Today I did a video review of Apple’s Magic Mouse for NBC News Raw (video to be posted later), but here’s a more detailed overview.

Apple’s had a bad modern history with designing mice.

It stemmed from Steve Jobs’s stubbornness from the 1980s to avoid a second button on the original Mac mouse. When Apple finally relented in 2005, and a second button capability was added, it wasn’t a physical switch but a finicky touch sensitive part of the surface of the Mighty Mouse. In an attempt to provide scrolling capability, it sported a small “scroll ball” about the size of a ball bearing, which proved far inferior to the scrolling wheels on much cheaper mice.

Magic Mouse side profile

That brings us to the Magic Mouse, which promises to transcend the physical shortcomings of mice past by making the entire top “Multi-Touch” and promising iPhone like functionality from an external device. Its features are impressive but its fashion forward design undercuts its usefulness.

There’s no doubt about it, this is a beautiful device. With a low curved plastic piece on top of a rather heavy aluminum base, it’s certainly $69 worth of quality. The mouse body is not much thicker than an iPhone, which is one of its problems — you find your hand is not very comfortable manipulating something so flat, curved and narrow. While Logitech and Microsoft have optimized their generations of mice to create thicker, more hand fitting shapes, Apple’s gone the opposite way by making something resembling half of a Dove soap bar.

As a Bluetooth mouse, it communicates with modern Macs without a pesky USB dongle and pairing it with your computer is simple. The left mouse button and right mouse button work as expected once you configure things in the System Preferences. If you swipe a finger down the middle of the mouse, it scrolls down any web page or list. You don’t get the positive physical feedback of a true wheel, and it takes some time to get used to. Swiping with two fingers across the mouse while keeping it stationary with your thumb and pinky takes a bit of practice, as it’s a motion no one has ever had to do before. If you’re successful, it helps to navigate web pages by moving forward and backwards through your browsing history. This is where the Magic Mouse’s heft comes in. With an aluminum base, this is one heavy mouse for its size, but it means it doesn’t slide too much when you’re swiping its surface. Gone on this mouse are the two side squeeze buttons that came with the Mighty Mouse which could be configured but typically brought up Apple’s Dashboard utilities. It’s odd to see Apple remove features like this it previously touted.

What the mouse lacks is Windows support, the ability to simulate a third middle button and any type of zooming functions by pinching gestures on the touch surface  (ala the iPhone). There is a “momentum” feature that does mimic iPhone functionality by simulating the physics of page scrolling, but this is only possible in MacOS Snow Leopard 10.6. It uses two AA batteries and Apple claims that power lasts up to four months.

In the end, is it a worthwhile device? People who love using mice with the Mac will probably be happy with the Magic Mouse, and perhaps those in graphic arts who use Photoshop and other design programs. For everyday use, however, the position of the flat and low mouse is awkward, and I can see getting cramps and a gnarled hand.

Like women’s high heeled shoes, this mouse is beautiful and dazzling, but questionable for long term wear (Manolo Blahnik and Jimmy Choo come to mind). Just finding a Magic Mouse in stock was actually tough in the Los Angeles area. In the end it was at the Apple Store at The Grove, among high end boutiques and fashion stores that had one unit reserved for me. And perhaps that’s exactly the way it was meant to be.