Genius Ring Air Mouse 2 Review

By Dan McNamara

Manufacturer: Genius, KYE Corporation
Product Name: Ring Mouse 2
Model Number: Sliver: 31030086101; Titanium: 31030086102
UPC: 091163241225
Price As Tested: $40.77 (Amazon | Newegg)

Full Disclosure: The product sample and images used in this article have been provided Genius.

It is not often you find a product that has the potential to change the way you work. The Genius Ring Mouse 2, made by KYE Corporation, is just such a product. I immediately could envision myself, at a presentation, controlling my own work without having to return to the podium, or call on someone to flip through my slides. To me, this alone is enough to justify the purchase price. Benchmark Reviews will test the Ring Mouse 2 to see what it can and cannot do for “business, travel, education and i-users”.

The makers of the Ring Mouse 2 are dedicated to improving the interface between humans and technology. In fact the mission statement of Genius KYE Corporation is: “To envision and to fulfill our goal of creating an agile wireless world, KYE has dedicated its major resource in core wireless technology to design and innovate a totally free environment of personal interface products.

So it is not surprising that in support of this mission the Genius Ring Mouse 2 has been created. It is described as a: “Portable breakthrough design by Genius! The world’s first ring style touch cursor controller for business, travel, education and i-users – Ring Mouse 2. This device transforms mouse technology into a unique, flexible rubber design that fits securely on your finger or you can put it in your pocket, so it’s ready to go wherever you go”.

Wow! That is a pretty big statement, but I can understand where they are coming from. I was recently at a corporation where the presenter had to carry around a mouse and mouse pad to control the presentation, which was distracting, and, for me, took away from his message. I also conduct presentations often, so the idea of a mouse on your finger and the ability to control your computer from a distance is very exciting. With the Genius Ring Mouse 2 this is not only possible but it is also relatively easy. Benchmark Reviews conducted a detailed trial of the Ring Mouse 2, to provide you insight into where it works well and not so well.

In order to provide the Ring Mouse 2 a decent evaluation, in a full range of input situations, I replaced my mouse with the Ring Mouse 2 for three days. That way I was hoping to burn through the learning curve and provide insight on the realistic use envelope of the Ring Mouse 2, and not reflect my ability to learn quickly. So for work and play I was able to develop a good understanding of where the Ring Mouse 2 shines.

The first thing that you notice is how small the Ring Mouse 2 really is. I was expecting a big boxy and clunky unit, and this could not be further from the truth. In the plastic package you have to look twice to see that it is the silver (or titanium) spot in the middle of the card. For scale the plastic box, below, is approximately 3.5 x 5 inches (8.9 cm x 12.7 cm), and the Ring Mouse itself, 1 x 1.5 inches (2.5 cm x 3.8 cm). It feels very comfortable on the finger, and is not distracting at all.

As for the design, it is a collection of graceful curves and gentle edges, that easily fits on your finger. It is almost like having another oversized ring on. After a short while it seems to be a part of your hand.

Included in the package is a USB RF receiver that provides wireless connectivity with a range of approximately 33 feet or 10 m. I was impressed with the ability to control my cursor, from quite far, in a cluttered environment.

When not in use, or when travelling the USB receiver slips right into a convenient hole in the front of the ring. This ensures that a) if you have the Ring Mouse 2, you have your receiver, and b) that the receiver does not fallout of the bag when you toss it in your briefcase, pocket or backpack.

As you can see below the ring mouse uses a standard micro-USB interface to plug in to your laptop, or cell phone charger to recharge. Each charge lasts about hours.

The Genius Ring Mouse 2 is packaged with a mini-CD that includes the driver and a dashboard for general information on the Ring Mouse 2 and use and controls. You can also set the Ring Mouse 2 cursor DPI. This is a very nice feature because the tiny User’s Manual has almost microscopic print. So it is a lot easier to read about the use and features of the Ring Mouse 2 in a larger format. The screen capture below shows the “Button Definitions” page of the dashboard.

As you can see below, the Ring Mouse 2 is available in two colors: silver and titanium. Both colours are attractive enough to be noticed, but understated enough not to be distracting. I am not much of a color coordinator, but, if you do have a preference it is nice to have at least a couple of choices.

I also want to touch on the fit and finish here. As you can see in the pictures of this article the Ring Mouse 2 has a very clean, modern shape. It looks good, and yet it is discrete. To me this is important. The major reason I would buy this mouse is that I can freely move about during a presentation and not have to move to a podium or coordinate with someone to change my slides. So, the very purpose, for me, is to discretely control the presentation, and not have attention drawn to the user interface. This is exactly what the Ring Mouse 2 does.

