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Comment by jacooper | Hacker News Reader

> “I love making things that are profoundly useful,” he adds. “I’m a very practical craftsperson.”

Looks down on the apples magic mouse which needs to be flipped to charge, practical indeed

I find the Magic Mouse such a conflicting product. The touch sensor on it is amazing and really innovated in the mouse space, but ergonomically it's a mess.

The OG Magic Mouse that took AA batteries was a far superior product. Mine still works. They got it right, and then took a step backwards both in convenience and in repairability.

Really? I didn't notice much difference going from the battery one to the chargeable one outside of the obvious need to plug it in when not using it because it's unusable plugged in.

The main difference is that every supermarket and convenience store sells replacement batteries for the original, but when the battery in the Magic Mouse 2 is something you need an iFixit guide and a specialist retailer (and the knowledge of how to avoid chinesium fakes) to replace when it inevitably goes all puffy and fire-hazard-y.

Looks down at the Macbook with butterfly keys that are broken and nods along

How often did your Apple Mouse die during work? The battery is crazy good on this thing, it’s literally a single charge per month. For me it’s a non-issue

A mouse you can use all the time is simply useful. To be profoundly useful, it must give you longer breaks from time to time to step back and think holistically about your work and do so without the fussiness of a timer you will undoubtedly forget to reset. Think different.

Steve Jobs clapping from his tomb

Is that not by design? Apple doesn't want the user to plug in the mouse to charge, forget to unplug it, and use it like a wired mouse. They therefore force the user through its design to literally be unable to use it that way. In my view that's good design, as it follows the goals of the designer. If one contends that design should follow the goals of the user, well, there are always other mice one can use.

I think that's an apologist's view. A practical product should optimize on the user experience & functionality, Magic mouse looks good, but the ergonomic & usability are lacking

Contra some other responses, I do think that was the intended design. However, I think it was a bad design, because it forces the desired behavior, rather than encouraging it.

Stick the charge port on the side, so that it's awkward to use while plugged in, but not impossible. Now you've accomplished the same goal, without completely alienating everyone who has ever had the thing die while using it.

trading off the ability to _keep using your mouse immediately after it dies_ for that is not good design

So is the Apple Trackpad badly designed then because it lets you use it in a wired manner?

Why can the trackpad be used wired but the mouse not?

You're right, it should also have its charging port on the bottom if Apple wanted to be consistent.

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