You've got to hand it to Apple. While it may not be the innovator it likes to think it is, it does have a knack for re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better. Music players, small form-factor computers, tablet PCs - it's taken existing concepts and given them a major makeover.
Apple Magic Trackpad Apple's Magic …
Describing Apple, you seem to be contradicting yourself in this article when you wrote: "While it may not be the innovator it likes to think it is, it does have a knack for re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better."
The definition of innovate is "make changes in something established, esp. by introducing new methods, ideas, or products"... in other words (your own) "re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better."
In addition, just wondering how you know what Apple "likes to think it is"?
The review seems very short on information about what the product is actually like to use. Other reviews have commented on the lack of accuracy for tasks such as browsing web pages or at the very least assessed usage of the pad for a number of different types of task. Apart from the 'the first thing I did is change this setting' comment this could easily have been a hands-off preview based on press release info.
The MT was tested with a number of apps, but - I'll admit - no fast-paced games. Though I'd never want to play these kinds games using a trackpad, I couldn't test them because I have none to hand. An omission - mea culpa.
I noticed no particular inaccuracy in tracking - had I done so I would have mentioned it. Producing a big list of apps or app types and saying alongside each that the MT was fine would have made for a longer, less readable review IMHO.
I tried this at a friend's house the other day. the mouse motions are fine, but I find dragging is a right pain (literally!) with trackpads, even more so since buttons have been removed. Have any of you ever tried dragging with the new style track pad (magic, or macbook)? you have to press hard on the pad, which is already bad enough and then you have to force your finger to slide while you keep pressing hard. Yes, I know you can turn on tap to click, but that doesn't really help when dragging, because you have to wait for the tap to register before you can move your finger to drag. With the "magic", clicking with the thumb was almost okay, but clicking with a finger was actually painful. And this from someone, usually considered to be a fanboi by most independent observers.
It takes a bit of practice to use a gesture trackpad after coming from a mouse. It's like riding a bike, you're going to crash the first couple of times. Just from your description I can tell you pressing hard was part of the problem. Use it for a week and then tell us how it when. You'll see it differently.
Actually, the "contortions" you see people using on multi-touch interfaces are what prevents RSI, rather than what creates it. The main reason to get one of these is because your hands can run free rather than being held into the one position on the mouse.
Agreed that Bluetooth and batteries on a device that doesn't move is silly, but since working out the gestures I prefer to use my macbook's trackpad to my mouse even when it's attached - I could see this being a great setup if you used an external keyboard and monitor setup.
Try wireless, on a coffee table, to a mac mini under the tv.
Even if your laser mouse works on your knee or sofa arm (mine does), the touchpad looks like a better solution - it's a whole lot less geeky, "lounge friendly" and cheaper than a iphone/touch, which is likely to walk from the lounge.
I would expect that later we'll see a touchpad integrated into (bluetooth) keyboard. Hence, the same tech being used.
It does look like a pretty device and I can see the point of having a laptop-style track pad on a busy desk. Apple seem to have broken with tradition and allowed a "secondary click" function as well it seems, so plus points for that.
But £59? £14.99 or £19.99 is the sort of range I'll pay for that type of functionality in that sort of size. I've seen larger-than-A4 graphics tablets from Tevion being sold for £25. Not a multi-touch track-pad maybe, but a pretty snappy way of using a GUI with the mouse and pressure-sensitive pen.
Of course, if it came with bundled fully-functional (ie: plug it into your MIDI network) Chaos Pad-style software, it could be a bargain.
Like the poster above I have a Mac Mini in my living room, so a wireless keyboard and mouse is desirable. I have found that the batteries in the Magic mouse last at least 3 months, the keyboard longer. I wonder if you have a PS3/Wii or other bluetooth device around causing interference?
I've been using one of these at work as my primary input device for just over a month now. Battery charge is at 65% according to the trackpad pref pane.
So, it seems reasonable to assume that you'll get a couple of months use out of a pair of AA NiMH rechargeables.
Ordinary mice are just the wrong shape for me and I get RSI, so I prefer a trackball which doesn't bump into mugs, books etc, and stays handy next to my keyboard. I'm definitely going to try the trackpad.
