Microsoft Arc [Technology]

Posted by Niraj Popat on Jan 10, 2009 in Technology | 1 comment

The latest gadget I’ve recently acquired is the, trendy and fashionable, new Arc Mouse by Microsoft.

A sleek new revolutionary design of the Arc, incorporates the usability of a full size desktop mouse, with the transportability of a laptop mini-mouse and the attraction of a wire-free desk area.

When I first saw the mouse, I thought to myself “that’s just a fashion statement / gimmick gadget. Surely that would not be comfortable to use?”
The design definitely caught my attention. It comes in 2 colours red or black. I’ve got the black version here and it’s definitely stylish from all angles. Even the microtransceiver is so small that it makes you wonder why the other manufacturers are still using the 2inch USB dongles.

The mouse communicates to your PC (or Mac) via 2.4Ghz wireless signals. The transceiver is a USB dongle device which loads itself onto your operating system and initiates communication with it’s paired mouse. It really was plug and play, although I would guess if your machine isn’t up to date, you may need to download the latest drivers from Microsoft’s website. Additionally, the Arc comes with some software known as Microsoft Intellipoint. It comes in all flavours of OS including 64bit Vista and XP. The software allows you to expand the ability of the Arc by customising features assigned to button clicks on the mouse. 2 x AAA Energizer batteries are also included, and are said to last for up to 6 months. I can’t test this yet, but I will let you know if this is true. I’ll know when the batteries are almost flat, because the mouse has a small green LED in between the left and right buttons which will glow red, when that time comes. The mouse itself folds in half for portability, to 60% of it’s original size, and comes with a trendy suede pouch to put it in for travel. The USB transceiver is stored underside of the mouse on a magnetic strip. The mouse is covered in a hard rubber, that allows for better grip and control. All in all I think it’s a fantastic design and unique idea, to a product that had already seen a million different designs in years gone by.