Wow-Pen's Joy mouse is a like a fat, melted marker

It's strange how "ergonomic" devices rarely look like they'd be comfortable to use. Such is the case with the Wow-Pen Joy, a new mouse that conforms to the hand like a pen would, apparently making your computing experience a little less tough on the wrists. Although it resembles one of your clay sculptures from elementary school, the twisted lump of plastic sports 800 dpi resolution and can be jacked right into any XP or Vista machine. We can't promise this will actually help with the chronic, stabbing wrist pain caused by your "regular" mouse (see inset), though we can tell you it won't break the bank at 20,000 KRW, or about $30.

[Me @ Feb 19th 2008 11:59AM]

20000 KRW is only $21.50 either that or i just got a lot richer with all the money I have here...

[superfresh @ Feb 19th 2008 9:19PM]

cord=fail

[John Johnson @ Feb 19th 2008 12:05PM]

That actually looks really cool.

[Mike @ Feb 19th 2008 12:20PM]

I'd try it...

[Blaktornado @ Feb 19th 2008 1:10PM]

Yeah but the Logitech MX Revolution owns it by far :P

[Will H. @ Feb 19th 2008 3:47PM]

I like my revolution MX, but I'd consider this mouse for 20 bucks... it does look as if it'd be comfortable.

[Jeff @ Feb 19th 2008 5:14PM]

I'd give it a shot.

...but i can't, because it's not mac-compatible.

haha - what a joke. since when does a mouse care what OS it's on?

1995 called, it want's its "compatibility" listing back.

[Nicholas Schaulsohn @ Feb 19th 2008 12:11PM]

I agree, I'm getting a little sick of engadget trying to put a negative spin on pretty cool gadgets.

[Jorge @ Feb 19th 2008 12:23PM]

I actually stopped playing world of warcraft because I recently broke my right arm which also dislocated my wrist. I can't twist my wrist to hold my mouse and using my left hand for mouse and keyboard became a hassle. I wouldn't mind buying this mouse (which coincidently is called wow-pen) to play wow again.

[trevor @ Feb 19th 2008 11:16PM]

You know, if it takes a debilitating injury to get you to stop playing WoW, maybe you should take that as a sign ;)

[theCardinal @ Feb 19th 2008 12:23PM]

Really, you don't think this looks comfortable? Because to me, this looks like exactly the kind of mouse someone should have made a long time ago. The rotated posture of the wrist during mouse usage is the major problem with it. I've moved to using a pen tablet to get a more natural wrist posture, but this looks like the best of both worlds.

[Gorillamonk @ Feb 19th 2008 12:35PM]

it looks like a clickable volcano. For the WoW dependant, it could be a huge asset. And, someone will paint it and make it look cool sooner or later.

[marcus @ Feb 19th 2008 2:04PM]

This form factor looks very similar to the design of the VerticalMouse 3 (rev.2), made by Evoluent, which has been around for many, many years. I started using a VerticalMouse last year, in order to correct mild carpal tunnel. It's not as attractive as it could possibly be, but it sure did the trick for me; my wrist pain is completely gone. Extremetech.com has a nice review, plus a comparison with some other ergonomic mouse alternatives:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2149559,00.asp
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2076489,00.asp

Anyone with wrist problems should look into it.

[ENGADGETfan @ Feb 19th 2008 12:39PM]

Too bad for leftys -- why is it mouse manufactures always seem to ignore south-paws?? :-(

[Sergio @ Feb 19th 2008 12:42PM]

Because they're inferior, obviously.....

[Desco @ Feb 19th 2008 1:30PM]

actually most lefties mouse right-handed anyway. Since lefties are used to a right-handed biased world, most lefties are forced to be more ambidextrous than most righties. Studies have shown being more ambidextrous improves brain function by increasing the amount of brain activity-- simply learning to do something left handed that you are used to doing right handed makes some profound changes to the brain since parts of the brain that are not used to doing one type of task have to learn the task normally handled by another part of the brain. There's even research that may suggest doing this kind of cross-brain learning might help stave off Alzheimers. Therefore, lefties are actually superior. Too bad most righties don't have the brain power to understand that ;-)

[sinai @ Feb 19th 2008 1:55PM]

maybe you leftards should shut up and quit whining!

[phanbouy @ Feb 19th 2008 2:19PM]

sinai, is that you, "jew balls"?

[booticon @ Feb 19th 2008 2:52PM]

Too bad you are an inferior lefty vs. being the *far* superior ambidextrous.

