HP married Qi wireless charging with a gaming mouse – and it's damn cool

What you need to know

  • Omen Photon and Omen Outpost both sport Qi wireless charging
  • You can dock the Photon mouse or your phone on the Outpost's charging area to top the battery off at any time.
  • The Photon's low-latency sensor promises a 0.2 ms response time.
  • Launching in July starting at $130 for the Photon and $100 for the Outpost.

Cables can be a real drag, especially when you're trying to manage a pile of them with a gaming setup. Even if you try to go wireless with your mouse, for example, you still have to keep a cable handy to charge it back up. But HP is looking to change all of that with its latest mouse and mouse mat combo, called the Omen Photon and Omen Outpost, respectively.

The big feature here is that the pair sport Qi wireless charging. While the Photon wireless mouse already has a pretty lengthy estimated battery life of 50 hours, all you need to do when you nee a charge is set it on the dedicated Qi platform on the Outpost mat. Assuming you don't game for 50 hours straight, you can effectively have a wireless mouse that's always topped off if you dock it after every session.

Aside from the Qi charging capabilities, HP is trying to address any concerns gamers may have about latency with an "esports-grade optical sensor." Essentially, that boils down to a 0.2 ms click response time from the mechanical switches in each mouse button. There are a total of 11 customizable buttons on the mouse as well, along with customizable RGB lighting and swappable magnetic finger rests.

The Outpost mousepad, meanwhile, can be illuminated around its edges RGB LED lighting controlled through the Omen Command Center. And since HP has settled on the Qi wireless standard, you can set supported devices like your phone on the docking area to give them a charge while you're gaming.

While the combo is certainly a cool one, it'll cost you a pretty penny. The Omen Photon and Omen Outpost are expected to be available starting on July 15 for $130 and $100, respectively.

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Dan Thorp-Lancaster

Dan Thorp-Lancaster is the former Editor-in-Chief of Windows Central. He began working with Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore as a news writer in 2014 and is obsessed with tech of all sorts. You can follow Dan on Twitter @DthorpL and Instagram @heyitsdtl