Mycestro hands on: An innovative wireless mouse, with compromises

Mycestro Hands-On

When the finger-mounted "3D mouse" called mycestro blew through it's kickstarter funding goal last year, it seemed like the device might be a hit. The makers of the device were only looking for $100,000, but ended up raising over $350,000 by the time the campaign was over.

But now, nearly a year after the device began shipping to the crowdfunding backers of the device, and after all the initial excitement, we haven't heard much chatter about the device. That could change now that the company has finally made the device available to the general public as of last week.
I managed to get my hands on the Mycestro to put it through its paces and find out if this is, indeed, the future of peripheral devices.

Feel

The first thing that struck me about the mycestro was the design — weirdly futuristic, but not so much that it's off-putting. It looks like something from a dystopian office setting, but somehow you still want to wrap it around your finger. That's made easy thanks to the flexible finger band that can adjust to nearly any finger size.
The plastic casing looks well designed, but the feel is a little on the low-budget side. I wouldn't advise getting too rough with the device, which could be a problem for some of us who like to treat our peripherals like durable toys as we fiddle in between browsing the web and writing an email.

Functionality

This is the most important part — does it work? Short answer: Yes. But it took some doing. After downloading the app (using Apple's yosemite OS on a MacBook Air) from the company's website I tried to install it but was presented with that familiar system dialogue that prevents unverified apps not in Apple's app store from being automatically installed. That issue is easily solved by clicking on the install package and then clicking Control and choosing Open. After installation I was prompted to restart my computer in order to begin using the software.
These might seem like tiny hurdles to the experienced user of start-up apps, but for the average user, these are the kind of bumps in the road that could prove to frustrate an otherwise smooth experience.
Once I was back up and running, the Mycestro worked as promised, allowing me to use it to move the cursor, open and close windows and select text, all by simply alternating between the device's side-mounted button controls. However, while the device did not once fail to operate as it should,

the overall responsiveness of the device was just a little too slow for me to comfortably fall into wanting to use it more than the touchpad

the overall responsiveness of the device was just a little too slow for me to comfortably fall into wanting to use it more than the touchpad on my Mac book Air Can you use it for day-to-day mouse operations? Sure. But if you're a rapid multi-tasker, the slowness of the device's movements compared to your laptop's touchpad could become unbearable. That said, if, for example, you're someone who frequently gives lectures that require you to move your onscreen cursor to point to text and graphics, the Mycestro might be a natural fit for your presentation needs.

Accessories

The device itself comes with a USB charging cable, allowing you to easily plug the wearable into your laptop and get a quick charge. As for how long the charge holds, your results may vary, but my experience was fair to poor. One day I let the device charge for several hours, then used it for less than 30 minutes and put it away. A few days later, I went to use it again and it had no charge left. So this is one of those Bluetooth devices that will require regular power feedings to keep it happy.

One of the coolest things about the Mycestro is the optional gift box, which looks like a really cool DJ case for tiny people. At $29 it's a little pricey, but if you want to snag a protective case for the Mycestro, this will do the trick. Nevertheless, the style of the case (old school metal and bolts) contrasts sharply with that of the Mycestro — the two pieces of hardware just don't look like they belong together.

Overall

Despite a few hiccups here and there, the Mycestro mostly delivers on the early promises of its Kickstarter campaign, which is really an achievement when you consider how many crowdfunded devices fall short when they actually hit the light of day.

Whether you'll actually want to spend $149 on the device will likely be dependent on whether or not it hits the sweet spot of your particular use case. For most users, the slightly high price and the somewhat slow performance will make this more of an interesting experiment than an essential piece of your computing toolkit.