News - Leap Motion controller reviews start to hit the web

[HEXUS]

Many say they are disappointed and the Leap doesn't live up to its hype.

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[Spud1]

I'll pass my own judgement if/when mine actually turns up. They have completely screwed up their shipping process (Although not quite as badly as Pebble ) and don't want to talk about it...leap blame fedex, fedex claim leap have asked them to delay shipments until Thursday etc etc..nightmare! I'm waiting for the internet to go crazy when Amazon start shipping them (for less money) on Thursday when most pre-orders won't have arrived

The reviews seem to show what most of us were expecting though - excellent bit of hardware with software support in very early stages. Ultimately showing off it's potential but not giving us any killer apps as yet. Still looking forward to getting mine though, the big plus is that it's cheap enough for it to be a fun toy and for that not to be a problem. Anyone expecting it to replace their keyboard/mouse/touchscreen will be very disappointed though I am sure.

[crossy]

Ultimately showing off it's potential but not giving us any killer apps as yet. Still looking forward to getting mine though, the big plus is that it's cheap enough for it to be a fun toy and for that not to be a problem. Anyone expecting it to replace their keyboard/mouse/touchscreen will be very disappointed though I am sure.

I didn't order one, but the touchscreen replacement is what I was looking at it for. I've used MUI (or at least the XBox version) with Kinect and it's very usable. On that other hand I hate, hate, hate it with a "normal" (i.e. non-touch/gesture) setup.

If it worked properly (i.e. as per the hype) then I'd love to be able to switch to LM+keyboard combo for my apps. Not that interested in "proper" LM apps, merely want it as a non-touch touch controller for stupid Windows8 (grumble, rant, moan, whinge,...).

Until I see "real" reviews, my feeling on LeapMotion at the moment is ...

[DeludedGuy]

I've been saying it's going to be a disappointment all along, but at least its a start and a push for new tech.

[bytejunkie]

think mine has arrived, just spoke to the mrs and she says fed ex have dropped something off. will spend tonight playing with it and let you know how i get on.

[kingpotnoodle]

I've just picked up my coffee from in front of my main screen, over the keyboard area, drunk some and replaced it via the same route... how would a leap have handled that? What happens if a colleague leans in to point at my screen, or one of the numerous daddy-long-legs attracted to my monitor in the evening pass over it... Until these basic sort of accuracy questions are answered I'm rather sceptical about these things.

I tried a Logitech touchpad with Windows 8 to see if I could get used to gestures and be any quicker than with a mouse. So far failed. Mouse is still unbeaten?

[GaryRW]

oh well, at least I saw this before I got mine which has at least controlled my expectation levels.

Now if only I had seen similar reviews before Red Dwarf series 7, Alien Resurrection, Terminator 3, [insert pretty much any sequel I've looked forward to since 1996], etc...

[bytejunkie]

I tried a Logitech touchpad with Windows 8 to see if I could get used to gestures and be any quicker than with a mouse. So far failed. Mouse is still unbeaten?

ever tried the touchpad with os x? it works quite well. or the magic mouse? thats genius. i can't get used to not having scroll on a mouse surface now im back in windows.

[crossy]

ever tried the touchpad with os x? it works quite well. or the magic mouse? thats genius. i can't get used to not having scroll on a mouse surface now im back in windows.

But, to echo kingpotnoodle's posting #6 above, I'll argue that a proper scroll wheel on a mouse is superior to any touchpad scroll, whether that be on a keyboard or on the back of a mouse.

I've just picked up my coffee from in front of my main screen, over the keyboard area, drunk some and replaced it via the same route... how would a leap have handled that? What happens if a colleague leans in to point at my screen, or one of the numerous daddy-long-legs attracted to my monitor in the evening pass over it... Until these basic sort of accuracy questions are answered I'm rather sceptical about these things.

I would have assumed that an insect wouldn't have been big enough to trip the LM sensors - unless ole father Thames is growing big mosquitos these days? As to the coffee thing, well shouldn't you have them somewhere other than next to your screen? The pointy colleague - especially if it was the pointy-haired boss - could be useful though, i.e. "oh my god, you just wiped out a weeks work" could be a useful excuse.

