Logitech T650 Touch Pad

just a quick word, have just been into pissyworld in Kingston upon Thames and brought myself the Logitech T650 touch pad for use with win 8.
Only used it for about 20 minutes so far but very impressed, have disconnected my Logitech cordless optical trackman mouse and am just going to use the T650 for the next few days to see how I get on.
So far working well with my 3 27" monitors using either metro or desktop, all the touchpad gestures seem to work really well when in metro apps or on desktop apps.

Will update everyone in a couple of days

Regards
Aquatarkus

I ran into a similar problem, the problem with Logitech Unifying software it doesn't tell you when there is a firmware update...? On Start click on the Unifying Icon (Which is a big Orange Unifying Icon) and then go to advanced. If the Firmware button is active then update the firmware and this should resolve your issue. Again, I had the same problem and didn't realise that here was a firmware update until I looked.

I love it to bit's I have tried gaining with it and it's very hard.

Hope this helps
MJ

Just a quick update if anyone is interested.
Been using the T650 touchpad for about a week now, have not had to use the mouse at all since installation. The touch pad works very well, can use the gestures, natural scrolling tap to click etc. with no problems. I don't miss the mouse at all.
The only thing I have decided I need is a wrist rest.
Hope this information is useful to others
regards

Aquatarkus

Just got the Logitech T650 trackpad with gestures into today. NOT IMPRESSED. Yes, it works fine as a trackpad for a desktop PC and the gestures work.
Since I am not using Metro at all, most of the app gestures are useless to me, as is charms bar (Start8 instead). I figured I could use it for a laid back easy scrolling and "show next picture" without bothering to reach for the mouse or the keyboard. What I didn't figure on is how to get into and out of these screens. close and open stuff, and general navigation. Yes, it can be done but its slow and finicky.
Since a mouse is a LOT faster and MUCH BETTER at moving the cursor around (like just try to select THIS SECTION and drag it somewhere with a trackpad, just try), the T650 fails in its most basic function.
As for the gestures are concerned, there are only a few that hold any interest and there is a LOT MISSING. NO gesture to close a tab in Firefox (while firegestures with the mouse are terrific, they barely work with the T650), while basic browser navigation is SO much better done with a decent mouse with a good scroll wheel and back buttons .
Picture zoom is overrated and can be done just as well by ALT-mouse wheel. scrolling is just not very accurate with the trackpad and it is hard to stop where you want to without s l o w i n g down to a crawl while scrolling. About the only advantage is horizontal scrolling which is done better with the T650.
Trying to use the trackpad in World of Warcraft is useless. I can scroll in and out, pivot the screen, and click on stuff and that's about it. I doubt their are many gesture friendly games that are not tablet games in disguise on the PC.
I could go on, but why bother? I find the Logitech T650 trackpad with Win8 gestures to be slow and fussy to use, and the gestures only have very limited appeal or use.

I don't have the Logitech but it's still at the heart a trackpad. if you never were a fan of trackpads, no trackpad will change your mind.

the gestures are meant for the new Windows 8 motif. If you want to keep your system behaving exactly like Windows 7, it's just another trackpad.

If you ever decide to use Windows Store apps, the gestures become really useful. there's a new Metro version of Firefox. It's very rough and still a beta (bordering on alpha in my opinion). But it has the Windows 8 features (some are still not implemented like pinch to zoom and rotate) alongside all the things that make FF great.

To close a Metro app, it's just a swipe from the top edge of the trackpad to the bottom. Much faster than going to the eXit button for a desktop app with a mouse. And rivals the keyboard shortcut to close an app (but at least you don't have to take your eyes off the screen like you do with a keyboard).

Also, to switch between apps, you just do a swipe. Much more convenient than ALT+TAB'ing.

To see the time/date or the charms bar is a simply a swipe.

Yes, trackpads have always been horrible at gaming.

If you want to improve scrolling with a trackpad, a trick is to SLOW DOWN the pointer speed and also play with the scrolling lines. the bottom line is you have to configure the settings for the specific device. the pointer speed you have for the mouse is not the pointer speed you have for a trackpad. If you play around with the settings (assuming you have an open mind about trackpads), you could very well like a trackpad.

I agree that the two edge swipes are a couple of the best uses for gestures on the device.
I simply cannot get the top down swipe on the T650 to close an app. I have to move the cursor up to the top, click and hold and try to make it all the way down to the bottom of the screen. Works lots better with the mouse.
As for trackpads, you are right, not my favorite method of navigating a computer. Mind you, I have used them pretty extensively when I was with HP and used company laptops but I never tried it with a full desktop before. My son dislikes any pointing devices and can navigate pretty much anything just using keyboard shortcuts. To each his own.

