Logitech Mobi Fold

It's now been many, many years since Microsoft launched its Arc Mouse, a design we repeatedly hailed as brilliant. We even predicted that we'd likely see a flood of copycats keen to launch mice that save space in your bag. But despite the odd launch here and there, to our great surprise, the market didn't follow suit.

Or perhaps it has now. Because Logitech has launched the Mobi Fold.

The Mobi Fold isn't quite the same as the Arc Mouse, but the idea is the same. Instead of being elongated, with a "bend" creating the ergonomics and shape you're familiar with, the Mobi Fold is folded up (funny enough), and when you unfold it, you get roughly the same shape. Broadly speaking, the shape is similar to the mice you're familiar with, but the difference is that there's air inside. This results in a weight of 79 grams and dimensions of 21x66 millimetres when folded, in other words, almost like a large AirPods case.

Surprisingly, it's equipped with a PAW3222 sensor, delivering 4000 DPI, which isn't bad at all. What's more, you can get 32 days of use on a single charge, and that's not just via Bluetooth. It's compatible with a Logi Bolt USB dongle, and the battery life is roughly the same in that scenario.

You're probably thinking primarily about comfort here, and yes, there are minor concerns, just as there were - and still are - with the Arc Mouse. Your hand can sort of instinctively "sense" that this is a paper-thin design trying to mimic something solid, and in my view, that can make your hand feel slightly more tense during prolonged use. It's, of course, a fairly obvious compromise, one that Logitech makes no attempt to hide. It will always be more comfortable to use a massive, heavy MX Master than a Mobi Fold, but here we're talking about a golden mean between functionality and compact design.

Taking that into account, Logitech comes dangerously close to the mark here at first glance, with a mouse that's responsive, well-built, and incredibly compact, without sacrificing a good sensor or battery life, and yet there is one thing. The Mobi Fold isn't equipped with a physical scroll wheel, but instead has a touch-based one. Apple's Magic Mouse essentially has one too, as does the Arc Mouse, but here it simply isn't responsive enough. First and foremost, it's confined to a small pill-shaped area modelled on a physical scroll wheel, where this area is too small, and your finger can't instinctively tell whether it's within the area. The result is that you miss the mark, scroll too far, scroll too little, and in every way, it's imprecise. This scroll wheel just isn't good enough.

Of course, it can be customised, tweaked, and improved, and one shouldn't underestimate one's own ability to "get to know" it over a longer period than I've tested it for. But this is the Mobi Fold's one major compromise, which seems hard to swallow, especially when a small physical scroll wheel could easily have been fitted.

That said, to be perfectly honest, this is a rock-solid piece of kit. I've long been a fan of Logitech's user-friendly design ethos, and that continues here. But most of all, I'm just glad that compact mice like the Arc Mouse has inspired designs like this.