Product Reviews

Anyone looking at this Kensington Wireless Mouse through its transparent packaging would be forgiven for dismissing it immediately: its orange and silver colour scheme and soap-bar shape don't lend themselves to making a favourable first impression.

That's a great shame, because once removed from its packaging, it shows itself to be a rather ingenious wireless mouse. Despite being rather flat (imagine an elongated version of the original iMac mouse), we found it comfortable to use, particularly when compared to other mice designed for laptop use. The two buttons sit

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either side of a scroll wheel which works well but is a little on the small side.

Underneath the mouse is where the ingenuity lies. The wireless transmitter/ receiver slots into the base and triggers the on/off switch, so that when it's in situ, the mouse switches off. Pull the bottom half of the mouse away from the top and inside you'll find a home for the supplied AAA batteries and a USB cable with a mini-USB plug wrapped around the inner perimeter.

This is particularly useful as there's every chance you'll find yourself with time to kill and work to do but dead batteries in your mouse. The cable solves the problem: the transmitter even doubles as a mini-USB to USB adaptor.

We did have one problem with this mouse: it interfered with other wireless mice close by and there's no way to change the frequency on which it operates. That could earn you some dirty looks.

At £25, this isn't the cheapest laptop mouse on the market, but it offers more than enough to justify the price tag. If you can see past the garish colour scheme and don't mind risking the ire of your fellow travellers, it's a worthy addition to your laptop bag.