I can't help feeling they've missed a trick. Apple sell two versions of their keyboards, wireless and wired. It would make sense to do the same with the trackpad. For desktop users a wire into the PC would have been no hardship, and it could have been fitted with some extra USB ports and doubled up as a USB hub. For sofa users sell the wireless version.
I find a Trackpad so much more ergonomic than a mouse, particularly for scrolling/coasting.
I'm still waiting for a manufacturer to produce a keyboard with a Trackpad in place of the numeric keypad (which I never use). I can't believe nobody has done it yet!
I suffered from RSI (Repetetive strain injury, aka Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) resulting from using CAD software in my work as an architect. After I learned to control the symptoms, I always used a mouse pad with a wrist rest on my work PC. When I said I will "never go back" to using a mouse, my feeling in avoiding the pain of RSI may be part of that decision.
Of course, I have the trackpad working on my Mac at home. I do not yet know whether I can get it to work on my Windows PC, but I will definitely try it. Apple's Magic Mouse works over BT on XP, but not too well. Good news is AutoCAD will soon be released for the Mac!
The supposedly high-capacity cells in my MX Revolution mouse have never lasted 2 weeks, never mind a month. This was also the case when it was brand new... my Magic Mouse at work hasn't needed its cells charged for almost a month now. Apples and Logitechs^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H oranges perhaps, but I certainly haven't found modern Bluetooth devices any less efficient on power drain.
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You've got to hand it to Apple. While it may not be the innovator it likes to think it is, it does have a knack for re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better. Music players, small form-factor computers, tablet PCs - it's taken existing concepts and given them a major makeover. Apple Magic Trackpad Apple's Magic …
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built in
wonder how long until "La-zed-boy" build these into their chairs. to me it would be better than the beer fridge :)
I could pretend to be Picard then, and tap on the end of the arm rest. Make it so!
Or maybe a conn chair would be cool, with an iPad instead of the control surface :)
Not established that battery life actually is poorer.
Why shouldn't it work, in fact, quite well?
(Tablet computer user, however, so not much interested)
Contradiction
Describing Apple, you seem to be contradicting yourself in this article when you wrote: "While it may not be the innovator it likes to think it is, it does have a knack for re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better."
The definition of innovate is "make changes in something established, esp. by introducing new methods, ideas, or products"... in other words (your own) "re-inventing old ideas and coming up with something better."
In addition, just wondering how you know what Apple "likes to think it is"?
Are you using psychic abilities? ;-)
Comments on actual use?
The review seems very short on information about what the product is actually like to use. Other reviews have commented on the lack of accuracy for tasks such as browsing web pages or at the very least assessed usage of the pad for a number of different types of task. Apart from the 'the first thing I did is change this setting' comment this could easily have been a hands-off preview based on press release info.
Re: Comments on actual use?
The MT was tested with a number of apps, but - I'll admit - no fast-paced games. Though I'd never want to play these kinds games using a trackpad, I couldn't test them because I have none to hand. An omission - mea culpa.
I noticed no particular inaccuracy in tracking - had I done so I would have mentioned it. Producing a big list of apps or app types and saying alongside each that the MT was fine would have made for a longer, less readable review IMHO.
clicking is a pain
I tried this at a friend's house the other day. the mouse motions are fine, but I find dragging is a right pain (literally!) with trackpads, even more so since buttons have been removed. Have any of you ever tried dragging with the new style track pad (magic, or macbook)? you have to press hard on the pad, which is already bad enough and then you have to force your finger to slide while you keep pressing hard. Yes, I know you can turn on tap to click, but that doesn't really help when dragging, because you have to wait for the tap to register before you can move your finger to drag. With the "magic", clicking with the thumb was almost okay, but clicking with a finger was actually painful. And this from someone, usually considered to be a fanboi by most independent observers.
pressing hard was part of the problem
It takes a bit of practice to use a gesture trackpad after coming from a mouse. It's like riding a bike, you're going to crash the first couple of times. Just from your description I can tell you pressing hard was part of the problem. Use it for a week and then tell us how it when. You'll see it differently.
RSI
Actually, the "contortions" you see people using on multi-touch interfaces are what prevents RSI, rather than what creates it. The main reason to get one of these is because your hands can run free rather than being held into the one position on the mouse.
