HP Shipping a Mouse That Connects Using Wi-Fi

By Marcus Yam
published

Wireless mice are pretty handy, but not everyone can utilize them the same way. Some run off Bluetooth, which requires for the computer to have Bluetooth hardware – not a standard part. An alternative is for an external USB dongle that adds a Bluetooth or RF receiver.

HP is now selling a third option that uses a Wi-Fi connection, which these days is standard on laptops, to add a wireless mouse on a Windows 7 system without the requirement of Bluetooth or use of any additional dongles.

We surmise that the HP Wi-Fi mobile mouse connects to the Windows 7 machine's Wi-Fi hardware directly through an ad hoc connection. This should not upset the computer's ability to connect to an access point for internet connectivity.

HP boasts that its Wi-Fi mouse has up to nine months of battery life from two AA batteries. It is now selling for $49.99.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
32 Comments Comment from the forums
  • tical2399
    I wonder how much this would effect the battery of the laptop.
    Reply
  • im_caius
    But it would have to have 2 wifi adaptors otherwise you wouldn't be able to connect to a Wi-Fi internet network :/
    Reply
  • steelbox
    Can it be a door for hacker invasion? Since it utilizes wireless it will connect with the wireless network card, right?
    Reply
  • erichoyt
    This is pretty cool....it's one less piece of hardware to keep track of at the minimum.

    Does anyone know why it has taken so long for a wi-fi mouse to be released? I assume the problems that were previously preventing this are fixed - or are there potential pitfalls?
    Reply
  • N.Broekhuijsen
    I like the idea of one less piece of hardware, but as it looks this will be a bigger pain:
    - price: $50 is a lot for a mouse like that I see in the picture
    - need 2 wifi adapters? 1 adapter can only connect to one device, not two, correct me if im wrong
    - desktops: I refuse to put wi-fi in desktops, wires so much better and it's stationary anyways...
    - compatibility: probably need to install a bunch of drivers and configure... much rather just have plug and play.
    - performance: I doubt its gonna be low latency, but I could be wrong.

    so yeah.... It's a nice concept, but I can't see it getting very far
    Reply
  • lamorpa
    Wow. The picture is amazing. It looks just like a mouse!
    Reply
  • arakis
    I just noticed a virutal wireless adapter on a 7 laptop one of my users had. They said they didn't do anything to add it, so after a little googling I found out about something pretty cool Microsoft made to make this device possible. They call it MultiNet and it is already in Win7 and will appear after a driver update for your wifi adapter. It is a virtualization approach that allows your adapter to function in two contexts at once. You can connect to an AP, then another AP or host ad-hoc connections for sharing or in this case device connections. Really smart to see such an established idea as virtualized networking turned into such a game changer. Wonder when Apple will claim to invent it? MS tried up to four simultaneous contexts, but the switching made the latency unbearable and it is now capped to two contexts at once.
    Reply
  • warmon6
    im_caiusBut it would have to have 2 wifi adaptors otherwise you wouldn't be able to connect to a Wi-Fi internet network
    You must not of read the article fully. It gives some info of how it might/should work.

    We surmise that the HP Wi-Fi mobile mouse connects to the Windows 7 machine's Wi-Fi hardware directly through an ad hoc connection. This should not upset the computer's ability to connect to an access point for internet connectivity.
    Reply
  • Not nice at all, now we have yet another thing polluting wifi needlessly.
    Reply
  • carsontl
    i've been using logitech setpoint on my iphone to use the iphone like a touchpad/mouse and it does everything through a wifi connection and a piece of server software located on the desktop... I don't think this mouse is the same way but it could be...
    Reply