Category: gadgets

Logitech M570 – the real Mighty Mouse (One year usage review)

Its been one year. The M570 from Logitech still exists. It still works with the same battery put in a year ago. And it has a story to tell. Of Endurance, of a good product design, and perhaps the way in which all products need to be created. Some things just work. And they slog it out with you, being with you through your toughest times in life, hand in hand, shoulder by shoulder with a never say die attitude.
The M570 is one such mouse in case you are wondering, which I consider as the most important investment I made in my 15 years of industry life. The irony is that I made this investment only now and no earlier. The good news is that I at least made it now and no later. I must thank two of my colleagues who exposed me to this beauty of a product without which I would have never known how useful and game changing it could be in my life.
Coming to the specifics, this is a mouse that does not budge. Contrary to the mice we always knew and used, this one just wont move. The rubber pads below the mouse hold it tight against any surface, and this in my opinion is the first good part of this design. No matter how slippery your hand is, the mouse wont budge.
The next and most important highlight of this mouse is its blue shining tracking wheel or trackball as its called. The guiding light. It moves perfectly (save for a few times when the pointer jumped) and you can use it to move nimbly to point exactly where you want it to be before clicking that left or right mouse button which we have been clicking all our lives. The perfection in moving the pointer – the accuracy of the movement gives it such preciseness that it saves a lot of time in aimless moving the pointer around. Absolute bliss.
The buttons themselves are the same as any other mouse, just the same – except with the trackball they work in tandem to produce precise clicks and usage situations which don’t let your hand feel the pressure at any point in time. The battery is lasting over a year and this is really good for a wireless mouse which otherwise would die in a month or two. This is where I feel the bloody Apple mighty mouse and other shit don’t stand a chance in front of the Logitech M570 any day. And even as I write I don’t even know how much more longer the battery may last. Maybe another year or two, who knows!?
Every good thing will come at a price. So also the M570. It costs about 3200 INR, which by no means is cheap for a mouse. But then we are not talking about any mouse here. We are talking about the best mouse for productivity here. No, not for gaming. That is and will always be a different domain where there maybe much better and bigger mice to deal with those things. For productivity and office work, there can be nothing to beat the M570 as of today. And its a full value for money for the money paid for this device.
Before I conclude, it is simply not that everyone can buy one of these beasts and get comfy with them. Its like taking care of something you like, getting used to it until you start craving for it everyday. Its like beer, not everyone has a fancy to it, but once you like it there is no going back on it. And it is not also that many people cannot use it. You need to unlearn to learn. And you should not get intimidated by its looks or functionality. As long as you have a will to learn how to use it, it takes exactly 2 days to get used to it after which you will scoff at any normal mouse given to you.
There was one day I left this device in my office, and I almost drove back to office for 15km to pick it up before my impending trip abroad. You cannot live without it. Such is the need it creates. Working seamlessly across multi-monitor tabs, it does not show even a hint of slowing down with whatever you want it to do.
So would I recommend you to buy one of these? If you have the money why hell yes. Absolutely. If you do not have the money, even then I would want you to buy one on monthly EMI. Remember the Hero Honda Ad? Its the same here. Buy it, fill it, shut it, remember it. Hail Logitech, hail M570. You are me, and I am you. So when are you starting your mouse hunt? 🙂
 
The cheapest I was able to get this mouse at was at IT Depot online at 3490 INR, with an offer of 5% off on a debit card which made it a bit lesser. It comes with a 3 year logitech warranty which you may never need considering its mightiness.

Intex and Panasonic challenge Micromax on its home turf

  1. Intex and Panasonic have launched android smartphones having jelly bean to challenge players like celcom and micromax on their home turf. Both these players have launched phones that boast of HD displays, 1GB of RAM, dual sim, Jelly bean 4.2. , 8MP camera and over a 2000-2500 mAH battery that must suffice to make the phones last a long while in a given day.

    While the ad shows that intex is priced at a paltry 11,000 , Panasonic have preferred not to put up the price ranges on the ad. However a small search reveals the price of the latter to be in the 25000 range. This puts panasonic in direct confrontation with the just launched Nexus 4 by LG, except that the LG phone boasts of faster google updates as well as a 2GB RAM which DOES make a significant difference in the way the phone operates.
    What is more in focus is that there are now serious challengers to Apple, not limited only to Samsung, which have cropped up in recent months. While Apple might actually keep screaming about the fragmentation of Android, that does not seem to hit any mobile provider too hard at the moment. This only in fact proves that Apple must roll out an iPhone with a higher sized display and more RAM and perhaps a 128GB flash drive as soon as possible (a.k.a September of 2013). As is the usual custom they have now created ios7 from the ground up as demonstrated a while ago in the keynote of WWDC and what matters to be seen is the followup on the device front in september. Whether or not this will make any significant impact in sales or the consumer’s mindsets is still a question for which there is no answer.
    Only one thing is clear: Even phone makers like Nokia/Microsoft, and the small time ones, such as micromax or celcom or intex and of course the market leaders to some extent LG/Samsung have now managed to pull the carpet from under Apple’s leg. The more Apple does not forecast or produce some good hardware on the phones segment, the likely it is that their value might take a further hit no matter how much is the innovation done. All said and done, Apple do things differently each and every time, but whether that alone is enough to keep a hungry public waiting is another question to be answered.