Agreed that Bluetooth and batteries on a device that doesn't move is silly, but since working out the gestures I prefer to use my macbook's trackpad to my mouse even when it's attached - I could see this being a great setup if you used an external keyboard and monitor setup.
Tragic Macpad
Ars Technica summed this device up perfectly, its not a Magic Trackpad, but instead a Tragic Macpad...
wireless, on a desk?
Try wireless, on a coffee table, to a mac mini under the tv.
Even if your laser mouse works on your knee or sofa arm (mine does), the touchpad looks like a better solution - it's a whole lot less geeky, "lounge friendly" and cheaper than a iphone/touch, which is likely to walk from the lounge.
I would expect that later we'll see a touchpad integrated into (bluetooth) keyboard. Hence, the same tech being used.
For across the room
I'd be considering a Logitech MX air (mouse meets Wii remote). If they'd combine it with their harmony remote control it'd be even better.
Suggested price £59?
It does look like a pretty device and I can see the point of having a laptop-style track pad on a busy desk. Apple seem to have broken with tradition and allowed a "secondary click" function as well it seems, so plus points for that.
But £59? £14.99 or £19.99 is the sort of range I'll pay for that type of functionality in that sort of size. I've seen larger-than-A4 graphics tablets from Tevion being sold for £25. Not a multi-touch track-pad maybe, but a pretty snappy way of using a GUI with the mouse and pressure-sensitive pen.
Of course, if it came with bundled fully-functional (ie: plug it into your MIDI network) Chaos Pad-style software, it could be a bargain.
Keep up at the back!
"Apple seem to have broken with tradition and allowed a "secondary click" function as well it seems, so plus points for that."
The tradition they broke five years ago?
Admittedly I have no idea why they would turn it off by default, but it's been there all that time.
Battery life
Like the poster above I have a Mac Mini in my living room, so a wireless keyboard and mouse is desirable. I have found that the batteries in the Magic mouse last at least 3 months, the keyboard longer. I wonder if you have a PS3/Wii or other bluetooth device around causing interference?
Battery life
I've been using one of these at work as my primary input device for just over a month now. Battery charge is at 65% according to the trackpad pref pane.
So, it seems reasonable to assume that you'll get a couple of months use out of a pair of AA NiMH rechargeables.
Missed A Trick
Ordinary mice are just the wrong shape for me and I get RSI, so I prefer a trackball which doesn't bump into mugs, books etc, and stays handy next to my keyboard. I'm definitely going to try the trackpad.
I can't help feeling they've missed a trick. Apple sell two versions of their keyboards, wireless and wired. It would make sense to do the same with the trackpad. For desktop users a wire into the PC would have been no hardship, and it could have been fitted with some extra USB ports and doubled up as a USB hub. For sofa users sell the wireless version.
Trackpad in place of numeric keypad
I find a Trackpad so much more ergonomic than a mouse, particularly for scrolling/coasting.
I'm still waiting for a manufacturer to produce a keyboard with a Trackpad in place of the numeric keypad (which I never use). I can't believe nobody has done it yet!
Already done
Putting trackpad keyboard into google found me quite a few devices along these lines.
Carpal?
I suffered from RSI (Repetetive strain injury, aka Carpal Tunnel Syndrome) resulting from using CAD software in my work as an architect. After I learned to control the symptoms, I always used a mouse pad with a wrist rest on my work PC. When I said I will "never go back" to using a mouse, my feeling in avoiding the pain of RSI may be part of that decision.
Of course, I have the trackpad working on my Mac at home. I do not yet know whether I can get it to work on my Windows PC, but I will definitely try it. Apple's Magic Mouse works over BT on XP, but not too well. Good news is AutoCAD will soon be released for the Mac!
Logitech's marvelous wireless protocols? Eh?
The supposedly high-capacity cells in my MX Revolution mouse have never lasted 2 weeks, never mind a month. This was also the case when it was brand new... my Magic Mouse at work hasn't needed its cells charged for almost a month now. Apples and Logitechs^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H oranges perhaps, but I certainly haven't found modern Bluetooth devices any less efficient on power drain.
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