Hands on with Microsoft's Designer Bluetooth keyboard and mouse

A few weeks back, Microsoft announced the Designer Bluetooth Desktop keyboard and mouse. The peripherals, which are on sale now for $99.95 (combined), are designed for the modern desktop and are relatively minimalist.

Microsoft sent us the devices to play around with and you can get a closer look at the products in the gallery below.

First impressions are that they are, well, a keyboard and mouse. The keyboard has a low profile design with soft plastic keys. The travel distance is about what you would expect from a keyboard but does feel a bit longer than what I am used too; this could be because I have been using a laptop extensively the past two weeks. It is worth pointing out the keys are a bit slippery and don't offer much traction.

The oversized escape and return keys are quite nice and the lack of spacing between the numeric keypad and the keyboard means the width of peripheral is a bit smaller than traditional designs.

The mouse has a very low profile, almost too low for my liking, but does match well with the keyboard. The lack of a proper arch makes the ergonomics of the mouse a bit uncomfortable to use but the scroll wheel does feel precise and confident.

One thing that I do like about both the mouse and keyboard is that the battery doors are held in place with magnets. This makes it easy to remove the doors without using your fingernail and the covers easily slide back into place with confidence.

Both of the peripherals use 2xAAA batteries (4 batteries ship in the box) and we will have more about these products in our upcoming review.