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Today Logitech has announced the MX Air Mouse, an exceptional gadget designed for the entertainment enthusiast. So what is an Air mouse? It's a mouse that you do not need to place on a hard surface to use. All you have to do is move the mouse around in mid air.
There are similar mice on the market and I have tried a few of them, but they all fall short compared to the MX Air. Similar Air Mice are limited in where you can point them and how you can handle them, but with the MX Air there aren't limitations because no matter how it's held, or where it's pointed the mouse pointer follows any direction your hand moves. Think of the Nintendo Wii and its controller the MX Air works just like that.
The MX Air doesn't just work in the air; you can use it on any surface. How can the MX Air work so great in the air and on surfaces? It uses a technology called Freespace.
How does Freespace work?
When the MX Air mouse is held in the air, people can navigate content and applications by pointing and clicking on icons and hyperlinks - just as they would when using a mouse on the desk. The moment the mouse is lifted from a surface, Freespace motion technology recognizes that it is no longer being used on a desk or table. It identifies its orientation in space, and then isolates and translates multiple axes of motion into accurate, consistent and reliable on-screen cursor movements. If you have hand tremors the technology will reduce involuntary hand movements by 70%. (Check our the video below to see it in action.)
The MX Air is also beautifully designed, it has a smooth feel to it and fits in your hand perfectly, its buttons also light up when in use. When the MX Air is placed in its cradle its battery indicator lights up, it turns off when the mouse is in use.
It works perfectly with Media Centers as you can control the volume of your system, the movie you are watching, or the music you are listening too. It was designed to work with the following programs: iTunes, RealPlayer, Rhapsody, WinAmp, Windows Media Player, WinDVD, ACDSee, Photoshop, Windows Photo Gallery, Windows Picture Viewer, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera and Netscape.
I really like how you can raise and lower the volume of your system, simply hold down the volume key and move our hand to the right to raise left to lower the volume, or hold the play button, circle your wrist 360 degrees to the right or left to skip backwards or forwards while playing music. Only thing it lacks is a gesture to fast forward and rewind through a movie or song.
You know what else the MX Air is good for? It's good for presentations; twice I used the mouse in a presentation. After I connected a projector to my laptop, I had no need to touch my notebook; I was able to control my power point presentation from the back of the conference room easily.
So can you use this mouse for gaming? Sure but I don't know if you would use it in the air, I wouldn't. But when using it on a hard surface the response time was perfect for me as I didn't notice any mouse lag (as I call it) during game play. The mouse also responded to the slightest of movements. However the mouse wasn't designed with gaming in mind.
The MX Air has a rechargeable battery that takes about 2 hours to fully charge, and the charge last along time, I have had the mouse several days with our recharging, and I still have 2 of 4 battery bars left.
Overall the MX Air is fantastic and we here at HardwareGeeks.com award it our 5 Star Kick Ass award. If you have a media center just want cool mouse then the MX Air is for you. If you are a business professional and want a cool gadget to help you do a presentation then this mouse is for you.
So when can you get the MX Air? August 2007 so that's just a few weeks away, mouse will retail for $149.99.
Specs:
2.4 GHz cordless freedom technology
Full-speed USB micro-receiver
Rechargeable lithium-ion battery
Four-stage battery level indicator
Operating range of up to 30 feet (10 meters)
Today Logitech has announced the MX Air Mouse, an exceptional gadget designed for the entertainment enthusiast. So what is an Air mouse? It's a mouse that you do not need to place on a hard surface to use. All you have to do is move the mouse around in mid air.
Overall the MX Air is fantastic and we here at HardwareGeeks.com award it our 5 Star Kick Ass award. If you have a media center just want cool mouse then the MX Air is for you. If you are a business professional and want a cool gadget to help you do a presentation then this mouse is for you.