I can finally say that I have found the right work mouse for me and my small hands. There is a reason why I love Microsoft mice, and the Sculpt Mobile is the perfect example that you don't have to buy the latest super-duper flashy expensive mouse to have a great work mouse.
The Sculpt Mobile, obviously, is designed for people who are on the move and travel frequently, but it is also a mouse perfect for people with small hands.
This mouse is a pleasure to use. It runs softly and smoothly on a gaming mat, the rugged fabric surface of my sofa, and on the bare surface of my desk. It's quite ergonomic, at least for my hands' shape and size. It is simple, nothing fancy, two click buttons, a scroll wheel, and a Windows button. It's very responsive and accurate, with an excellent tracking system, so I don't have to move my hand much to get the mouse to move on the screen. Clicking is soft and incredibly low pitched, and therefore not noisy at all. Highlighting is quite intuitive and fast. The Sculpt Mobile is not heavy, but not as light as other small mice I own, mostly because the materials are better quality and less plastic-ish.
Although the instructions on the packaging recommend downloading installing software from Microsoft, I didn't need to do that as my mouse was immediately recognised by my laptop as soon as I plugged the dongle.
The dongle has a storage place on the mouse belly to keep it safely away when moving or travelling.
The main downside of this mouse is the scrolling wheel, not as smooth or sensitive as other mice I own.
Overall, I love this mouse. It is not the flashy type that doesn't work, but the 'normal' does-the-job-to-perfection type. After trying and returning two flashy mice for not being good enough, I am happy to have this normal mouse as more than good.
I was expecting a lot from this mouse because Microsoft is my favourite brand of mice, and also because I have one of the first Arc mice to ever come out to the market, many years old, and it's still working and in a very good condition.
THE THUMBS UP
The newest Arc Mouse is very minimalist in design, bends and unbends incredibly easy, and is amazingly flat; in fact, the flattest mouse I've ever seen. It's a bit heavier than other flattish mice, but the quality of the materials is way superior as well.
The size is good for people with small hands, like me, as would allow them to have two or three fingers resting comfortably on the mouse (I doubt most men would be able to do so, though). The surface is soft and velvety, pleasurable to touch, and easy to handle because the rubbery material allows the hand to stay in place without slipping out even when it is sweaty. The arch of the mouse is also good, not too high not too low, at least for my hands. Although my thumb and pinkie are left out of the resting area, the round smooth sides and the hight of the arch make it comfortable for the fingers to hang around or underneath the edges.
The working area has been intuitively built and designed and, at least in my case, I had not problems moving, clicking and using the scroll, as my fingers sat and moved in the same way they would sit on a normal mouse.
One can customise the speed and functionality of the click buttons, the sensitivity and speed of the scroll, and also activate or deactivate the multi-finger use.
I tried the mouse on different surfaces (my desk, a gaming mat, my fabric sofa) and it worked perfectly on all of them.
Once
installed, the connectivity was good. The mouse worked well, no drops during work time, except once when I left the computer to sleep.
It was responsive to touch, easy to handle, but it was not especially
fast or fluid as my simpler mice are.
This mouse is perfect for travelling or if you are on the go quite often, as it can be fit anywhere.
THE LET DOWNS
The main letdown of the mouse is the clicking, because one has to click really hard, almost push down the click, and that makes something as simple as clicking a pain, slowing down work. Besides, the noise is metallic and noticeable. Unfortunately, after an hour or so of use, my finger joints were noticing the effects, my forearm was saying hello-hello, tired of so much hammering. This tightness of the clicking might ease with time and use, but not everybody has the time or willingness to spend futile time trying to love something that cannot be fully loved. If you have strong hands or stronger hands than mine, this won't be an issue, but it is an issue for me.
I expected the set-up to be easier than it was. I followed the basic set-up instructions in the leaflet inside the packing case. I tried it in my two computers, both running on Windows 10, but one of them quite old and the other brand new. I expected the device to be automatically recognised by my laptops' in-built bluetooth, but that was not the case in either despite the bluetooth being on. I had to download the drivers and do a bit of troubleshooting for the device to be found and paired in my brand new laptop, but the bluetooth connectivity wasn't good in my old laptop and I cannot use it with that.
One of the most annoying things about this mouse is the battery holder. It is so tight that it is really difficult to do something as simple as getting a battery out.
The worst thing about this mouse is that after a day of use ruined the whole bluetooth system of my computer, simply destroyed it. I don't know if a sort of drivers incompatibility or what, but my brand new computer switched off the bluetooth, then kept it hidden, then it would not allow me to turn it on, and I couldn't uninstall the Arc Mouse, and I had to totally uninstall everything bluetooth related to be able to uninstall the mouse driver. Even after that, after reinstalling all drivers, following Microsoft's and my laptop maker's instructions, my bluetooth has been destroyed. My bluetooth worked perfectly until I started to use this mouse!
I SUGGEST
If
I were Microsoft's mice master mind, I would work on improving this
mouse clicking and work flow to make it soft, mute and fluid, and,
consequently, enjoyable.
I
personally like dongles as, until now, they work
faster than any bluetooth connection, they would work even if the
bluetooth fails, and it would be a way of having a two-way mouse that can face any adversity and adapt to any eventuality.
