Open source peripheral manufacturer Ploopy announced the launch of a new mouse product, Bean, which is a compact pointing stick mouse suitable for travel. It is inspired by the classic red TrackPoint pointing stick design on ThinkPad computers. Unlike traditional mice, Bean does not require moving the body on the desktop when using it. Users control the cursor through the red pointing stick located in the center of the four buttons to achieve precise pointing.
Ploopy is a company from Canada. It has only announced local currency pricing. The Bean has been pre-ordered on the official website, priced at 69.99 Canadian dollars, equivalent to about 51 US dollars. The product uses a pre-assembled 3D printed shell, and users can print replacement parts by themselves in the future to facilitate repair and personalization. Under the casing, Bean uses Texas Instruments' high-sensitivity magnetic sensor as the core of the pointing stick, which can identify a minimum displacement of about 3 microns. The physical travel of the pointing stick can reach 11 mm in all directions, which is significantly longer than the displacement space of the common red dot pointing stick in notebook keyboards. The four buttons of the
Bean use Omron D2LS-21 micro switches, which are also common in some Logitech mouse products. At the same time, thanks to the pre-installed Ploopy customized version of QMK firmware, users can fully customize key functions through VIA online tools, including setting complex macro commands or multi-key combinations, and triggering them with one click.
However, the Bean doesn’t offer wireless connectivity, which is one of the most obvious compromises with this device right now. Users need to use a USB-C data cable to connect the Bean to a laptop or tablet device to work properly, which also means that while getting highly customizable and open source features, you need to accept the usage restrictions brought by a wired connection.