touch smarts.
Where the Touch Mouse scores points over its competition is via its more comfortable design (especially when compared to Apple's admittedly nifty Magic Mouse) and good looks. If you're a Windows 7 PC owner who's in the market for a computer rodent, check out the Touch Mouse, chances are that you won't regret it.
Microsoft Touch Mouse
$55.68
OS: Windows XP/ Windows 7
Storage: 100 MB free hard drive space
Receiver: USB (2.4Ghz)
Power source 2xAA batteries (included)
Tracking: Optical (BlueTrack)
