Bluetooth Keyboards And Mice For Windows 8 Unveiled: Wedge Touch Mouse Is An Eye-Catcher

The keyboards Microsoft is making available for its Surface tablet are super thin, but perhaps not ideal for using with a PC. That’s why Microsoft builds its own keyboards, and it has unveiled new keyboards along with mice for the desktop and laptop.

If you like Bluetooth, try the new Sculpt and Wedge keyboard-mice. The Wedge Touch Mouse is a real eye-catcher.

The New Wedge Mobile Keyboard:

The New Wedge Touch Mouse:

The New Sculpt Keyboard:

The New Sculpt Bluetooth Mouse

The touch mouse Apple offers? Microsoft has unveiled a similar product for Windows 8

Using a traditional keyboard and mouse with Windows 8 arguably isn’t the optimal input method for the touch screen-based half of the operating system, despite Microsoft saying otherwise. The company has announced a range of mice, along with a keyboard, for the upcoming operating system.

The Wedge Mobile Keyboard and the Wedge Touch Mouse Arc were unveiled by the company, and the mouse in particular is a move away from the form factor we know. The accessories do work with the Surface devices, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason why non-Surface devices would be incompatible. The devices connect via Bluetooth, so the Arc mouse seems a good fit for laptop users want more productivity than with a trackpad.

New And Traditional

The Wedge Mobile Keyboard continues in the portable vein, offering a tenkeyless design (sans the right-hand-side number keys), and includes shortcuts for Metro specifically. Like Apple’s Smart Cover, putting the hinge cover over the keyboard turns it off. It doesn’t seem to have as great a focus on a thin form factor with seamless integration into Surface, though it’s not a mechanical keyboard.

The Wedge Touch Mouse Arc resembles Apple’s Magic Mouse in function – both support gestures on the mouse, via touch – and there’s also a trackpad for iMacs. The Wedge Mouse Arc fulfils its name in design but, at least, it’s striking.

There’s also the Sculpt Mobile Keyboard and Sculpt Touch Mouse. The devices are more traditional in form factor; the Keyboard is also tenkeyless, and the Touch Mouse’s design is also more familiar. The difference with the latter is a mousewheel is replaced with a strip, so we’ll have to see if the lack of a tactile grooving when scrolling works.

The Wedge keyboard and mouse retail for $79.95 and $69.95 respectively, while the Sculpt counterparts retail for $49.95. There will also be an update for the Microsoft Touch Mouse, bringing Windows 8 functionality.