Hands-On Review--Apple Wireless Bluetooth Mouse and Keyboard [

Updated 10/6]: Steve Jobs introduced the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse at Apple Expo in Paris on September 16th. The new Bluetooth-based peripherals are designed to provide reliable performance at up to 30 feet and to have secure 128-bit, over-the-air encryption to keep sensitive information safe as it is being typed. According to Apple, it is the first to deliver Adaptive Frequency Hopping (AFH) software which is supposed to eliminate interference between Bluetooth devices and other wireless networks and devices. Apple claims this feature enables the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse to perform reliably in home, office, school and lab settings where other wireless devices and networks may be in use.

Last Friday (10/3), we picked up a new Apple Wireless Bluetooth Mouse (AWB mouse) and a new Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard (AWB kb) for $69 each at our local Apple Store in Tysons Corner Mall, McLean, VA. We spent a portion of the weekend trying them out

As an aside, we discovered that the store is going to close temporarily for 5 weeks starting October 13 through November 17 to remodel. The Tysons Corner store was the very first Apple Retail Store to open and some design changes are needed, including a larger theater. Its employees will be deployed to other local Apple Stores for the duration. A grand re-opening is also planned. There's a notice on an easel as you enter the store and a note on the store's web page.

The AWB mouse is white with a light gray Apple logo just like it's current wired cousin. It came with two non-chargeable lithium AA batteries, two copies of the User's Guide in multiple languages, an optical disc with AWB mouse and keyboard software and Bluetooth firmware updater and a one-year limited warranty.

We opened the bottom of the AWB mouse and installed the two batteries. A click sensitivity selector is inside--choosing "+" makes the click marginally firmer. We like the firmer click so we used the "+" setting. The on-off switch is on the bottom.

The ReadMe file says to run the Bluetooth Firmware Updater even if your OS (requires 10.2.6 or later) is up to date. We did this on our 17" PowerBook G4 (Big Al) obtained in late July and running 10.2.8--it took a couple of minutes and no reboot was required.

Next, we installed the KeyboardAndMouse software package from the disc. A reboot was required. Oops, the User Guide says to install the software first and then the Bluetooth Firmware Updater. However, we encountered no problems from reversing the order.

After the reboot, we paired our AWB mouse with Big Al. Pairing is almost straight forward. The only glitch we encountered is that it kept endlessly searching for new mice and updating the name after doing it the first time. To break this endless loop we very tentatively clicked "Continue" after the fourth time through the loop and, fortunately, the process moved on as it should have automatically in our opinion. When pairing was completed, the "Allow Bluetooth devices to wake this computer" was also checked in the Keyboard and Mouse preference panel. Our AWB mouse was named after our Home folder and the battery strength indicator was full.

The AWB mouse worked fine but initially there was no "Mouse" tab in Big Al's Keyboard and Mouse preference panel to adjust the mouse's tracking speed. It operated at medium speed but we like the fast setting. The AWB mouse did not respond to the trackpad's "fast" setting. There is a Mouse tab in the Universal Access preference panel but the AWB mouse did not respond to its fast setting either. But wait! After testing the AWB mouse for awhile as noted below and after one of several restarts, the Mouse tab suddenly appeared and we were able to set the AWB mouse to fast speed. We hope this disconcerting glitch will be fixed in a future software update.