When it launches, Windows 8 will enable a whole new world of multitouch gestures for touchpads, but what if you want to perform those gestures without touching the screen, touching your touchpad or touching your notebook at all. A new wireless mouse, from peripheral-maker Genius allows you to perform Windows 8 gestures while standing several feet away from your notebook and holding it in the air.
We had a chance to see and use the prototype mouse, dubbed simply the Windows 8 Touch Mouse, at Genius's Computex booth. When placed on a table, the device acts as a normal wireless laser hous with clickable buttons. However, its top surface is touch sensistive and designed to allow several key Windows 8 gestures including two finger swipe from the right to launch the charms menu, two finger swipe down from the top to launch a context menu and two finger swipe from the left to switch between apps.
The Genius Windows 8 Touch Mouse was a prototype and, from our brief experience with it, it became clear that the driver is going to need a little more work before the product launches. More than half of our swipes went unrecognized, though a Genius rep who demonstrated it for us has better luck.
Despite the beta issues we experienced, we really like the industrial design of the mouse and think that, when ready, it will be an amazing asset for business people who want to make presentations or control their PCs from a few feet away. We even like the bright yellow plastic chassis which felt really good in our hand.
We're really eager to see the final version of the Genius 8 Touch Mouse, but until then, check out the video below for a closer look.
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