All the hullabaloo about Microsoft getting into the
hardware business when it announced its Surface tablets must have been puzzling
to the folks at the company's hardware division, which has been making
keyboards, mice and such for 30 years.
That tradition continued Monday with the unit introducing
some new wireless mice and keyboards designed for mobile users, as well as
updating its Touch Mouse to
better support Windows 8, expected to be released
at the end of October.
The "Wedge" mouse ($69.95) and keyboard
($79.95) connect to a notebook or tablet through Bluetooth 4.0 so you don't
have to worry about cables or USB transceiver.
The Wedge Touch Mouse can fit in your pocket and supports
four-way touch scrolling and navigation, which minimizes the rodent's real
estate requirements. BlueTrack Technology is also supported by the device so
you can obtain top performance from the mouse regardless of the surface it's
operating on. Another nice feature is its Backpack Mode. That conserves the
unit's battery life by powering it down when the computer it's paired to powers
down or enters sleep mode.
[Click to enlarge] The Wedge Mobile Keyboard has a very
slim profile and has a Windows orientation, supporting the operating system's
hot keys and media controls. To protect the keyboard from the elements, it
includes a durable cover which, in a clever turn by Microsoft, can, when not in
use, double as a stand for a tablet.
If you can live without extreme slimness, you can save a
few bucks with Microsoft's two other new offerings: the Sculpt Touch Mouse and
Sculpt Touch Keyboard, both Bluetooth devices selling $49.95 each.
The Sculpt mouse is optimized for Windows 8 navigation.
For example, it has a four-way touch scroll strip that lets you move smoothly
around documents and applications with simple finger swipes.
The Sculpt keyboard is full-sized, weighs a little over a
pound and has a distinctive curved shape that's designed for better ergonomic
placement of the hands on the keyboard. The offering also has a sleep mode that
saves power when it detects a period of inactivity in the device it's paired
with.
In addition to the new mice and keyboards, Microsoft is
also updating its Touch Mouse ($79.95) to support Windows 8 gesture settings,
such as swiping, two-finger management of app functions, three-finger zooming
and thumb gestures for moving backward and forward within apps.
"[I]f you already own a Touch Mouse you don’t need
to buy a new one for Windows 8!" Brandon LeBlanc wrote in The Windows
Blog. " All existing Touch Mouse customers will be able to take advantage
of these new gestures for Windows 8 when Windows 8 is released this fall." (http://www.pcworld.com)
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