Logitech's first portable mouse goes on sale for $80

Logitech has finally announced its new ultraportable travel mouse, the Mobi Fold, after some marketing images leaked earlier to give the game away. The mouse does what the name suggests, it folds in half along a hinge that can pivot about 130 degrees, bringing the device down to a size that makes it genuinely pocketable. It costs $79.99 and comes in graphite, off-white, lilac and sand.

Anyone who’s used Microsoft’s Surface Arc Mouse will be familiar with the arch shape of the Mobi Fold but the two have different approaches to the fold. The Arc Mouse folds completely flat to fit in a bag, whereas the Mobi Fold is more like a clamshell phone in that it closes shut rather than laying flat. Logitech claims the hinge has been tested for 15 years of daily use, a specific assertion that’s worth holding the company to.

The silicone provides some grip and helps cushion a fall. When folded, the Mobi Fold is a little more than three-quarters of an inch tall and about 2.6 inches by 2.5 inches across. It’s a little heavier than Logitech’s own Pebble Mouse 2 at 79g, but it’s significantly smaller.

A full charge is said to power the Mobi Fold for up to a month, according to Logitech. If the battery’s almost dead, a one-minute quick charge gives you up to 22 extra hours of use. There’s no dedicated power button; instead, you’ll fold the mouse in half to turn it off.

The underside houses a 4K DPI optical sensor and a single button for connecting and cycling between up to three paired devices. On top, the two main mouse buttons flank a multifunction touch panel. Swiping that panel scrolls through pages and documents, and the speed of that scroll can be changed between a fast zip and a slower line-by-line movement in Logi Options Plus software. The top and bottom edges of the panel also act as two additional clicky buttons — forward and back by default when browsing, though both are remappable in the app.

One thing worth knowing: the touch panel stays active even while you're picking the mouse up to fold it, but the physical buttons cut out before you close it. The Mobi Fold is headed for a global release, though the company has not announced a specific shipping date beyond the product reveal.