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Can you use a wireless mouse?

S

steffi

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jun 7, 2003
873
14
If you're going to be docking the iPad it doesn't make sense to continue to use touch so is it possible to use a wireless mouse?

If you think about you should be able to use magic mouse with the ipad.

Any guestures that ipad supports could just as easily be supported on the magic mouse.

ipad, wireless keyboard, magic mouse
 
Android does. Fortunately for the OP as popular as the iPad is someone will figure out how to port Android to it. Then you can use a Bluetooth mouse. :D
 
Touching the screen while the iPad is vertical in the dock works very well and I still even manage to type comfortably.

4DThinker said:
Android does. Fortunately for the OP as popular as the iPad is someone will figure out how to port Android to it. Then you can use a Bluetooth mouse. :D
Click to expand...

That would be a huge slap in the face to any Android tablets that might be available. Funny though.
 
There's no on-screen cursor, so what would a mouse DO with an iPad?

I suppose it would be neat to link an Apple mouse and use its multi-touch for swipe gestures and scrolling, but that's about all it could do.
 
Small White Car said:
There's no on-screen cursor, so what would a mouse DO with an iPad?
Click to expand...
There is no on-screen cursor on android tablets either, until you connect a mouse. It then lets you use the device like any other keyboard+mouse netbook. Apple coulda done that, but then Google would have yelled "Copycat!"
 
A mouse on an iPad? Come on, It's like buying a plane but driving it on a highway. Doesn't make sense!
 
BaronStein said:
A mouse on an iPad? Come on, It's like buying a plane but driving it on a highway. Doesn't make sense!
Click to expand...

When you place iPad in a dock and attach a keyboard it becomes a desktop. Desktop without a mouse! Does that make sense?
 
You can use a wireless mouse. You just have to duct tape a capacitive stylus to it and touch the screen with the stylus.

Someone with both of these, will you please demonstrate? I need a good laugh today.
 
BaronStein said:
A mouse on an iPad? Come on, It's like buying a plane but driving it on a highway. Doesn't make sense!
Click to expand...

What if the display IS the computer? You sit with the iPad on an easel and use a bt keyboard and bt mouse to "get work done", then you pick up the computer and walk away and it loses its pairing with the bt keyboard and mouse and you go browse the web or read books or whatever till you decide to sit down and use it as a "monitor+computer" again. Kind of like a next gen iMac. I wonder if there will be a gen 2 iPad that is at least 8.5x11 and perhaps .75 in thick that will have usb ports, display port and run OS X? I wouldn't be surprised one bit if Apple was already busy working to make the touch iPhone/iTouch/iPad user interface work as a "skin" for OS X so this would be possible.

If Apple insists on shackling us to a "giant ipod touch" they will get smoked when windows 7, Nokia and Android tablets become available. Sure, there will be a market for a media-only device but people only have so much money and if they have to choose between a netbook AND an iPad versus an Android or windows 7 tablet that can do it all, they will not buy an iPad. Apple is to be congratulated for being first with this. It's good to be first, but it's not good to be inflexible.

I'd hate to see Apple suffer the same fate with tablets that they suffered on the desktop 20 years ago. They almost died once because they were unwilling or unable to adjust their business model to effectively compete with Microsoft. With the iPad, Apple has brought us a stunning new product that can do a few things well. If Apple sticks to their guns and requires jailbreaking to use a mouse or browse the filesystem, stick a fork in iPad. It will be done in 18 months.

I bought an iPad and purchased Pages. I have hundreds of documents in Pages format on my iDisk, on my Mac and on file servers on my network. How do you think I felt when I found out there was no straightforward way to get those documents on and off of my iPad? Granted, this mouse issue is not as critical but it is part of the same inflexibility that almost sent Apple to the trash bin once. Let's hope they wake up quickly this time around.
 
lilo777 said:
When you place iPad in a dock and attach a keyboard it becomes a desktop. Desktop without a mouse! Does that make sense?
Click to expand...

The point is, there is already a keyboard in iPad, the display, almost like a full size keyboard on landscape. An external keyboard is something supplementary to iPad's keyboard. However, the screen is touch screen, using the advantages of multi-touch. The device itself made up from that touch screen, it is the intended way to navigate, do things.

A mouse is a pointing device, a totally different thing. iPad and all the touch screen Apple devices have nothing to do with pointing devices. Their user interface is customized for touch screen navigation.

Why to use a pointing device, while it even doesn't exist in iPad? If the intended way to convert it to a desktop, go buy a desktop!
 
Stop drinking the cool aid and giving Apple a pass on everything they do that is stupid.

Portrait only docking station = stupid.

It's not unreasonable to expect to want to use a magic mouse the say way I touch an iPad. A magic mouse (see MagicPrefs) is capable of quite a lot.

Apple supports bluetooth keyboards so why not bluetooth mice?

BaronStein said:
A mouse on an iPad? Come on, It's like buying a plane but driving it on a highway. Doesn't make sense!
Click to expand...
 
The fundamental reason why Apple would never want a mouse to operate an iPad is that it would create something similar to a netbook/network computer and that would canabalize the macbook sales. That's the only reason it's not possible.

it makes total sense to me since they already allow you to pair a wireless keyboard and the magic mouse can easily replicate touch gestures.

Tell me why it makes sense to have a wireless external keyboard and to have to touch the screen? That is idiotic.

BaronStein said:
The point is, there is already a keyboard in iPad, the display, almost like a full size keyboard on landscape. An external keyboard is something supplementary to iPad's keyboard. However, the screen is touch screen, using the advantages of multi-touch. The device itself made up from that touch screen, it is the intended way to navigate, do things.

A mouse is a pointing device, a totally different thing. iPad and all the touch screen Apple devices have nothing to do with pointing devices. Their user interface is customized for touch screen navigation.

Why to use a pointing device, while it even doesn't exist in iPad? If the intended way to convert it to a desktop, go buy a desktop!
Click to expand...
 
steffi said:
The fundamental reason why Apple would never want a mouse to operate an iPad is that it would create something similar to a netbook/network computer and that would canabalize the macbook sales. That's the only reason it's not possible.

it makes total sense to me since they already allow you to pair a wireless keyboard and the magic mouse can easily replicate touch gestures.

Tell me why it makes sense to have a wireless external keyboard and to have to touch the screen? That is idiotic.
Click to expand...

Nope, seems like you haven't read my post well, keyboard is something supplementary, could be added to increase typing speed. Does not contradict with iPad's nature.

A mouse is a pointing device. It requires a pointer, which iPad doesn't include. Therefore, theoretically it is useless in a device like the iPad. It is not about gestures or anything, the device ends the necessity to use a mouse.

Two different things. Like water and bread, drinking and eating, driving and flying. You cannot eat water. You cannot fly a car. Got it?
 
BaronStein said:
Nope, seems like you haven't read my post well, keyboard is something supplementary, could be added to increase typing speed. Does not contradict with iPad's nature.

A mouse is a pointing device. It requires a pointer, which iPad doesn't include. Therefore, theoretically it is useless in a device like the iPad. It is not about gestures or anything, the device ends the necessity to use a mouse.

Two different things. Like water and bread, drinking and eating, driving and flying. You cannot eat water. You cannot fly a car. Got it?
Click to expand...

Um, you are wrong. All ipad apps are designed with a mouse. You use a mouse to do the tapping while making apps, the sim only accepts mouse input. Your finger is exactly like the cursor of a mouse and in the sim you do have a cursor that is a half-cm circle. The magicmouse would work perfectly and allow for pinch and drags etc.
 
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