As a non-purchaser, I'd be interested in the views of someone who did pony up for a pre-order - the few "professional" reviews I've read all seem to want to try and force the LM to do those kind of precise gestures that I'm pretty sure it'd suck badly at. No, to me at least, the LM's better off used for fast selection of menus etc rather than trying to select a block of text for example. For those "precise" operations mouse and keyboard are obviously going to be far better.

The other thing that occurred to me (after seeing a preview on cnet this morning) was that the major part of LeapMotion is (according to them at least) the software, in which case surely there's a chance that this could be improved to be more usable? Especially since - I assume - Leap will have a nice chunk o' change that Asus and HP forked over to license the tech for their PC's.

[bytejunkie]

But, to echo kingpotnoodle's posting #6 above, I'll argue that a proper scroll wheel on a mouse is superior to any touchpad scroll, whether that be on a keyboard or on the back of a mouse.

argue all you want, i vastly prefer the magic mouse to my windows mouse.

leap motion is a curious device. worked first time on install, plays cut the rope well, but the thing i never thought about is tiredness of the arm. its definitely not a constant use device. had it on a win7 and os x box now, lovely little toy, but think it might be a toy for now.

about to try it with touchless that enables it in mac as apposed to in custom built apps.

[crossy]

argue all you want, i vastly prefer the magic mouse to my windows mouse.

I've got the Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX and that's got something Logitech call "Hyperfast Scrolling" - see here for details. The ability to click the scroll wheel to "free" mode and then page through a document with the flick of a finger is incredibly powerful and intuitive - and not something that I've found any touch-based system can match.

[Spud1]

So, my leap just arrived

I've so far only had a quick play with Coral Paint + Cut the rope, but I am mightily impressed.

I don't see it as a mouse or touchscreen replacement - but more of a fun gadget that I can use with specific apps to really enhance the experience..and for that, its excellent. It's so incredibly precise..Kinect just doesn't compare. It can take the smallest point (or a number of them) and track each one independently, translating it into useful information. This includes depth perception - so with Coral you can draw a thick or thin line just by moving your hand closer or further away from the screen.

I'll have a proper play over lunch and may update this with more impressions, but first impression is really excellent, and I really don't get all the negativity that comes out of the reviews.

edit: Now tried touch emulation - its got a really steep learning curve but I can see it working well if you have a steady hand, but most of the issues here are that Windows 8 doesn't have great touch support (even in metro), so many of the problems are not unique to Leap. This thing definitely works best with games/applications designed to work with it.

It's pretty damn cool as a Theremin though!

[kingpotnoodle]

I've got the Logitech Anywhere Mouse MX and that's got something Logitech call "Hyperfast Scrolling" - see here for details. The ability to click the scroll wheel to "free" mode and then page through a document with the flick of a finger is incredibly powerful and intuitive - and not something that I've found any touch-based system can match.

I have to agree, perhaps a fancy touchpad is better than a basic mouse, but in any usage pattern I've been able to adjust to a fancy mouse is better than everything else I've tried - I too have a Logitech mouse and the Logitech touchpad which seems on paper to be at least as feature rich as an Apple touchpad has so far failed to be better for me, I'll keep trying it though!

Also it's kind of irrelevant to me how amazing Apple touch pads, mice or whatever are with OS-X - I can't stand OS-X, it's like rubbing my face with a cheese grater. But each to their own ;-)

Perhaps if I could mouse with one hand but make vague leap motion gestures with the other hand when it's not on the keyboard then I might find benefit - need to read more reviews and get my questions answered before I buy, I have too many white elephants on my desk already!

[crossy]

Perhaps if I could mouse with one hand but make vague leap motion gestures with the other hand when it's not on the keyboard then I might find benefit - need to read more reviews and get my questions answered before I buy, I have too many white elephants on my desk already!

That's pretty much my "usage case" idea for LeapMotion too. I do NOT want to use it for stuff that needs fine control (like cropping an image to stick in a report) or some activity that'd need long duration inputs (like on-screen keyboards).

Basically I'd want it for driving MUI (when I eventually give up and get Windows8.x) and perhaps for selecting the odd icon/button in apps - e.g. the Delete button on Outlook looks big enough to be "LM friendly". Actually given that I really like keyboard input (I'm a Linux geek - does it show?) perhaps a decent implementation of LM and keyboard shortcuts might replace 90% of my mouse usage.

Can't comment about the "benefits" of OS-X never having used it - too expensive for my wallet.