Tag Archives: Mouse

Snake-Shaped Razer Boomslang Mouse Returns 20 Years Later With 45K DPI

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At the end of the 1990s, when most PC mice were beige, ball-based, and capped at a few hundred DPI, the original Razer Boomslang showed up with a weird snake-head shape and a 2,000-DPI mechanical sensor. Razer now calls it the world’s first gaming mouse, and whether or not you want to argue that title, it definitely helped turn the mouse from a beige accessory into a performance peripheral that people obsessed over.

The Boomslang 20th Anniversary Edition is Razer’s way of revisiting that moment with twenty years of hindsight. It is a one-time release limited to 1,337 units worldwide, each uniquely serialized, with the #1337 unit reserved as a “leet” nod for one lucky fan. It is aimed squarely at people who either owned the original or wished they had, but it is also a fully modern mouse that can live on a current desk without feeling like a prop.

Designer: Razer

On the outside, the new Boomslang keeps the iconic snake-head outline and true ambidextrous form, preserving the low, wide body that made the original stand out. The translucent shell and underglow are deliberate echoes of that first model, but the lighting is now a nine-zone Razer Chroma RGB system that can be tuned in Synapse. The idea is that, at a glance, it still reads as a Boomslang first, and as a spec sheet second.

Inside, everything is from 2025. The Razer Focus Pro 45K optical sensor offers up to 45,000 DPI with 99.8 percent resolution accuracy, a ridiculous number compared to the original’s 2,000-DPI ball. HyperPolling Wireless pushes the polling rate up to 8,000 Hz, which means the mouse can report its position to the PC eight thousand times per second. Gen-4 optical switches handle primary clicks with a 100-million-click lifespan and no debounce delay.

Charging and connectivity also get a full reboot. The mouse is fully wireless and ships with a Razer Mouse Dock Pro that acts as both a magnetic charging base and a dedicated wireless receiver. Drop the Boomslang on the dock, and it starts charging automatically, while the dock handles HyperPolling Wireless up to 8,000 Hz over a single USB cable. It is a neat contrast to the wired-only original that helped define the gaming-mouse category.

Material and feel have been nudged into more premium territory. The primary buttons are wrapped in PU leather for extra grip and a more tactile press, which is a small but noticeable change if you are used to hard plastic shells. Underneath, nine zones of Chroma underglow can be customized with 16.8 million colors and effects, and eight programmable controls can be mapped to macros and profiles in Synapse.

The Boomslang 20th Anniversary Edition is a reminder that the idea of a gaming mouse had to be invented once, by a translucent, snake-shaped oddball that rolled a ball at 2,000 DPI. This remake uses that nostalgia to show how far sensors, switches, and wireless tech have come. For anyone who grew up on early Razer gear, it is a small, serialized time machine that also happens to be a high-end mouse in 2025.

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This 3-in-1 Mouse Just Fixed Everything Wrong with Magic Mouse

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The computer mouse has barely evolved in decades. Sure, we’ve added more buttons, improved the sensor technology, made them wireless, and added haptic feedback, but the fundamental interaction remains stubbornly unchanged. The Melt Mouse arrives to challenge that stagnation with a radical proposition that transforms a single device into a mouse, a trackpad, and a customizable shortcut pad, all wrapped in a seamless aluminum body with clean lines and an uninterrupted surface.

What makes this device remarkable goes beyond its ability to multitask. The Melt Mouse represents a philosophical shift in how we think about input devices. Rather than cluttering your workspace with separate peripherals for different tasks, Melt Interface has created a unified tool that adapts to your workflow instead of forcing you to adapt to it.

Designer: Melt Interface

The design language clearly draws inspiration from Apple’s Magic Mouse aesthetic. That same smooth, button-free glass surface and minimalist aluminum construction creates an immediate visual connection. However, where Apple’s approach prioritizes form over function to sometimes frustrating results, the Melt Mouse appears to learn from those missteps.

