Microsoft Arc Touch Mouse – 6 Units to Giveaway

If you feel more comfortable using an external mouse with your laptop than the built-in touchpad, the new Arc Touch mouse from Microsoft could just be a perfect accessory for you to carry with the laptop. And do expect a see some from curious faces because the Arc Touch, though a mouse, doesn’t look like one until you bend it.

The Arc Touch is almost the size of a regular cell phone and since it also flat, you can easily slide it in your pocket. Like most other Bluetooth-enabled mice, you need to attach a small transceiver to the USB port of your computer and then bend the mouse to turn it on. When you are done working, simply flatten the mouse to turn it off.
The Arc Touch transceiver is extremely small but you are less likely to misplace it – that’s because there’s a magnet hidden on the lower side of the mouse where you can stick the transceiver when it’s not attached to a USB port. Some good thinking here.
Most of the the newer mice models coming from Microsoft, including Arc Touch, use BlueTrack and thus can work on all kinds of surfaces including that wooden bench in the park but there’s one exception – you can’t use them on a glass table.
The mouse, which has a strip between the left and right-click buttons instead of a wheel, is both sensitive and accurate. You can scroll up and down with the strip, and though there’s no mouse-wheel, the vibrations feel quite similar. A double-tap done in the middle of the strip is equivalent to middle-click though you can always change the defaults with the Intellipoint software.

There are however a few things that I didn’t like about Arc Touch.
First, the mouse feels really light but the grip could have been better. The button sometimes feel stiff and you have to apply pressure to click them. The navigation strip at the center is small and only after using the mouse for a few days will you feel comfortable with the tapping zones on that strip.
You have to bend the mouse to turn it on and, in doing so, the mouse makes a fairly audible “click” sound – this can be a little embarrassing if you are in a quite meeting because everyone around will not fail to notice that sound.
Arc Touch Mouse Giveway (6 Units)
The Arc Touch wireless mouse is currently available on Amazon.com for $42 while you can get on in India for around INR 3.4k from the online Microsoft Store.
Alternatively, you can just answer a simple question and this stylish and portable mouse could be all yours. Microsoft has graciously offered six pieces of the Arc Touch for Digital Inspiration readers in India so your chances of getting one are pretty high!
All you have to do is suggest any one computer task that you think you do with more ease and style with an Arc Touch than using the touchpad of your laptop.