A Bangalore, India-based hardware upstart is rethinking what the mouse on your desk can do – by splitting it in two.
On the surface, the Phase from Pixelpaw Labs looks like a regular mouse, albeit with an ample bottom and sans a scroll wheel. Those are intentional design decisions that allow the mouse to come apart into two halves, and reveal themselves to be a game controller split down the middle.
When separated, the halves are a lot like the handheld controllers that come with VR headsets, complete with joysticks, buttons, a D-pad, and triggers. It’s an incredibly clever bit of industrial design that embraces the challenge of hiding interface elements in a familiar package.
Pixelpaw Labs
The mouse itself is pretty remarkable too. The exterior doesn’t allow for a central wheel for scrolling through documents and web pages. Instead, you’ve got a capacitive touch strip on the left button that you can flick your finger on for the same function.
Pixelpaw Labs
The Phase features a total of 18 buttons, including a ‘Layer’ button that turns any button press into a secondary command – doubling the number of functions you can control with this device.
Introducing Phase | Official First Look
A full charge over USB-C gets you 72 hours of battery life. It can connect with up to three devices over Bluetooth, and you can also use a dongle with your PC for lower latency in competitive games. A 16K DPI optical sensor with a 1,000-Hz polling rate promises precise input, and the companion app allows for a great deal of customization over button actions.
Pixelpaw Labs
Pixelpaw is also working on the Phasegrip, a connector accessory to turn your phone into a handheld console. This attachment clips onto the two controller halves, and extends to hold your phone in between them, like the telescopic controllers from Razer, Gamesir, and Backbone.
As someone who’s always trying to pack light, I love the idea of this hybrid device that negates the need to carry a dedicated gamepad if I want to play PC or mobile titles while I’m on the road.
Pixelpaw Labs
Of course, the proof will be in the pudding, and I’ll be keen to try this out first to see if the design, build quality, and overall feel can come close to what I’m used to with my daily driver mouse and gamepad (a Logitech MX Master 3S and a PowerA Battle Dragon respectively, in case you’re interested).
The Phase’s design is still in the process of being patented, and there’s plenty of work to be done before this becomes available. That includes validating the hardware design, preparing injection molds for the plastic components, certification and regulatory testing, quality control for a pilot batch, and finally, mass production.
So yeah, you’re in for a wait of about 9-10 months from now. Pixelpaw plans to crowdfund the Phase on Kickstarter later on with a retail price of US$159 and a delivery window around December 2026 – January 2027.
However, you can register your interest right away with a $20 pre-order, which will be credited when the Kickstarter campaign goes live and will also net you a 15% discount, so you effectively pay $115. It’ll initially ship to customers in the US, Canada, UK, Germany, France, Netherlands, Australia, Japan, and Singapore, before expanding to other countries based on demand.
Source: Pixelpaw Labs