The charging port sits in a practical location rather than underneath the device. The ergonomic profile offers more substantial palm support than the Magic Mouse’s notoriously flat design. This feels like taking Apple’s design philosophy and asking what happens when you actually prioritize the user experience alongside the visual appeal.

Where the Magic Mouse offers basic touch gestures, the Melt Mouse takes that concept considerably further. The entire top surface consists of a single curved plane of micro-textured glass that functions as a precision touchpad. The surface recognizes multi-finger gestures while maintaining the ergonomic advantage of a mouse form factor. For tasks requiring pixel-perfect precision in design work, it offers up to 6,000 DPI resolution.

Physical buttons have disappeared from the front, replaced by haptic feedback technology that provides tactile responses mimicking traditional scroll wheels and clicks. The system promises silent operation while maintaining sensory confirmation for each action. Users can customize the pressure sensitivity, adjusting from light taps to firm presses depending on preference. This button-free approach maintains the minimalist profile while potentially reducing mechanical failure points over time.

The device offers mode-switching through customizable gestures like double tapping or long pressing. These actions transform the mouse into a trackpad, number pad, or shortcut pad on demand. Twelve dots appear on the glass surface in numpad mode, providing visual reference points for number entry. Those same twelve positions become programmable shortcuts that can trigger macros or application-specific commands. The software allows different profiles for different applications, with the mouse adapting its shortcut layout accordingly.

The body gets machined from a single block of aluminum with an anodized finish that adds durability and refined tactile quality. The seamless construction eliminates gaps where dirt accumulates or mechanisms fail. Every surface transition flows smoothly into the next, creating an object that looks substantial on any desk setup. The shape follows the natural resting position of your hand, with curves that cradle your palm.

Customization extends beyond software to the physical design through the MagSole system. The bottom sole attaches magnetically and swaps effortlessly between five different colors. This allows users to match the mouse to their desk setup or simply change the look based on mood. The magnetic attachment system makes switching between colors a matter of seconds without tools or complicated mechanisms.

Wireless connectivity keeps desks free from cable clutter while maintaining the responsiveness required for professional creative work. Two physical buttons remain on the side of the device for functions that benefit from traditional tactile feedback. The combination of wireless freedom, sensor accuracy, and hybrid input methods creates a technical foundation designed to support rather than limit creative possibilities. Customizable software manages profiles, shortcuts, and sensitivity settings across different applications.

Melt Interface has created something that challenges assumptions about mouse design. The Melt Mouse demonstrates that minimalist aesthetics and multiple functions can coexist in a single device. By combining mouse, trackpad, and shortcut pad capabilities into one seamless package, they’ve proposed a new direction for interaction design that attempts to bridge physical and digital workflows through consolidated hardware.

The post This 3-in-1 Mouse Just Fixed Everything Wrong with Magic Mouse first appeared on Yanko Design.

Ultra-modular Pathfinder gaming mouse has 2,500+ configurations to satisfy every gamer out there

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Finding a gaming mouse that can satisfy your every need is pretty hard. It all boils down to modularity and the level of customization the device offers. The best option that pros vouch for is the Mad Catz’s R.A.T. gaming mouse which comes with tons of options when it comes to customizability.

Orbital Works might have just come close to or even bettered this cult-favorite gaming peripheral. The budding startup founded by a group of engineers has developed the Pathfinder mouse that had arrived with the motive to satisfy every gamer out there. This high-performance gaming mouse comes with loads of options, so that every user is comfortable using it for extended periods.

Designer: Orbital Works

Pathfinder mouse is developed based on hundreds of hand scans and match analysis to make it feel like a second skin, sans any discomfort even after hours of use. According to the makers, this unleashes the true gaming potential and is a breath of fresh air in the peripheral space. The team invested two years in researching the best shape for a FPS mouse and three major grip points were identified when it comes to finger placement. These being the front, center and back along the length of the mouse. That’s why some gamers prefer the sculpted surface for precise control while others go for one having a flat surface for freedom of hand, wrist and finger movement.

