Mouse Phone
- — 01 March, 2000 11:13
Real touch? Well, maybe. Strangely, even though my instinct is to pan this thing mercilessly, I'm secretly half-impressed. Here's a solid, well built, two-button mouse, with all the built-in functions of a touch-dial phone. Better than that, the phone includes a lightweight, fully functional headset, which almost justifies the purchase price on its own.
The mouse bristles with blue rubber phone buttons; they're comfortable under your mousing hand, and look neat. Confusingly, though, when you pick up the mouse to dial a number, the button configuration is upside down. I spent most of my first call talking into the ear-piece. Right way around, I found the overall audio quality was about on par with an average, cheap phone - a little boxy sounding, but reasonably clear. With the lightweight handsfree headset plugged into the side of the mouse, audio quality was much better on both ends of the call.
The bottom line is, the Mouse Phone works exactly as advertised. But will this daring 21st century innovation really make your life easier? I foresee a few hurdles. First, spare a thought for the compulsive phone doodler. Creating with your mouse when you're holding it to your ear is a whole new challenge. Worse, when you take a call in the middle of a spreadsheet, what's to stop you making a few unintentional alterations with your cheek? While the headset can solve problems like these, the extra cable running from the back of the mouse created a bigger desktop tangle than I had at the start. Those glitches aside, there's a much bigger problem: how do you explain it when someone walks into your office and finds you . . . ah . . . talking to your mouse?
Mouse Phone
Price: not available
Distributor: Just Imports
Phone: (07) 3818 9856
URL: www.austimports.com