This is a very good explanatory picture of the features offered by the Genius Ring Mouse 2. Once you get used to the functions and what the various buttons do you have a fair amount of control over you computer. I like having most of my immediate viewing controls right in my hand. Yes, indeed there is a learning curve, but there was more challenge maneuvering the cursor than remembering the function controls.

• Cordless : YES
• RF frequency: 2.4GHz
• Buttons: Five
• Resolution(dpi): 1250 dpi
• UI: YES
• Air Cursor: YES
• Touch Scroll: YES
• Optical Sensor: YES
• Both Handed: YES
• 4D Scroll: YES
• Note: When I first read about the 4D feature of the Ring Mouse 2, I was a bit confused about how it would control time, however according to the wiseGEEK website: “The abbreviation 4D refers to four directional. A 4D mouse can scroll a page both vertically and horizontally; or up/down and left/right.”

System Requirements

• Windows 8/7/Vista/XP or Mac OSX 10.4+ or above
• Available USB Port

Package Contents:

• Ring Mouse 2
• USB receiver
• Rechargeable cable (micro USB)
• CD driver
• Pouch

To me the best way to test something is to use it, so that is what I did. For three days I put away my mouse (almost) totally and used the Genius Ring Mouse 2 instead. Here is a record of my testing:

Day 1: April 30, 2013

The Genius Ring Mouse 2 arrives. I took some pictures and charged it on my laptop and as stated by the company it took about 2 hrs.

I inserted and ran the start up disk. This allowed me to figure out the Ring Mouse 2 functions and set the resolution.

Off the mark I found it hard to track as precisely as the mouse. I figured if I used the Ring Mouse 2 to play an game that required pointing and clicking I could improve my accuracy and speed. So I played a few games of Mahjong on my computer. My speed starting out was about 1/10th that of the mouse, but after a half hour or so it was about 1/3 as fast. I also realized that I was pecking at the sensor with my thumb, and it reduced my accuracy at fine selection, so I made a conscious effort to smooth out my controlling, and that helped too. I found with practice I could move the cursor most of the way across and up and down the screen with a single swipe. Diagonal movement was the most challenging. I found it difficult because you are moving such a small part of your thumb over the sensor, with a much larger movement being reproduced across the screen.

All in all I worked about 3 hours with mouse the first day. The only thing that I really could not do easily was to use the Ring Mouse 2 to swipe the pages off of my compute, as you have to with Windows 8. You have to drag the open program off the screen, but because there is no “title bar” to grab the Ring Mouse could not use the drag function. It was necessary to hold the left mouse button and try to swipe at the same time. It was tough to do.

I found it was very good at flipping through news windows though, and the back button is a great asset when cruising the Internet.

Day 2: May 1, 2013-05-01

I took the Ring Mouse 2 to work. I work with two screens there and the resolution much higher than at home. It was very challenging to even click he icons in my system tray, however, I am sure that I would get better the more I used the Ring Mouse 2. I also found that for short bouts of typing I could keep the Ring Mouse 2 on my finger, shortening the movement from the keyboard when moving from document to document. I had to do an impromptu presentation and it felt very natural to keep my hands, relaxed, down and out of the way. I could still navigate within the presentation, and use my cursor to indicate portions of it, so it went very well.

The Ring Mouse 2 lasted about 8 hours that second day, before I had to recharge it. Using the standard micro-USB connector it charged back to life after 2 hours, once again.

Day’s highlights were that I found it good for cruising web page where it was easy to page down, go back, and select next. It was also very relaxing and natural to use it for my impromptu presentation.

Day 3: May 2, 2013

The overnight break really seemed to help in my ability to use the Ring Mouse 2. While still not as natural as my mouse, I felt I was getting used to the interface. I had stopped pecking at the sensor, and had found a thumb pressure that seemed to work very well for tracking and pointing. I would say that my speed and accuracy had improved by 40%, or so.

There were two main lessons from this day. First, the Ring Mouse 2 is not for hunting up and attaching multiple attachments, or filling out forms. Just a slight difference in speed when you are doing something that is repetitive and not in the Ring Mouse 2’s wheel house really slows you down. The second lesson is that that the Ring Mouse 2 turns off after a few seconds of pressing the left hand mouse button. I know it says this in the literature, but it needs more prominence in the text.

I was trying to select something and it required me to hold the LH mouse button for a while, and the mouse turned off. I thought it was out of power, but when it happened again it occurred to me that this may be turning off the mouse, and indeed a quick read of the instructions confirmed it. I would not say that this is a huge deal, but it is something that should have more prominence in the literature.