The next step in development was to identify the areas where modularity would yield the best results. For this, the team worked with top FPS gamers and aimers. All this while maintaining lightweight aesthetics and design quality. The result is a mouse with over 2,500 possibilities of configuration. The main configurable elements of the device include a spacer to toggle the width and length, a hump adjustment element for comfortable palm contact and finger placement elements on both the left and right side.

For example, the hump-shaped attachments can have a low, medium, or high hump level. These can further be customized with the use of spacers. Makers claim that the modular mouse is rated for 20,000 cycles of changing shapes which is almost three years, 20 times a day. Practically that would make the mouse last for more than five years even with moderate and low cycle of changes every day. Of course, gamers are intrigued by the hardware prowess of any peripheral, hence, Pathfinder comes with Omron optical switches, a 4000Hz wireless receiver, and PixArt’s PAW3395 sensor.

Orbit Works Pathfinder modular mouse is currently in the prototype stage with parts developed using the 3D-printing technique. We can expect the final product to also come with high-grade 3D-printed parts that last for long. According to the pre-order portal, it will weigh just 53-59 grams +2 grams depending on the configuration chosen. Priced at $189, the modular mouse is the next big evolution in your gaming arsenal and we can’t wait to get hands on one. The Pathfinder mouse is slated to ship in late March 2025, and if you already like the idea, now is the time to get one as the pre-order window closes on 15 October.

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Smartphone touchpad concept tries to solve one of the biggest problems with big phones

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Almost everyone wants smartphones with big screens because of how much content they can see, but those same people probably don’t like using big phones because they require both hands to use comfortably and securely. Some manufacturers have introduced “one-handed mode” features that shrink the screen to a smaller size temporarily, but not only is that actually more cumbersome, it is also less accurate because of the small area you have to hit with your large finger. We don’t have problems using computers with gigantic monitors because we have computer mice that offer precise and accurate control, even if we’re not touching the screen itself. That’s the kind of control that this concept design is trying to bring to smartphones, practically putting a miniature Apple Magic Mouse on the back of large phones.

Designer: Geontak Oh

The computer mouse is actually a very weird and unintuitive tool that has become second nature to most people by now. You are indirectly controlling the screen, moving a detached piece of hardware whose only connection to the computer is an arbitrary one. Before touch screens were a thing, it was really the only way to interact with a graphical user interface, so it’s a bit ironic that we might need something similar to do the same on touch-enabled devices like smartphones.

Poinf is a design concept that tries to solve the problem of using a large smartphone with one hand. With the way we hold our phones, the thumb is the only finger we can use to tap on the screen, which is next to impossible if the screen is too big for our stumpiest finger to reach. But what if you could use a different finger to do that? And what if that finger is always on the back of your phone anyway?

The idea is to put what is practically a small, squarish touchpad on the back of the phone, held there using MagSafe or other magnetic technology. The actual interactive part is a small quadrant of the slim device, an area that can be easily reached by your index or even middle finger. You slide your finger across the surface, pushing around the equivalent of a cursor, and use tapping gestures to “click” on user interface elements. You can easily detach Poinf when you don’t need it, so it doesn’t get in the way of “normal” smartphone use.

Poinf is definitely an intriguing solution to a very old problem, but it also brings a few issues of its own, particularly with usability. Moving a cursor by moving a finger on the back of the screen could require some mental gymnastics, severely affecting your speed and efficiency in the process. Of course, your brain can eventually adjust, like how it has come to accept the computer mouse, but it will take time and effort before that becomes second nature. Additionally, however, you also lose access to important touch gestures like pinching to zoom or quick scrolling, so you’ll have to do double work to teach yourself a new action vocabulary for this rather niche control mechanism. In the end, you might give up and just use the phone with both hands anyway.

