Last Christmas, there was a box in my stocking containing something I'd half-jokingly added to my wish list: an “ergonomic” grip that raises, widens, and adds wireless charging to Apple's Magic Mouse 2. It's like a little boot with a Lightning adapter tab that plugs directly into the bottom of your Magic Mouse. Best of all, it's magnetic, making it perfect for use with a MagSafe drive.
Does this totally ruin Apple's sleek aesthetic? Absolutely! And its cheap plastic doesn't even remotely convince me that it will last more than a few months before it simply stops working. Yet in some ways, it's exactly what the Magic Mouse needs.
It doesn't really matter what it's called, because this isn't a product made by any company you've ever heard of; instead, it appeared on Amazon, apparently around August, under several different company names. mine has a brand Tatofybut you can find it under brands like Zeehoo, more blueeither Superyofo. They all cost like $30 and they are almost certainly all the exact same product.
The grip of the case is not perfect. Wireless charging can be iffy at times and the magnet is very weak so it will slide off the MagSafe mount. And where the bottom meets the top, there's a giant seam that loves to collect dirt.
But those complaints are so minor. In fact, I found myself using my Magic Mouse at least as often as my Logitech MX Master 3 over the past month. And popping it into a nearby MagSafe drive when you're done is a much better experience than pulling out a Lightning cable every time it dies. But it's silly that we've come to this.
When the Magic Mouse came out, I was really in love with the multi-touch surface that did all these different things with swipes and taps. This single curved sheet of transparent plastic that could do so much seemed like the future, especially next to the Magic Trackpad, which is still the best trackpad in the world of technology.
But in practice, it is very uncomfortable. The mouse is low and flat, and I never found a comfortable way to hold it during use. Do I put my hand on it like it's a big, meaty blanket? Hold it on both sides with your fingertips? I do the latter, although sometimes my hand ends up cramping as a result. And turning the Magic Mouse around to charge it has always seemed silly, even if it's ultimately not that inconvenient. As more devices adopt wireless or USB-C charging, it's less of a hassle to have a Lightning cable nearby. This grip solves both problems.
Still, I think this ridiculous shoe I put on the mouse might be more of a band-aid than a complete solution. Yes, it's much more comfortable for me than using the Magic Mouse alone, but its mere existence is almost an affront to decency after 15 years of virtually the same mouse; Surely at this point, Apple could have come up with something else. practical. And yet, here is my Magic Mouse, simply hanging from a shoe, somehow better and worse than ever.