HP Pavilion g6-2288ca Notebook

• Motherboard: ACPI x64-based PC (Mobile)
• System Memory: 7650 MB
• Processor: Mobile Quad-Core AMD A10-4600M, 2700 MHz
• Audio: IDT 92HD87B2/4 High Definition Audio Controller
• Video: AMD Radeon HD 7660G
• Disk Drive 1: TOSHIBA MQ01ABD075 SATA Disk Device
• Monitor: 15.5″ led 1280×800
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8

The Ring Mouse 2 seems well designed for use when a hands free ability is required for mouse use. For me that is mainly during presentations. I found it more discrete, and less distracting than using a mouse and provides you better control than having someone run your slides. The unit had great range and allowed control from the full 10 m declared by Genius.

I was able to type with it on my hand, and also keep my hands relaxed when reading because I did not have to change position to carry out minor interface tasks. I did find it necessary to stabilize my hand against leg or on desk when I required more accuracy.

I found that the Ring Mouse 2 was too slow when it was necessary to carry out many different hunt, point, click and drag tasks, especially when time is an issue. That may not be fair because I only used the Ring Mouse 2 for three days although I did conduct about one hour of specific training, and about 14 hours of office work during that time.

Windows 8 functionality seemed less than ideal because it is very challenging to slide Windows 8 apps off the screen.

At the end of testing I would probably use the Ring Mouse 2 mainly for presentations as it is more discrete, and less distracting than using a mouse and provides you better control than having someone run your slides. The unit had great range. I also liked to be able to type, and also keep my hands relaxed when reading because I did not have to re-locate hands to carry out minor interface tasks. I did find it necessary to stabilize my hand against leg or on desk when I required more accuracy.

When I had to carry out many different hunt, point, click and drag tasks, it was too much to use the Ring Mouse 2, especially when time is an issue. That may not be fair because I only used the Ring Mouse 2 for three days although I did conduct about one hour of specific training, and about 14 hours of office work during that time.

Genius should look at Windows 8 functionality because it is very challenging to slide Windows 8 apps off the screen.

I am a fiddler – if I have something in my hands I tend to play with it. Due to the ring design I did not have the compulsion to play with the Ring Mouse 2, so I found it less distracting than a normal mouse during a presentation. I was unable to use the Genius Ring Mouse 2 on an aircraft due to the active transmissions from the unit. The Ring Mouse 2 was useful, and excelled in presentation and when surfing the net, but I would think that most people would still prefer their mouse or trackball for the majority of work tasks where speed and accuracy are crucial.

In the presentation and web-browsing niche the Ring Mouse 2 was a solid performer. It also has a very good working range as you should rarely be outside 10 m from your computer. The major reason I would buy this mouse is that I can freely move about during a presentation and not have to move to a podium or coordinate with someone to change my slides. So, the very purpose, for me, is to discretely control the presentation, and not have attention drawn to the user interface. This is exactly what the Ring Mouse 2 does.

I found the Ring Mouse 2 to have a very nice appearance. I really like the graceful curves and gentle edges and the fact that it easily fits on your finger. The compact size makes it easy to carry around with you and when you are wearing it, it is small enough to feel like part of your hand after a short time. And yet it is big enough to use each of the functions quite easily.

The Ring Mouse 2 construction is very sturdy and it has a very clean, modern shape. I have put it in my pocket, carried in my backpack and really not taken too much care, but it looks as good as new and works just fine. It is very easy to position it on your finger so that you can use all of its functions, and yet move it slightly and you can actually type while wearing it.

There are a surprising number of functions provided by the Ring Mouse 2. It has: drag, scroll, point and click, right mouse, left mouse , and back/return functions. With a little practice you can carry out some sophisticated actions, well beyond your normal presentation remote control. I would not say that it would totally replace a mouse or other input device because, even with practice, it is harder to carry out fine selection actions, and the difference in time adds up quickly when you are trying to carry out your job.

The current price for the Ring Mouse 2 is around $40 (Amazon | Newegg), and I can see it as a valuable tool to have in your toolbox. If you are in the business of presenting to large audiences or even during sales demonstrations, the Ring Mouse 2 definitely has an advantage over the traditional mouse. You can move about and keep your audience focused on the presentation, and not on your input activities.

The Ring Mouse 2 was useful, and excelled in presentation and when surfing the net, but I would think that most people would still prefer their mouse or trackball for the majority of work tasks where speed and accuracy are crucial.

+ Very good for presentations uses
+ Discrete control
+ Good Range
+ Battery life sufficient for most tasks
+ Lots of great functions on the Ring Mouse 2

Cons:

– Windows 8 Functionality lacking
– Too slow when doing many complicated cursor movement tasks
– Difficult for accurate point and click movements in high resolution scenarios
– Cannot use it on Aircraft

• Performance: 7.25
• Appearance: 8.00
• Construction: 7.50
• Functionality: 6.75
• Value: 7.50

COMMENT QUESTION: Does a product like the Ring Mouse 2 appeal to you?