Logitech’s new Mobi Fold squeezes lots of performance right into a tiny folding mouse

Logitech lastly introduced its new ultraportable journey mouse following leaked advertising and marketing pictures that spoiled the shock final month. As the identify implies, the Mobi Fold is a compact mouse that may fold in half utilizing a hinge that may pivot about 130 levels. At $79.99 in graphite, off-white, lilac, and sand colour choices, the Mobi Fold isn’t Logitech’s lightest or most cost-effective mouse, however it’s positively one in every of its smallest and a well-featured different to your laptop computer’s trackpad if you may get used to some unconventional ergonomics.

The arch-shaped Mobi Fold appears to be like just like different folding gadgets, just like the Surface Arc mouse. But whereas Microsoft’s design folds flat, making it thinner and simpler to slide right into a pocket or bag, the Mobi Fold is extra like a clamshell cellphone. And though it doesn’t snap shut with a satisfying clunk, it feels sturdy. Logitech says the hinge was “tested to withstand 15 years of daily use.”

That hinge, together with greater than half the mouse, is wrapped in a silicone pores and skin that improves grip whereas semi-protecting it from drops. Where it covers the hinge you’ll discover a pleated design that expands and stretches when the mouse is folded in half, so there’s no danger of pinching.

At 79 grams the Mobi Fold is just a few grams heavier than Logitech’s Pebble Mouse 2 and the bare-bones M196 that I’ve been just lately touring with. When folded, the mouse is a little bit over three-quarters of an inch tall and about 2.6×2.5 inches in measurement, making it really feel critically compact. It jogs my memory of some wi-fi earbud instances, however a bit thinner.

Logitech claims the Mobi Fold’s rechargeable battery will energy the mouse for as much as one month on a full cost, whereas a 1-minute fast cost will maintain it going for as much as 22 hours. It’s getting a world launch. which implies we are able to most likely thank latest EU rules for a detachable cowl on the underside permitting that rechargeable battery to get replaced sooner or later.

The Mobi Fold isn’t designed to thoroughly change a full-featured desktop mouse, however it gives sufficient performance and customizability to be a stable trackpad different. There’s a 4K DPI optical sensor on the underside and a pair of left and proper mouse buttons on high with a multifunction contact panel between them. That panel’s habits might be modified utilizing the non-compulsory Logi Options Plus software program, so swiping your finger up and down both causes web sites and paperwork to zip by or a extra leisurely line by line scroll. The high and backside of the contact panel additionally perform as two extra clicky buttons. You can customise their performance utilizing Logitech’s app, however by default they perform as ahead and again buttons whereas looking.

A single button on the underside of the Mobi Fold is used to attach and cycle the mouse between as much as three totally different gadgets, and I had no issue connecting it to a few laptops and an iPad. Instead of a devoted energy button, you flip the mouse off by folding it in half. I discovered that whereas scrolling with the contact panel stays lively while you’ve picked up the mouse to fold it, all the buttons are disabled. That ought to stop unintended presses and clicks since you’ll completely be urgent them as you fold it.

If portability is your final precedence, the Mobi Fold is a wonderful option to maintain a mouse readily available. You’ll simply need to take some additional time to get comfy utilizing it.

While Microsoft’s aptly named Arc mouse encompasses a gracefully curved arch that contours to your hand, the Mobi Fold feels extra such as you’re resting your palms on two sides of a bit of cardboard that’s been folded in half. Its buttons and contact panel are additionally fully flat, and I’ve come to appreciate I’m a mouse person who prefers to steadily raise and reposition a mouse as a substitute of transferring my whole arm to push it round. The Mobi Fold’s skinny design made it onerous to try this as I struggled to discover a sturdy place to grip it on both facet.

For $80, the Mobi Fold delivers an impressively moveable mouse that additionally gives extra than simply primary performance. I’ll all the time select a bodily wheel over a contact pad for scrolling, however I’d fortunately endure finger swipes given how small this mouse folds up. While I’d nonetheless go for my laptop computer’s touchpad, the Mobi Fold is a wonderful accent for benefiting from the iPad’s latest multitasking upgrades.

Photography by Andrew Liszewski / The Verge