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Mon, 04 Jan 2010 Bluetooth keyboard batteries drained by Apple's Magic Mouse

Users claim poor battery life working with Apple's new mouse

Nick Spence

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Apple's Magic Mouse is reportedly draining the batteries of Bluetooth keyboards, according to the company's own discussion forums.

Users have identified a problem after believing the fault was with the keyboard not the choice of mouse. Billed as the world’s first Multi-Touch mouse, Apple's Magic Mouse uses the same technology found in the iPhone and iPod touch.

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"I was blaming Snow Leopard but my new Magic Mouse is in fact he problem," notes Apple forum user SirApplot. "I switched to a Logitech mouse for comparison and my battery life on the keyboard stabilised! Trouble is that I love the Magic Mouse! Hopefully this is corrected soon by Apple."

Forum members are reporting having to change batteries every week with some debate over Apple's acknowledgement of the issue.

"I went to my local (US) Apple Store and the manager - after talking to the folks in back - admitted that Apple was 'aware of the problem,'" reports Stephen Hacker.

However, Michael Thomas O'Halloran based in Sydney, Australia, claims Apple are ignoring or are unaware of the problem.

"The thing that is most concerning here is Apple refusing to acknowledge the problem. This tread has 89 replies and the other has almost 200 yet both the Apple Store in Sydney & the Apple Care Support have no idea about the problem."

"I wonder if anyone has tried emailing Steve Jobs directly?"

Apple's Magic Mouse costs £56, up a pound on the October 2009 launch price, and is bundled with the latest iMacs.

The Magic Mouse currently has four out of five stars on the UK Apple Store, based on 148 reviews.

[Via TUAW]

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Comments received


BenAtRKUK said on Mon, 04 Jan 2010

Best computers in the world, best phone, best music player, yet the same company that accomplish that can't make a mouse. Do I need to say any more

Mark Hattersley said on Mon, 04 Jan 2010

Interesting. I didn't suffer any of these problems while testing out the Magic Mouse and bluetooth keyboard I used it for four weeks before moving back to a wired keyboard.

Mind you I prefer the full sized keyboard with the numerical pad anyway. The Magic Mouse is wonderful but I wish Apple made a wired version or used a iPhone style connector to charge up an internal battery. AA batteries are so old fashioned.

bigal346 said on Mon, 04 Jan 2010

Ive had my 21.5 inch imac for 2 months now and not suffered any problems, use it for a good few hours every day, i just make sure that i switch mouse and keyboard off when not in use. Strange thing is, my keyboard is showing 100% battery life after 2 months but the mouse has gone down to 40%. Maybe there's a problem with different hardware/software configurations

mr_lizard13 said on Mon, 04 Jan 2010

Apple never acknowledge problems, until a fix is ready.

It leaves users wondering if their products will ever be fixed.

Luckily, a fix does usually come in the end.

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