A Bluetooth Trackball

The infamous company MacMice has announced a new product called “The Ball”. I’ll admit, it sounds a little dirty to me (and would probably illicit a snicker or two from less mature audiences).

It follows its brother product, “The Mouse”, not in nomenclature, but in appearance. It’ll fit in with your other Mac peripherals. What makes this trackball cool though is the fact that it’s Bluetooth. In fact, it’s the first Bluetooth trackball I’ve ever seen. That alone makes it pretty cool. However, I’m not sure that it’s $90 worth of cool. I never really understood the practicality of wireless trackballs either, so this isn’t something I’m likely to get.

  • faisal

    http://us.kensington.com/html/13880.html

  • David

    I would like to see a Bluetooth Trackball designed like the Microsoft Trackball Explorer. I love the back and forward IE navigation keys and the placement of all the buttons and the ball.
    David

  • Thanks for the review Tim!

  • I am a huge trackball and Bluetooth (BT) fan, so I jumped at The Ball. I just received my The Ball from Chwangyi. [Background: I have The Mouse BT, from predecessor MacMice, and found it barely adequate: it only tracks properly on a few specific surfaces (those with a proper texture/pattern). It was relatively expensive, and I would have returned it except I found a specific situation where it works acceptably well.]


    I have been using The Ball for just a day now. It seems well constructed, but, darn it, it was having trouble tracking, especially when accelerating. I wasn't able to shoot the cursor to the opposite side of the screen by flicking the ball like my other (wired and wireless, non BT) trackballs do. It seemed like the optics were not registering the ball movements accurately. The physical ball is a deep magenta, marbled with lighter color and has a pearly sheen. A pleasant color really (like a tiny bowling ball!), but I suspected there wasn't enough contrast for accurate tracking.


    While I was mulling this over I realized I had a Logitech Marble Mouse handy. So I tried swapping balls. They were exactly the same size, luckily. What a difference! The Ball now tracks beautifully, 150% better than with its standard ball. The Marble Mouse ball is a deep solid red covered with closely-spaced black dots, completely different from the iridescent pattern of The Ball's ball.


    So, I'm off to offer this report to Chwangyi's support. If they fix this problem I highly recommend this trackball. The entire housing acts as a rocking button, easy to get use to. It aids in that you can rest your hand anywhere on the device for comfortable ball movement, yet still click left and right by leaning your hand to either side. I paid about $75 with shipping for The Ball. It was expensive, but I really want to encourage bluetooth product development and vote with my dollars whenever I can (even if early products aren't perfect).

  • Interesting, is this owned by the same guy that DV Forge and Macmice were?

  • wils256

    Hey just saw a press release and a company is now taking preorders for a bluetooth trackball, just ordered mine!
    here's the url http://www.chwangyi.com</p>

  • Unfortunately, it looks like "The Ball" was never actually released as a product. It's probably one of the best examples of vaporware ever.

  • CHSE

    Looks like DVFORGE, the maker of that "ball" (snicker), is dead. Although they claim their products will be available through other sources I never saw "the ball". Does anyone know if it is still sold (or if anyone has the balls to still produce it (snickers again)? Did anyone ever test it? I used a microsoft bluetooth mouse on mt G5 imac and it was horrible (after 30min it went on ebay..). I need a ball because I have a problems with my hand (is a snicker appropiate here?) - the thumb-driven Logitech wireless trackman is perfect (but no bluetooth).

  • I just want a simple BT trackball (the ball would be perfect) for my hometheatre setup. I have a mac mini with apple bt keyboard and for now a logitech rf mouse. Mousing on curved surfaces like a couch cushion can be troublesome. I have 3 usb devices (sound card, iR receiver and rf mouse) at the moment so I need to use a hub. and since my RF receiver is plugged into an unpowered hub, I get erratic signal from the mouse. It can be a royal pain. With a BT trackball, I can put my RF mouse to bed and get rid of the usb hub. Is there something dundamental about bluetooth that makes it bad for trackballs but not for mice? I am more than a little perplexed.


    And to finish off, I have totalyl given up on MacMice / DVForge. After the articles I have read about that guy, I would just as soon have a cord across my living room floor than give him my hard-earned ducats.


    Cheers,


    /j

  • Todd MacDonald

    Here here.... Lets us Trackballers band together.
    If we all sign that petition maybe we will get somewhere.

  • Um, am I the only one that thinks "The Ball" looks more like something for the kids to play with in the bath? As much I want a bluetooth trackball, I don't think I could tolerate that object on my desk.

  • Quixotic

    I have 2 USB ports on my powerbook, and of course I have 3 USB devices. I love trackballs, I hate clutter, and I have Bluetooth.


    And I'm not alone. I can’t tell you how many forums I’ve seen with people hammering for a Bluetooth trackball. There's even a petition you can sign. http://www.petitiononline.com/logbttrk/</p>

    Bluetooth is getting cheaper, partly driven by cellphones I assume. It's also built-in on many laptops: HP, Acer, Apple, Fujitsu, IBM, Panasonic, Sony...

  • Unfortunately John, I fear it may be a niche market (not necessarily dead). The lack of Bluetooth adoption seems to be the blocking factor here. The big mouse makers have token bluetooth mice (I believe both Microsoft and Logitech have only one each) but for the most part, stick with proprietary wireless protocols and hubs for their newer products. Case in point is the Logitech MX1000 which is a sensational mouse, but only comes in the "Fast RF" variety.


    It's unclear whether lack of built-in support in PCs, cost of Bluetooth components, or inferior performance (my MX1000 has much tighter response than the Macally Bluetooth mouse I use on my Powerbook) is keeping it from being a the first choice for manufacturers.

  • John

    I've been looking for a bluetooth trackball for my laptop for over a year now. DVForge has been advertising The Ball forever, and is finally set to release it (I hope!). I can't stand using a mouse with a laptop, cuz I don't like moving my hand all over the place and like to put the trackball on my knee sometimes. I can't believe in the past few years that bluetooth has been out, nobody at Logitech or Kensington sees the need for a bluetooth trackball!!! Are there that few of us that it's a dead market???

  • Mike
    <!-- spamk : Used HTTP_VIA header. -->
    <!-- spamk : Comment on old post. -->
    <!-- spamk : CAPTCHA:sent-1-times:1115421020 -->
    <!-- spamk : KARMA: -3 -->
    <!-- spamk : Treatment: captcha -->
    As a musician with a PowerBook G4, I want a bluetooth input device to free up a USB port that I would otherwise be using for audio/MIDI equipment. A trackball makes sense because I can put it on my keyboard (music keyboard, that is) where I cannot put a mouse/mousepad combo.
  • John
    I have a wireless trackball and it's great
    because I also have a super cluttered desk, and I can pull it out from underneath stuff without a cord stirring up the pile so much.
  • Katie
    Less mature audiences...hmm...like you?
blog comments powered by Disqus