World's most poorly-designed mouse?

There's at least one manufacturer at Computex this year who's never heard about the concept of not fixing something that ain't broken, as evidenced by the atrociously-designed mouse you see pictured above, which actually repositions the left- and right-click buttons to an almost unreachable spot in order to make room for the same media controls already accessible on-screen, on your keyboard, or from your remote. We're not gonna harsh on this ridiculous product too much, though, for fear of sounding stupid on the off-chance that its initially-questionable design takes off just like the Wii-mote's did.

[Via Gadgets Weblog]

[websparc @ Jun 9th 2006 4:45PM]

I think you grip the mouse like holding a pipe and then click the buttons with two fingers and control the other buttons on the top with thumb. Just a guess.

[Clay @ Jun 9th 2006 4:45PM]

That is by far the worst design I have ever seen.

I believe that the original mouse... the wood block one... was better.

[GadgetGav @ Jun 9th 2006 4:52PM]

It lust looks to me like a presentation device. Downside it it's wired, but you just hold it in you full ahnd grip, then the buttons 'under' the wire are in the right place to reach with your finger... I guess this story is all we can expect from third-hand reporting of a poor story.

[calvin @ Jun 9th 2006 4:56PM]

all i can say is... what the hell. that's by far the worst designed mouse i ever seen. i could never make a mouse though, so props to them for at least doing it.

[evo @ Jun 9th 2006 5:05PM]

C'mon guys. Clearly it's a presentation device that also has media controls on the top so they can be accessed with your thumb. Seems well thought out.

[CM @ Jun 9th 2006 5:12PM]

Just follow the link and you can see that it's not a mouse at all. It's a joystick. You hold it completely in your hand, and there's a thumbstick to move the pointer, while your index finger activates the L&R buttons.

Poor story.

[Iceman @ Jun 9th 2006 5:15PM]

Say what? Since when can you reach the BACK of your mouse with your thumb. And don't try to rest your hand on the top of the mouse while using it -- you'll push all the buttons in random order.

I think engadget should run a contest to come up with a product name for this thing. How about the Anti-Mouse?

[Bobadillo @ Jun 9th 2006 5:15PM]

CM, too bad it has a wire making it completely pointless.

[jordan @ Jun 9th 2006 5:16PM]

unquestionably AWFUL, don't be afraid to bash it, the wii-mote was actually designed incredibly well, because that's just how Nintendo does most of its products, lots of testing, lots of changes, and great durability! but this mouse, BLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWS!!!!!!!

[marymac @ Jun 9th 2006 5:21PM]

A presentation device that isn't wireless? I'll trade it for a regular old wireless mouse. Being able to move around the room can add that little something extra to a presentation.

[Dusty @ Jun 9th 2006 5:38PM]

I have something very similiar (actually, two... somehow my girlfriend's dad found one and gave it to her before we were dating, she gave it to me in case mine ever broke)... You hold it in your hand like a star-trek phaser, and your thumb pushes the buttons on the top, and your fore-finger the buttons on the front (actually, it was a mouseball/trackball on the top for mine)

it works great when you don't have a mousing surface and don't want to worry about changing batteries.

[Bobadillo @ Jun 9th 2006 5:41PM]

But does it have a retarded wire sticking out of it?

[snowpuff @ Jun 9th 2006 5:50PM]

What the ---- is the concept of "not fixing something that ain't broken?" I think you mean, "if it ain't broken, fix it." At least in terms of this product...

[Hawthorne @ Jun 9th 2006 5:56PM]

The Apple "hockey puck" mouse is now no longer the worst mouse design, ever! Yay!

(And yes, I am an Apple fanboy. But that mouse just stunk.)

[Diesel @ Jun 9th 2006 5:56PM]

"I believe that the original mouse... the wood block one... was better."

I believe a real mouse, live or dead, would be better than this...

[KH @ Jun 9th 2006 9:00PM]

Its not that bad... You'll be surprise how comfortable somthing like this is. I tried a similar one for presentations. Just think of holding half of a PS3 joystick. Its definitely not for everything and butt ugly... Might be good for games..hmm.

[KH @ Jun 9th 2006 9:04PM]

oops. PS2 and not PS3.

[iGotNoTime @ Jun 9th 2006 9:12PM]

The funniest thing in my opinion is this is the first all black (housed) mouse with a big old white wire sticking out of it. What happened? The black was to expensive the day this was made?

[Jesse @ Jun 9th 2006 9:35PM]

my god! Think of the CHILDREN!

[Mike @ Jun 9th 2006 9:57PM]

I think before bashing it for the look and rearrangment of buttons, we shall first think about why it was designed like that. It's designed for presentation clearly but it's not unique. There are other presentation pointing devices look like it. Open your mind please. But of course, it is good only when the presenter is close to the PC because it's wired.

[Sean @ Jun 9th 2006 11:23PM]

I think that's an ingenious idea. You have some trigger-finger left and right click buttons, you scroll up and down with your THUMB (remember how long it took to get used to scrolling with your fingers???? oh wait maybe i was just too accustomed to one button....) and you have easy access to those media buttons with your thumb too. This is obviously a proof of concept, the perfect design WOULD be wireless, but if they did something cool like stick a trackpad on the SIDE of the mouse that you can reach with your middle finger, or fourth finger, you'd have something that you can control with one hand....

I like it, somebody thinking outside of conventional definitions.

[Rafi Abramov @ Jun 10th 2006 4:12AM]

As stated before, it's clearly a presentation device of some sort. The only thing that gets me is that large button at the top of the device (or it could be the bottom.)

Hmm...

I still like the 'typical' mouse as we use today better.

[0bliv!on @ Jun 10th 2006 4:34AM]

actually if u go to the link, its much too flat to be held comfortably in a joystick-esque way, not to mention the BIG round button on top seems too far to the left if it's designed to be pressed with the thumb. And adding a trackball, while making it possibly a lot better, would also render it NOT a mouse.... oO

[fulani @ Jun 10th 2006 11:01AM]

What is happening at engadget these days? Shoddy reporting - that's obviously a trackpad presentation device.
Pull yourselves together, hire some decent staff!

[Dennis M. Richards @ Jun 10th 2006 11:49AM]

Some one finally managed to beat the original "disc" mouse that apple had on the some of the G3's and G4's. Even MS can do a mouse right. This is unreal.

[Alexandre D @ Jun 10th 2006 4:19PM]

to fulani,

did it ever occur to you that maybe, just MAYBE, today was a slow news day for one, that this is a blog, so the staff can put whatever they want on this, it doesnt HAVE to be in direct relation with the bleeding edge of tech, it can just be funny. Do you think this device is lame and somewhat funny? well so do the staff at engadget (i thin), THATS why they reported it. besides, man this is the Web, you dont like the reporters here? go find another blog

[Richard @ Jun 11th 2006 12:55AM]

If people stay using same things and don't innovate, investigate, or apport something new, the world surely goes to stall... it some company approves to show one product like it is because it make a lot of investigation an tests.... It's easy to make bad comments about the work of other people... but i can't make a comment with only a picture, maybe if i can try it and know how it works then i can...

[david M @ Jun 14th 2006 7:40AM]

its a trackball made to be held in one had, guided by your thumb via the joystick at the top right of the pic.
it is held like a gun, you're actually looking at the pic the opposite of how youd hold it.

[Phil Lee @ Dec 17th 2007 6:42PM]

Here is a better one: www.bilila.com