[Seb @ Feb 19th 2008 12:45PM]

The idea is not new. Since the 90s, a Norwegian company produces a much more radical version of this idea, see http://www.animax.no/ .

[ghex88 @ Feb 19th 2008 12:46PM]

Does it blend?

[Justin @ Feb 19th 2008 4:06PM]

Does it repeat lame jokes that were only mildly funny when someone else came up with them last year?

[ethana2 @ Feb 19th 2008 4:43PM]

XP and Vista crash when you mention doing anything intense, such as blending.

But I assume that either this works with every major operating system or there's a CD full of drivers you have to install... and if the hardware is the same as a regular mouse except the shape of the case, that would be horrible.

And for goodness sake, save that question for when it's applicable. Can the 360 blend? No. Can the ps3 blend? Soon. Can the Wii blend? Technically. Got it?

[strixus @ Feb 19th 2008 1:09PM]

Interesting. The grip the hand is holding that mouse is about the grip I use on a normal mouse + some finger rotation. I do find it disgusting that southpaw mice are nearly impossible to find - being a true ambi I like to swap my mouse side every so often to keep the muscles in my hands equal. Without a very cheep mouse, its nearly impossible to do though.

[peshue @ Feb 19th 2008 1:35PM]

It's not much different than the microsoft natural mouse, and just as goofy looking.

[Saturn @ Feb 19th 2008 2:01PM]

it is cheaper.

[crispy @ Feb 19th 2008 1:36PM]

Same idea, but instead of holding a pen, your hand is just on its side. WITH LEFTIE SUPPORT!

http://www.evoluent.com/index.html

[Miku @ Feb 19th 2008 2:12PM]

Looks like it would hurt my wrist even more really. Mousing doesn't hurt me unless I'm at the tail end of a marathon gaming session, but writing is torture!

[Zeek @ Feb 19th 2008 3:47PM]

General Grevious takes mice from Jedi he's killed...

[andy @ Feb 19th 2008 3:59PM]

I just don't understand the small mouse thing. The Dell mouse my computer came with is half the size of a hot pocket. For someone who can palm a basketball, it's like trying to mouse with a bottle top.

I just need a mouse the size of a softball, "ergonomic" or not.

[wootman @ Feb 19th 2008 4:26PM]

i would like to say the reason i wouldnt buy this is because i already have a G5, but i actually just cant buy a mouse that needs to be that tall, i mean what the hell is in there?

[Ormeo Botelho @ Feb 19th 2008 4:43PM]

Do they make it for left handed?

[ethana2 @ Feb 19th 2008 4:52PM]

"any XP or Vista machine"

Face it. If someone cares that little about what OS they're running, they're not going to care much what mouse they use. These people are ignoring their market. It's us dvorak and colemak typists, and linux, *BSD(+mach/NeXT), and OpenSolaris users that would consider buying something like this. Maybe we have an ego issue, but I resent being ignored just because 90% of the population think that viruses and other malware are somehow normal.

[ethana2 @ Feb 19th 2008 4:59PM]

...I don't know how you market a mouse to users of a particular keyboard layout.
The take home is that these people need to advertise on phoronix or something.

Could we get pie charts for the OS'es and browsers used to visit and comment on engadget? I'm really curious.

[Rick @ Feb 19th 2008 9:36PM]

Marker? Maybe a big box of crayola markers. I own many markers and none look like that if I were to melt them.

[ghex88 @ Feb 19th 2008 11:08PM]

WARNING:
This educational device is intended for girls only as it teaches them how to grip bananas properly for maximum blowout. This device can cause harmful psychological effect in boys.

[Alexander @ Feb 20th 2008 4:54PM]

I own one of the older brothers of this mouse (corded Wow-Pen Eco) and I absolutely love it! It's worlds better than VerticalMouse, I have tried them both.
Will buy this new one without hesitations immediately when it's available here.

[steven @ Feb 21st 2008 1:12PM]

@sinai


After you loose your right hand in an industrial accident, then you can tell us how you really feel about lefties.

Not all lefties are left handed from birth.

[celeste @ Mar 18th 2008 5:12PM]

NEW version of WOWPEN is 2 tools in one! It is a computer mouse and writing pen that allows you to write on paper and on the computer screen at the same time! No expensive notebooks needed.
Find it at www.wowpen.us

[celeste @ Mar 18th 2008 5:15PM]

wowpen NEW version is a pen and mouse- in ONE tool!
http://www.wowpen.us/