This previous Christmas, there was a field in my stocking that held one thing I had half-jokingly added to my wishlist: an “ergonomic” grip that raises, widens, and provides wi-fi charging to Apple’s Magic Mouse 2. It’s like a little bit boot with a Lightning adapter tongue that plugs proper into your Magic Mouse’s underbelly. Better of all, it’s magnetic, making it excellent to be used with a MagSafe puck.
Does this factor completely spoil the modern Apple aesthetic? Completely! And I’m not even remotely satisfied by its cheap-feeling plastic that it’s going to last more than a number of months earlier than it simply stops working. But, someway, it’s precisely what the Magic Mouse wants.
What it’s known as doesn’t actually matter, as a result of this isn’t a product any firm you’ve ever heard of makes — as an alternative, it confirmed up on Amazon, seemingly round August or so, below a number of totally different firm names. Mine is branded Tatofy, however you will discover it below model names like Zeehoo, Bluerin, or Superyofo. They’re all like 30 bucks, and so they’re nearly actually all precisely the identical product.
The housing’s grip isn’t excellent. Wi-fi charging will be iffy typically, and the magnet could be very weak, so it’ll slip proper off of a MagSafe stand. And the place the underside a part of it meets the highest, there’s a large seam that loves to gather crud.
However these complaints are so minor. Actually, I’ve discovered myself utilizing my Magic Mouse at the least as typically as my Logitech MX Grasp 3 over the past month. And plunking it onto a close-by MagSafe puck after I’m executed with it’s a a lot nicer expertise than digging out a Lightning cable each time it dies. However boy is it foolish that it’s come to this.
When the Magic Mouse got here out, I used to be genuinely enamored with the multitouch floor that did all these various things utilizing swipes and faucets. This single, curved sheet of clear plastic that would achieve this a lot felt like the longer term, particularly subsequent to the Magic Trackpad, which continues to be the most effective trackpad within the tech world.
However in observe, it’s simply so very awkward. The mouse is low and flat, and I’ve by no means discovered a cushty technique to maintain it throughout use — do I lay my hand on it like an enormous, fleshy blanket? Maintain it on both facet with my fingertips? I do the latter, despite the fact that my hand finally ends up cramping because of this typically. And flipping the Magic Mouse over to cost has at all times felt foolish, even when it’s in the end not that inconvenient. As extra units undertake wi-fi charging or USB-C, it’s a minor annoyance having to maintain a Lightning cable close by. This grip fixes each of these issues.
Nonetheless, I believe this goofy shoe I’ve placed on my mouse could be extra band-aid than a full repair. Yeah, it’s far more snug, to me, than utilizing the Magic Mouse by itself, however its very existence is sort of an affront to decency after 15 years of nearly the identical mouse — certainly by now, Apple might have give you one thing extra sensible. And but, right here is my Magic Mouse, simply hanging out in a shoe, someway each higher and worse than it ever was.