I will play with this some more. Maybe it will grow on me....

with the app closing, you don't have to move the cursor anywhere. just swipe from the top edge of the trackpad all the way to the bottom edge. don't feel like you have to rush it or go slow. you want the motion to be consistent and not hurky jerky. you want it to feel natural. in other words, it's more about smoothness of the gesture rather than trying to master a particular speed (which leads to hurky-jerky motion).

oh! I forgot. I don't know if it applies to the Logitech trackpad, but for my trackpad, the top-edge-to-bottom-edge also works for desktop programs! I didn't realize this until I accidentally did it. And there's no confirmation dialog box either! So I closed down Firefox with like 8 tabs open simply with a quick swipe. Actually was kind of mad as I forgot which articles I had opened into new tabs. But a neat discovery.

me personally, I love my Microsoft Trackball Optical 1.0 the most. over any mouse. over any trackpad. over any pointer. and I love my touchscreen monitor. I'm pretty adept at a trackpad and will use it readily but when put under intense pressure to get something done as fast as possible, I always go to the trackball/mouse.

Nope, the top edge swipe down is a hard setting set by Logitech to show the Windows 8 app bar (which is what it does). To close the app, I have to do the same thing with the trackpad as with the mouse, click the hand at the top edge, hold and drag all the way to the bottom.
Funny, I just had the trackball out the other day. I occasionally use it.

I think what it comes down to is that I play a lot of PC games on the computer and the mouse/keyboard are essential to the gameplay (World Of Warcraft for instance). That means I use the mouse a LOT and so it is my instinct to grab that first.

I use touch on my Kindle paper white and it works terrific. My Kindle fire was also fine with touch when I was using it (been months since I touched it).

For me, it is the device and how I use it that determines the best way to navigate it.

did you complete the motion all the way from the top edge to the bottom edge?

on my lenovo, if i do a partial swipe from top downward or bottom upward, it brings up the context options (like right-clicking with a mouse). I have to do a complete swipe in order to close the app.

Like I said, it is set in software JUST to open the app bar. That is all it does, no matter how far down I swipe.

wow. I can't believe Logitech would leave out an obvious gesture to close an app! does the Logitech software allow you to make custom commands?

maybe you should consider selling it and getting the Lenovo. I got one for $30. there's no software to install with the Lenovo. it's all from the default Windows mouse settings in Control Panel.

here are the gestures:


here was my impressions of the Lenovo:
http://www.eightforums.com/tablet-touch/18623-lenovo-wireless-windows-8-touchpad-k5923-sale.html

For the record, the T650 does allow you to close a Metro app. Start dragging from the top, but not too fast. You should see a visual cue of a window outline as you drag downward. If you don't see the outline, you're not doing it right. Release at the bottom of the pad. I find it is even tricky with a mouse. It takes practice to get the hang of it...

yeah, it shouldn't be tricky. on the Lenovo, it's a quick swipe and very easy. never tricky at all. just as good as with my touchscreen monitor.

I've played with the Logitech a long time ago at the store and I didn't personally have problems with it (although my experience with it was limited to about 10 minutes) so I was confused by john's statements but he showed me the listed gestures which seem to suggest no app closure.

I am going to return it. If it had some way of creating my OWN mouse gestures, I would probably keep it but I don't see a way. I think it comes down to it being mostly a trackpad and I would much rather use my mouse.

Boy the Lenovo has a lot of gestures I would have liked to have seen on on the Logitech!

Ok this was driving me crazy too.
Looked all over the internet for a solution and couldn't find it.

After multiple attempts I have finally got it. (it really shouldn't be this difficult logitech)

So This is what you do to close a metro/modern application:
1)with the metro application open move the cursor to the top of the screen. The courser turns to an open hand.
2) double tab on the douchpad. making sure you don't lift your finger after the 2nd tab. This will cause the hand to get a bit closed.
3) now for the tricky part. Swipe down to the bottom of the screen to close. This is fairly easy with a mouse since you have reach the bottom of the screen with less movement. In situations like mine when you have a 30" screen running 2560X1600 I can not reach the bottom of the screen with one normal speed downward movement. Picking your finger up will reset the whole process. In this situation you will have to swipe down very fast. This will cause the cursor to accelerate and make it to the bottom quickly so there by closing the application.

I hope this helps.

yeah, but that's using the normal trackpad behavior rather than the true windows 8 gesture.

with any trackpad (even ancient ones), a double tap (with a hold on the second tap) will grab the object. this is how you moved around windows and objects without having to use multiple fingers (for example, holding the left mouse button and then using the other finger to drag something).

so in essence what the logitech is doing is just the normal grab and drag to the bottom like with any trackpad or with a mouse (where you hold down the left mouse button and then drag the app to the bottom).

the true windows 8 gesture to close an app is to do 1 swipe from the top edge to the bottom edge. this is how it works on a touchscreen. it's how it works on the Lenovo TouchPad.