Sony mice to go

A tale of two mice

This could have been an extremely short review. It would have gone somewhere along these lines: Sony has released two new mice, one slightly bigger with gaudy colour and a storage space for the cord, the other very tiny and specifically intended for useage while travelling, in bright white and silver grey. The mice have a high degree of precision thanks to high resolution sensors and they do what they are supposed to do. The price is not terrible, but in view of the questionable ergonomics and limited functionality, they are not in the same league as products of brands like Logitech and Microsoft.

At this stage of development, over 20 years since the introduction of the computer peripheral device 'mouse', it is hard to imagine any significant improvement to this now standard part of working with a computer. The mouse has gone from a, well, small cube with a cord to a miracle of modern ergonomics and industrial design. The initial maximum of two buttons, which would only deign to move after unpleasant amounts of muscular exertion, has gone forth and multiplied, resulting in more buttons than most people have fingers, and the merest featherlike touch suffices to unfold a myriad of functions. Once the mouse ascertained its position by means of a primitive mechanism, constructed from a heavy rubber ball and a couple of rolling sensors of variable precision - these days they come with an electronic all-seeing eye, which through infared or laser beams positions the cursor on screen with an accuracy measured in hundreds or thousands of dots per inch. Anyone who feels aggravated by a mouse cord that has a will of its own, or who just has a yearning for a clean desk, has the option of a cordless mouse, that will still be accurate.

So one might wonder, what can a manufacturer of computer mice do, to stand apart from the competition.

Well, this:

As hardware reviewers who've seen and done it all, we had a hard time making heads or indeed tails of Sony's SMU-C3, also known as ‘Wide Wheel Mouse'. The mouse has only two buttons. The mousewheel moves, contrary to contemporary practice, only along one axis. The shape looks not very ergonomical at all. It has a rather plastic like sheen. It weighs next to nothing. At first it appeared to be a wireless mouse, but a cover on the bottom turns out to hide a very long and thin cord with a USB-connector. Our first idea: this is a toy, and not one for boys.

Once connected and in use we still have reservations. The mouse is much better to hold than you would think going by the shape alone, but a really pleasant user experience it is not. Even though it looks to be quite broad, this is mostly because it is a lot shorter than most mice: it is about as wide as a standard Logitech Wheel Mouse. So if you have large hands, you best steer clear.