Point, swipe and scroll easily added to Windows 7 and Windows 8 Consumer Preview
Logitech Wireless Touchpad (image Logitech)
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The Logitech Wireless Touchpad is one of the best and easiest ways to add multi-touch computing to Windows 8 (Win8CP) and Windows 7.
Update June 22, 2012
I’ve used the Logitech Wireless Touchpad for 3 months without a single glitch.
A week ago I stopped using Windows 7 and have used the Touchpad with the Acer T231H multi-touch monitor on a Dell XPS 630i.
As far as I can see, everything works as it should. The touchpad has become easier to use than a mouse at this point.
Logitech Wireless Touchpad
At half the price of Apple’s Magic TrackPad, the Logitech is a no-brainer.
Even better, it has one or two-finger swipe which has eluded me on the Apple TrackPad so far.
Plug in the USB adapter and go. Nothing could be simpler than unboxing the Logitech Touchpad, placing it right or left of the keyboard and plugging in the USB 2.4 HZ stub-adapter. After that, the Touchpad just works.
It takes a few minutes to get the feel of the Touchpad so you don’t overshoot the target but before long you can control the screen like a pro.
Logitech Wireless Touchpad with the touch effective area inside the round corners (illustration Logitech)
Win8CP is still a beta release so not all applications support full multi-touch. Using the Apple TrackPad, I assumed swipe hadn’t been implemented by Microsoft. Not so, the Logitech Touchpad swipes almost all screens.
Within a half an hour, I disconnected the mouse to give the Logitech Touchpad full control of mouse/touch. It works like a charm, including the login sequence which includes swiping the background image up.
The surface is 5″ by 3.5″ and the effective touch area is about 3.75″ and 2.75″. It feels more than adequate. In any event, we get used to any surface in a short time. The Logitech Touchpad is also small enough not to clutter the workspace.
Gestures supported
One and two-finger gestures control the cursor. Two fingers easily move through a document or web page.
The left and right-click buttons are comfortable under the palm of your hand. You can also tap to select.
A three-finger horizontal swipe moves you back and forth on Metro app pages. A three-finger vertical swipe moves page-up or page down.
Four-finger swipe switches between applications.
After only a day, it feels comfortable to use the Logitech Wireless Touchpad. On some screens there was a slight hesitation to respond but I couldn’t tell if that was the Touchpad or the Win8CP.
I will revisit the subject after more extended use. (See the update above)
In January 2013, I reviewed the newer Logitech T650 and prefer this model it the T650.
Thanks Logitech for supplying the equipment for this First Look.
Volker Hetzer
Does it support zoom and pinch yet?
it looks like shit
it looks like shit compared to apple’s product
Stephen Pate
The Apple touchpad is cool but very annoying to use. Put it in a museum.
zombiefly
you should seriously change/remove this misleading misinformation review. This touchpad does not support windows 8 gestures and never will. the hardware is not capable and support is non-existent. This blog post is being quoted on amazon as evidence that this device is windows8 compatible, IT ISNT.
Stephen Pate
Not quite sure what your problem is. I use the Logitech touchpad everyday with Windows 8 and don’t have a mouse. A previous comment says it does not support pinch and zoom. That’s correct. When I want to pinch and zoom it’s easy to touch the screen. I find that Windows 8 allows me to use a variety of ways to manipulate the screen.
zombiefly
as i said, this post is referenced on amazon as proof that the device supports native windows 8 gestures. it only supports logitech’s own gestures via setpoint and for some bizarre reason they cant be customized as other setpoint driven devices can. You are using the setpoint gestures and it isnt made clear that these are not windows 8 native gestures. this is confusing people. I’m not saying it doesn’t work, it’s just not working in the way people think. (currently synaptics are supporting windows 8 gestures in their newly revised touchpads, although i dont think there is a stand alone companion model planned, they will be built into laptops etc)
Stephen Pate
Some one wrote a story yesterday called about the new Synaptics touchpad and called it “hands on” except all he did was look at a video of the prototype. Impressive. You are correct – you can’t buy one yet. Right now the Apple and Logitech products work. Are they perfect? Nope. There are only a few multi-touch monitors as well, some of which like the Acer T231H work, but again not perfectly. We go with what works and await perfection.
zombiefly
is there any way you can contact logitech (through your review contact) and ask them why a) there are no updates b) will there be any updates for this device? I have posted on their support forums but they never answer. it’s really frustrating. I’ve just installed the win8 RTM from my msdn account so i’m going to dust this thing off and try again. I do hope someone comes out with a stand alone multi-touch controller for windows 8… this could bridge the usability gap for desktops.
Stephen Pate
I passed along your concerns to Logitech via the press office. They said the message would be sent to the product group. Cheers.
Trackpad Magic
zombiefly is absolutely right.
The Apple Magic Trackpad, Apple Magic Mouse and the Logitech Wireless Touchpad do NOT support native Windows 7 or Windows 8 multi-touch gestures. The only replicate a mouse driver (and other standard windows API commands) using touch gestures.
In other words, Windows sees these devices as a simple mouse and NOT as a native multi-touch input device!
For the Magic Trackpad and the Magic Mouse the story is different on Linux. Here native multi-touch drivers are available (written by the Linux community and not by Apple).
zombiefly
thanks for passing on the info to logitech.
I’ve installed the logitech touchpad on win8 pro rtm. While it does work using the inbuilt gestures, it’s not in anyway similar to using a dedicated touch device which supports win8 touch. This can be seen from the seemingly random handling of the mouse emulation gestures by different MUI apps. sometimes a gesture will move the page left to right, sometimes it’ll scroll a panel. It’s pretty inconsistent but then it probably will be as the devs of these apps weren’t even attempting to support this kind of input. I guess that these apps natively support the windows 8 gestures as part of their framework, which is why this device doesn’t quite cut it. What I want to know from Logitech is… how hard is it to make the setpoint software interface with the windows 8 gestures. This pad has some kind of multitouch enabled to detect the multi-finger gestures… is this not enough? is the hardware incapable? if so is there a successor… The first manufacturer to get one of these out is going to win big as there is an obvious market void to fill here, bridge the gap between desktop user and Modern UI without the need for a cumbersome desktop multi-touch screen. For now though, the touchpad offers little more than a mouse and given the muscle memory retraining required to adjust to it, i just don’t think it’s worth the effort.
Stephen Pate
It is interesting how quiet all the manufacturers are on full Windows 8 compliance – that includes multi-touch monitors and touchpads. What are they waiting for?
I hear your frustration but the Logitech device works fine for me – use it day in day out and it is reliable and fool proof. It doesn’t seem to handle multiple windows within the screen – like a scroll bar for a window and another for the whole screen. That’s what a multi-touch monitor does better.
zombiefly
well i’ve searched high and low today to try and find a replacement device that even hints at true windows 8 gesture support. so far, the only device i can find is more of a technology than a device, and thats the synaptics touchpad which they will be using in future laptops etc. There is no mention of a stand alone version, which i find odd. If anyone knows of such a device, please respond here as i’m really interested in sourcing one. I’m in the process of migrating to win8 (i work as a .net developer) and i’d love to compliment the experience with something similar to a tablet until the surface machines are available later this year.