Okay Geek Farm
Logitech Wireless Touchpad review
Jason Tsay
With computing moving closer to an all touch future, Logitech has released their “Magic Trackpad competitor,” the Wireless Touchpad. Featuring two, three, and four finger gestures, the Touchpad is compatible with Windows 7 and costs $50. But hardware is only half of the equation and Windows 7 was never designed for multitouch so how well does the Wireless Touchpad actually work?
Special thanks to our friends at Logitech who rushed us a review unit!
Features
- Large touch surface
- Clutter-free wireless device
- Logitech Unifying receiver
- Fewer battery hassles
- 3 year warranty
Our Impressions
The Logitech Wireless Touchpad comes in a small cardboard box. Inside, you’ll find the touchpad (with 2 preinstalled AA batteries), a Unifying receiver, and some manuals.
Setup
Setup was very simple - we pulled the battery divider tab out, hit the power switch, and paired up the touchpad to our existing Unifying receiver. Those who don’t already own Logitech Unifying products are faced with an equally simple process.
Hardware and Build Quality
The Wireless Touchpad, despite being made of plastic, is pretty well built and feels very sturdy. The entire top surface is a smooth matte black plastic while the two large left and right click buttons at the bottom are glossy. A tiny indicator light is embedded between the two buttons while a white Logitech logo is printed at the top. The right and left click buttons feel pretty good to press although they don’t provide very much resistance at all. The four rubber feet on the glossy white base of the touchpad do a pretty good job of preventing slippage while you’re swiping around. Instead of making a boring flat square, Logitech took this opportunity to manufacture an erognomic and nicely designed trackpad. The top of the trackpad elegantly slopes up into a curve that is mimicked on the bottom of the device. This creates a slant, making the trackpad more comfortable to use. The design is actually remarkable similar to that of the Logitech Wireless Illuminated Keyboard K800. Battery life is estimated at 4 months by Logitech.
Size
When it comes to usability of a trackpad, size is a pretty important factor. The entire trackpad measures about 13 cm by 13 cm but the gesture area (demarcated by four L shapes in each corner) sizes 9.5 cm wide by 7 cm. For some perspective, the 13” MacBook Air and 15” MacBook Pro both have 10.5 cm by 7.5 cm trackpads. The Magic Trackpad measures 13 cm by 13 cm but has a 13 cm wide by 11 cm gesture area. In short, the Wireless Touchpad is about the same size as the Magic Trackpad but has a smaller tracking area. Nonetheless, we found the space to be adequate. All four fingers fit on the specified area with no issue whatsoever.
Multitouch
So we’ve already established that the build quality is exceptional but what about actual usage of the Touchpad? We’re happy to report that it doesn’t disappoint. Our fingers glided along the surface of the trackpad, performing two finger scrolling, three finger swiping, and even four finger task switching. It all worked relatively flawlessly for an OS that was never intended to be used with multitouch.
Software
This is where the review starts to get complicated. Logitech can build a killer piece of hardware but that would only be half of the equation. Logitech has done a pretty good job of building in these gestures and tracking via the SetPoint software but to some extent, it still feels like Mac OS X does a much better job of handling multitouch. Using the Wireless Touchpad with a PC just doesn’t compare to the fluid interaction of a Mac through a MacBook trackpad or Magic Trackpad. Microsoft can’t really do anything at this point about Windows 7 and we’re not sure how the Touchpad will perform on top of Windows 8. We’re pretty much going to have to see if Logitech will release updates to the software enabling more gestures and perhaps even better tracking. All you have to do is compare the OS X trackpad options menu with the one in Logitech’s SetPoint. The Wireless Touchpad doesn’t even support pinch to zoom, one of the most natural multitouch gestures.
Overall
We think the Logitech Wireless Touchpad is a good product. The future of computing is clearly in touch, as demonstrated by Windows 8’s touchscreen compatibility and the bundling of the Magic Mouse/Magic Trackpad with Macs. The Wireless Touchpad is Logitech’s answer to the Magic Trackpad and it definitely does a lot of things right. The hardware is well built and current multitouch gestures work well. But if Logitech were to put out updates packing in additional gestures and better OS integration, they would have a much better product on their hands. But for the time being, the Logitech Wireless Touchpad is definitely the answer for Windows desktop users trying to get some multitouch action.
Pro’s
- hardware is well built
- multitouch gestures work well
- good design
Con’s
- software needs work
Where to buy
Logitech — MSRP: $49.99
This review was done by Jason Tsay, who was provided the Wireless Touchpad by Logitech.
