Question: What would you like in a future Mighty Mouse?

[derryquinn]

So I was sitting there at my desk today wondering:

What would I like my mighty mouse to be like in five years, or even say, after the next redesign?

All I could think of was that I would like the scroll ball to work after more than a week of use and that the side buttons would be a little easier to squeeze (Am I the only one with this problem? )

I'm always laughing at people who say they want fingerprint scanners on Notebooks, since I personally think they are an easily-fooled gimmick, but then I was thinking again (I was doing lots of that today, so I had to sit down ) how cool it would be if the mighty mouse read the positioning of your hand on the mighty mouse, and individual fingerprints off of your hand, if you wanted it too, and logged you into your user account.

Here's what I mean:

This (Badly-Edited) Image shows where your hand usually touches the mouse, and where the mouse scans your palms, though everyone touches it in different places, thus creating two layers of security...

I know that that's basically retarded to do in real life, simply because it would be buggy and hard to implement well, but imagine, just being able to turn on your mac, place your hand on your mouse while it's booting, and being brought to your desktop

So, I want to see your Ideas!, I'm talking Photoshops, or just cool features you'd like too see, maybe some whinging about the current one too, but hopefully not too much of that

tl;dr
What do you want to see in a new Mighty Mouse

PS. Promise I don't work for Apple

 

[southerndoc]

Would like to see a back button. A forward button would be nice too, but just a back button would be a great addition.

 

[acfusion29]

Aluminium please.

 

[shinji]

I don't find the Mighty Mouse comfortable or nice-looking at all...I've been using an MX Revolution with SteerMouse. Can't recommend it enough.

They need to completely redo it.

 

[mx12]

Gesture recognition

I think it would be cool if it had gesture recognition. So to go backwards you would lift up the mighty mouse and flick it one way, and to go forward you would flick it the other.

 

[derryquinn]

I think it would be cool if it had gesture recognition. So to go backwards you would lift up the mighty mouse and flick it one way, and to go forward you would flick it the other.

WOW!!!

I Just tried that with my mouse and it seems like it would be amazing!

 

[mlts22]

Perhaps an easier way to clean the scroll ball would be nice. Mine is OK, but the ones at the college I go to get so much gunk, they lose their scrolling capability.

Perhaps have it track the little scroll ball optically?

 

[Michael CM1]

Perhaps instead of a scroll wheel, add a touch panel. I know there are logistics to work out (hard to keep scrolling up something so small), but it seems like a logical step.

I have never really gotten the hatred for them because there are some AWFUL meeses out there. The bigger ones really just feel clunky. They also make me feel like I'm using a PC again, so I tend to stay away.

The best route would be some multitouch surface up top and a little bit of a price cut. They could also un-fudge the bluetooth keyboard and make it full size again. That was the lamest thing EVER aside from the anti-matte movement.

 

[derryquinn]

Anti-matte is not that big of a deal really, when you get used to it...I mean, what did the "pro's" do when CRT's were all we had?

 

[ajdoane20]

Rechargeable battery

I would like to see one mouse, that can be used wired and wirelessly. It can be plugged in through the USB drive, that would recharge the battery so you can unplug it and use it wirelessly. Or you can just leave it plugged in. That's what I really want to see in the next mighty mouse. I hate using disposable batteries.

Also, I'd like to see it made of recyclable materials. Probably aluminum, but also feeling comfortable and natural.

 

[mkrishnan]

I think it would be cool if it had gesture recognition. So to go backwards you would lift up the mighty mouse and flick it one way, and to go forward you would flick it the other.

I think this would be the most interesting, also. With Apple's significant development of multi-touch, the notebooks (and iPhone/iPod) now have a bunch of trackpad features that don't have clear mouse equivalents. They're more intuitive and more fun than the way traditional Windows mouses work, although on the balance side, at least the basic two buttons + wheel/ball design does work quite well.

It'll be interesting to see what Apple does with the mouse -- will they try to sell you on some kind of glass trackpad accessory to replace the mouse? Or perhaps even one with a screen on it like the iPhone? Or is there a way they can do multi-touch on the exterior surface of the mouse?

 

[EdbBob]

TWO BUTTONS! Half the time I try to right click with MM it left clicks instead... And a proper scroll wheel!

No surprise I use a Logitech G5 Laser mouse. Works perfectly, except that you need to PURCHASE a driver to have all the buttons work. (And it's really ugly!)

Mice are perhaps the biggest flaw in Apples hardware. Remember the little round one for the "Tupperware" iMac? That was really ergonomic (Not!)

It's a minor problem though - just get a proper mouse from somewhere else...

 

[valdore]

Apple could actually design a Mighty Mouse that's not a steaming pile of crap for once by redoing the scroll wheel so it doesn't constantly get gummed up with finger oils and rendering the entire mouse so frustrating to utilize that you want to hurl the cursed thing at the wall.

 

[fk51785]

They need to change the mouse, so we can actually open and clean the scroll ball.

 

[Hemingray]

I'll add another voice to the scroll ball camp. The current scroll ball is pathetic, and Apple's suggestion of turning it upside down and rubbing it vigorously against the mousepad is ridiculous at best, and worthless to boot.

Once again, brilliant Apple design brought to its knees by the fact that they seal the darn thing up. (MacBook Air, iPod, iPhone, the list goes on...)

 

[Galley]

Dedicated back and forward buttons.

 

[Hemingray]

Mice are perhaps the biggest flaw in Apples hardware. Remember the little round one for the "Tupperware" iMac? That was really ergonomic (Not!)

Ahh yes, the hockey puck! I suppose I was weird, I actually liked that design (once they figured out they needed some kind of indentation on the mouse button to figure out how you were holding the darn thing!) The Rev.A mice didn't have that indentation.

I learned to play Quake III Arena on that mouse, and was actually halfway decent... you know you've mastered Q3A when you can beat levels on Nightmare using this poor old mouse.