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This featherweight 3D-printed gaming mouse weighs just 16 grams

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Imagine a mouse so lightweight it feels like featherweight – literally an extension of your hand for endless gaming on your PC. The Optimum Zeromouse V35 mouse could take the crown of being the lightest gaming mouse out there at just 16 grams. Optimum, who is a well-known PC maker and shooter, intends the user to use this as a shell for the Razer Viper V2 Pro, but can be used individually as well.

The 3D-printed shell of the mouse has supergrips for ergonomic comfort and lesser hand strain when gaming for long periods. There are no side scroll buttons or DPI selectors to reduce overall weight. Ultra-light credentials of the accessory and the supergrips make it well suited for action shooting games because of the low-tension aiming experience.

Designer: Optimum

The lightweight unibody frame is made using Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) using nylon PA12 material which has a very high tensile strength. Thus, the compact peripheral doesn’t compromise on structural integrity since the crossbar support and the deeper grooves at contact points make it highly durable and stable. While the mouse won’t turn you instantly into a Top 500 Overwatch player or a Radiant Valorant, just like the best running shoes won’t turn you into the best runner on the planet!

According to Optimum Tech, who designed this featherweight mouse for gaming, when switching back to any other gaming mouse after using the Zeromouse V35, the difference is very clear. The fact that it weighs almost half as any other mouse, gives the player a tactical advantage in movement, even if it is by milliseconds in close matches that can be the difference between winning and losing.

The peripheral priced at $70 takes a detour from the set conventions with a very raw form. Somewhat comparable to a speed record car that has everything fluffed out and only the essentials for performance retained. A mouse doesn’t have to be heavy or ergonomically challenged which is exactly what V35 offers in a compact form. How the next proposed versions of this mouse will evolve will be interesting to see. For now this peripheral is what the gaming community will be zooming in on.

 

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Framework-Inspired Mouse Comes With A Modular, Easy-To-Repair Design

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Whether the mouse stops scrolling, the sensor begins to glitch, or the switch records twice when you just want a single click; it’s time for you to replace your mouse. You know why, because most mice we have connected to our PCs or laptops are unrepairable, and there’s a high chance, yours is a plasticky one you cannot mend.

Over prolonged usage or when a mouse accidentally drops, most of the time, it fails in ways you wish you could open it up and replace the faulty part, since it looks like new on the outside still. Unfortunately, only a handful (if I’m not wrong) of mice have the option to replace a part or two. In such a scenario, the waruru: easy-to-fix mouse is a class apart. It is the Framework of a mouse!

Designer: Jiu Lee

Today, if you want a laptop that you can upgrade and repair effortlessly, it’s the Framework laptop. These repair-friendly laptops have become an exciting option on the market with more people preferring them for their repairability and eco-consciousness. Replaceable parts can save a lot of hardware from reaching landfills and leading to toxic electronic and plastic waste.

Built for high performance, the easy-to-upgrade and customize, waruru comes with replaceable key components. The scroll wheel, the wheel encoder, the click switch are all replaceable and repairable. This is facilitated with a single screw on the top. Unscrew it and you and access the faulty part and instantly repair, upgrade, or replace.

Now with the waruru, Framework laptops have a partner that is repairable and eco-friendly like them. These mice are easy to open, have replaceable parts, and disassemble – at the end of life – so that recyclable parts can be separated from the electronics, making the recycling process easier.

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Foldable mouse concept takes inspiration from foldable phones

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Laptops are designed to be used as complete, standalone portable computers that don’t need to connect to any external device to use. At least until you run out of battery and have to plug into a wall socket. That said, the design of laptops isn’t exactly great at ergonomics, whether it’s the cramped and flat keyboard or the centrally-positioned touchpad. That’s why some people still opt for at least a regular mouse, but those aren’t exactly portable especially the more common, bulky designs. This mouse design concept, however, prioritizes portability and compactness over anything else, and it takes a page out of the design of today’s foldable clamshell phones to pull off a rather intriguing yet also questionable design.

