For many, the computer mouse has become a thing of the past. It’s big and bulky and takes up a lot of room on your desk. And often not really practical for use with a laptop or a mobile device. Sometimes, a mouse can come in handy. Enter the ProLab Mouse. At only 29mm in diameter and 13.5mm high, it’s not much bigger than a pop bottle cap. And at only 8 g this tiny little new piece of technology can you give you selected mouse functionality not only for your laptop, but also your tablet and your smartphone.
The beauty of this “air” mouse is that you don’t need to set it on a hard surface. You hold it in your hand and your fingertips can do the job. It has a built-in 360° track ball and four clicker buttons located at the three, six, nine and 12 o’clock positions. With it, you can use it to navigate PowerPoint presentations, take photos listen to your music, browse the web, watch videos and even navigate your way through some of your documents.
It features three modes, Air, Media, and Keyboard mode which you can select by the use of a button on the side of the mouse, which also double as a power off button. The trackball will illuminate green, teal or blue to let you know which mode you’re actually in.
Air Mode
In Air mode, you can of course use the track ball to scroll you can also right click, left click, swipe up and down and even highlight text. Because it runs on Bluetooth you can use it to control your device from up to 10m away.
Media Mode
Media mode is something you’d likely use with your ophine. It has limited functionality allows you to play your music and video, changing songs and selections (previous/next) as well as fast forward / rewind and of course you can adjust your volume.
This mode is also perfect for taking photos and shooting video photos. Think of it as a coin-sized selfie stick. It’s pretty handy in shooting selfies especially if you’re like me we don’t have very long arms. But it’s a little more than that, because you could also use the mouse to adjust your focus, change the lighting on the image and then of course take the picture.
Keyboard Mode
The keyboard motor is very basic, allowing you to navigate through your documents or presentation. It simulates the arrow keys so you can course move up/down, left/right and pushing the trackball activates the enter button. This can be pretty handy especially when you’re in a meeting and making a presentation to help you turn pages scroll through documents and even switch between them or just navigating through a bunch of photos.
Accessories
The mouse also comes with an adhesive metal finger grip which you can optionally secure to the bottom of your mouse if you prefer to hold it in your hand that way. It also comes with a rechargeable USB-C cable.
It has battery life rated in about 15 hours and puts itself to sleep after about 5 mins of activity. It runs Bluetooth 4.2 It’s compatible with Mac, windows, android, iOS, iPadOS, chrome OS, Linux.
My Thoughts
I find that it’s easy to use although it does take a little while to really master. You have to figure out what things it can do for you and that might take a little bit of trial and error. And if you’re all thumbs like me you may need to practise your scrolling before that live presentation. You also have to memorize what colour light gives you what functionality. But I guess there’s always a little trade-off being able to cram so much technology into a tiny apace.
Overall the ProLab Mouse it’s pretty cool. It’s a handy little device that can give you the added functionality you need for your laptop, tablet or smart phone without the bulk of a full-size mouse.
If you are a dedicated mouse user then this mouse may not be a full-time replacement, but if you find yourself in a situation where a little mouse might come in handy, you’ll be glad you have the ProLab Mouse in your pocket. And even in these trying times, it’s a bonus that it can also be used to give you that little bit of extra social distancing that you actually might need particularly if you have more than one person try observe a screen.
It’s is currently being offered through a Kickstarter campaign, which is well underway. It ends on April 6. The company was originally looking to raise approximately $8000 Canadian and is currently at over 10 times that.
ProLab Mouse is expected to retail at $459 HKD ( Hong Kong Dollars) about $74 CAD, but right now you can scoop one up for $350HKD about $58 CAD from the ProLab Kickstarter page.
Greg Gazin, also known as the Gadget Guy and Gadget Greg, is a syndicated veteran tech columnist, communication, leadership and technology speaker, facilitator at Crestcom International, blogger, podcaster and author. Reach him @gadgetgreg or at GadgetGuy.ca.
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