And
since this mouse's drivers and my bluetooth did not get well along, I suggest Microsoft dudes to work together so nobody experiences the mess I have after installing this mouse.
IN SHORT
The mouse's shape and surface are great, as well as the overall design and thinness. This mouse is perfect for travellers or if you are on the go quite often, as it can be stored anywhere. However, the hardness of the clicking and the resulting lack of flow in the use aren't good unless your fingers hammer the click a la typewriter. And in my case, the mouse messed up my whole bluetooth system in a laptop that is less than a year old, something unforgivable.
I
got this as a gift for my birthday, but really, knowing as I know how
expensive this mouse is and having used it for such a short time and having such a big problem with my laptop bluetooth, I can bluntly say that it is not worth the money or the hassle.
REMINDER
A work mouse is like a pair of shoes, one needs the right size and fit to be able to move properly; otherwise, one will be in pain. If the shoes are expensive but good, that is an investment; but if hey are expensive but mediocre, then it is a waste of one's money and and one is walking barefoot.
Think about that dear mouse designers.
I've travelled twice with Garuda Indonesia for international flights so far, and it is a good airline.
The planes were modern and clean. Seating in Economy Class was decent and not as tight as in other airlines.
My last flight with them was comfortable and punctual. The entertainment program was decent, but not as good as that offered by other international airlines for similar distances, and not as as good as Qantas Domestic for long flights.
In my last flight, only five and a half hours long, they provided travellers with a snack at night and a full breakfast in the morning. Food was all right regarding taste and variety.
The flight attendants were lovely both in the airport and on the plane, but the in-flight communications in English were a pain to listen to.
In short, a good airline to fly with, but nothing one would be looking forward to unless the ticket includes a part of the route with them.
I flew with this airline as they did part of the European continental route I had with my KLM ticket.
I had never heard of or travelled with this airline, so I had no expectations. This is a low-cost airline, similar to Jestar in Australia.
The plane was pretty good, very nice colour scheme and very clean, but the plane had small leg room in Economy Class, no free meals, and no entertainment program whatsoever.
The flight attendants were most helpful and friendly.
If you want a cheap friendly flight this is your airline. If you want a bit of comfort I would go elsewhere.
To be fair, I had a good flight with them.
I was extremely excited when my last intercontinental ticket had a part of the route, a long flight, with Etihad. The airline is at the top of any list of best airlines in the world these days, how not to be excited? Yet, Etihad was the biggest disappointment ever.
Etihad might be a super-duper airline for Business Class and First Class, but it is average regarding Economy Class. It certainly, does not match the service and comfort I've experienced in Economy for similar flights with Emirates, Singapore Airlines, Qantas, KLM and other airlines.
The plane was very pretty and looking very new and spotless clean.
Leg room was very little, less than in other airlines, cattle travel, if you know what I mean. To me that ruins anything when you have a 14 hour travel and generates me plenty of physical trouble.
Food and snacks were decent, but not as good or abundant as with other airlines.
The entertainment program was good enough, but not really excellent, or as vast and varied as that of similarly rated airlines.
The crew were lovely, polite and smiley and worn a very classy glamour uniform.
Overall, nothing in my long flight made me think that I was travelling with one of the best airlines in the world, honestly.
Photo by
Adam Carr, Public Domain,
Link
In my humble opinion, doing nothing is always better than doing something bad or mediocre. If you want to honour the gay community, great, do so in a way that is clear that you are doing so; do it in a way that the monument is visible and everybody can easily identify it and photograph it. Instead, this supposed homage is unnoticeable and nothing you would stop by unless you know this is a monument.
I
was there, looking for this 'monument', I expected a lovely sculpture
or visible thing you can call monument, not this. This is a triangle on the floor that leads to a triangled set of stairs that ends on the canal. For a second, I thought that the deco smoking booth
by the canal was the monument, until I realised that there was a set of
stairs leading to the canal, and a bunch of flowers there.
Amsterdam is a beautiful city and this was one of the most disappointing sights I've ever seen!
I found this place through Tripadvisor, to whom the photo is credited.
I was staying in another hotel in the area and I book my preferred package the day before. I booked by email and, just in case, also by phone. Afterwards, I received a clear email with information about price of the package, without taxes and with taxes included, length of the treatment, and pick up hour, as they offered me a free lift to their place.
I had the Lagoon Delight Package, two hours and a half of pure bliss with rain shower (ohmy!), full facial with Pevonia cosmetics, full body massage and traditional coconut scrub.
The lady at reception and the therapist were really friendly, caring and helpful. The therapist was very attentive to my needs and did a fabulous job.
The premises are inside the Seminak Villas hotel, and the treatment rooms are beautiful, and have a bath and mini-pool in the attached garden area.
I was sorry not to leave a decent tip, as I was leaving Bali a few hours later and I had got rid of most of my Indonesian money, but I thought they deserved it. Pricing was very good for such a long and good quality treatment.
I wanted to go to a nearby Post Office walking, and no way, they didn't let me do that and asked the hotel caddy driver to drop me there.
I really enjoyed my visit and I would certainly go back there if I happen to visit Bali again. Terima Kasih!