Designer: Antoine Brieux (NAK Studio)

Foldable computer mice do exist, but they’re really stretching the definition of the word. Perhaps the biggest example is Microsoft’s Arc Wireless mouse, which is basically just a flat box that you “fold” into a curve to use. It’s more than bending than actual folding, but that’s for a very good reason that we’ll see later.

In stark contrast, this “Emergency Foldable Mouse” really does fold in half, not unlike the phones like the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6. In its “deactivated” form, it’s more like a square compact or pocket mirror, though its flat edges and sharp corners clearly mark it as some sort of gadget or tool. When closed like this, the mouse automatically turns off and then turns on again the moment you open it.

Unlike a foldable phone, however, this mouse doesn’t unfold completely flat and instead stays at a fixed obtuse angle. After all, this is a mouse and it would be difficult to use it if it laid completely flat on a desk. That said, even that configuration isn’t comfortable, as users of Microsoft’s own foldable mice will attest to. Yes, your hand arcs over the mouse for a more ergonomic hold, but unlike the gentle curve of the Foldable Arc Wireless, you have two edges potentially biting into your skin. Even the designer admits that the design is clearly not for ergonomics but for the object itself.

Admittedly, it carries an aesthetic that will probably appeal to many computer users, especially collectors. The clear plastic version will definitely catch people’s attention, but even an opaque aluminum object with such an angular bend will pique anyone’s curiosity. If anything, the Emergency Foldable Mouse challenges the standard mouse design with an eye toward portability, an area that isn’t as widely explored as ergonomic mouse designs.

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AI-powered modular mouse has some nifty tricks to level up your presentations

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The nature and location of work today have changed considerably, especially after the introduction of work-from-home arrangements, but there is one thing that still remains the same. People still hold in-person meetings, which often involve making presentations, be it in front of colleagues or before clients. Despite how common this activity is, the tools used especially by presenters haven’t evolved that much except for teleconferencing equipment. Many of the devices needed for an effective presentation often come as separate products, so this concept tries to integrate not just two but four tools into a single design that, at first glance, looks like a normal mouse.

Designers: TianRun Chen, ZiLong Peng, Yanran Zhao, YueHao Liu

Many computer users use a mouse, even if they actually prefer using laptops. It’s almost an indispensable tool for on-the-go knowledge workers, including those who often find themselves speaking in front of other people in a room. Unfortunately, these people would also find themselves grabbing a presenter and a laser pointer during those presentations, making their work lives needlessly complex. There are some thin, portable mice that try to integrate a laser pointer, but these are still rare, not to mention not ergonomic in their designs.

The OctoAssist concept design has a rather intriguing solution that deconstructs the design of the computer mouse in order to provide more functionality. At its core, it sports a modular design where the main “module” is actually the front third of a conventional mouse, where the buttons would normally be located. This module is actually a touch-sensitive device that you can use on its own as a mini touchpad that supports gestures like pinching and three-finger taps. It can magnetically connect to a “base” that provides the ergonomic shape of a mouse, while potentially also offering additional battery power in its rather large body.

The core module also has a built-in laser pointer and, thanks to its touch-sensitive surface, can be used to easily control presentations with the same hand. It also has a voice recorder so you can have the entire presentation or meeting preserved for documentation purposes. But why stop there when you have today’s ubiquitous AI available to almost everyone? That AI, built into the device, can also summarize the meeting and generate notes in a flash, impressing everyone in the room with your technological wizardry and efficiency.

From a regular office mouse to a miniature touchpad to a presenter to an AI secretary, the OctoAssist offers plenty of features, though perhaps a bit too much as well. The AI-powered summary and notes are definitely convenient, but they could weigh the core module down not just with complexity but also with hardware and battery consumption. It does offload the AI processing to a connected smartphone, but that can sometimes cause lags and even data loss. Regardless, it’s definitely an interesting concept that might even be plausible, presuming a manufacturer sees profitable value in an all-in-one design instead of selling multiple devices that do those tasks separately.

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