Touch scrolling. Logitech Touch Mouse M600: touch simplicity

Today, touch control has firmly captured the mobile device market, whose users prefer phones and tablet computers without mechanical buttons, but with a large display. Moreover, modern touch substrates are very accurate, and many users are already so accustomed to them that they no longer imagine working with mechanical keys. Perhaps it was the mass distribution of sensory mobile devices that made manipulator manufacturers once again think about the introduction of already proven and debugged technologies into new models.

Not so long ago, we already wrote about the touch mouse Microsoft Touch Mouse. Today, another representative of this kind came to our test laboratory, the capabilities of which are not limited to mechanical buttons, but include controls with simple gestures. Model Logitech Touch Mouse M600 is the first representative of touch manipulators from Logitech.

⇡ Specifications

Unifying USB receiver

The novelty works with traditional for other wireless devices Logitech branded Unifying USB-receiver at 2.4 GHz. The receiver is interesting in that up to six different compatible Logitech devices can be connected to it at the same time. In addition, among the features of the receiver, one cannot fail to note encryption with a 128-bit key using the AES algorithm and built-in anti-jamming protection. The optical sensor of the mouse is also branded - Logitech Advanced Optical.

No less interesting is the chosen power scheme. By default, the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 uses two AA batteries. This pair, according to the manufacturer, is enough for the manipulator for about six months of work (not continuous, of course). But if you want, you can use one battery. In this case, the period of work will be exactly halved, but the mouse itself will become noticeably lighter.

⇡ Equipment

Logitech Touch Mouse M600 Package Contents

The novelty comes in a small box with a blister. Inside, in addition to the device itself, we found the following accessories:

USB receiver
two AA batteries,
case,
a short guide to getting started.

Interestingly, there is no CD included with the Logitech Touch Mouse M600. Nevertheless, for its full-fledged work, the installation of proprietary software is still required, which is proposed to be downloaded from the manufacturer's website.

⇡ Appearance and ergonomics

The developers have tried to give the novelty the most original appearance, as far as possible for such a conservative device as a computer mouse. No, in this case we are not talking about some intricate shapes, because the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 has a symmetrical body, suitable for both right-handed and left-handed people. But its curves, low landing, as well as an interesting color design sharply distinguish the manipulator from similar devices. When looking at the novelty, two associations immediately come to mind, the first of which is associated with wet pebbles on the seashore, and the second with some imaginary giant beetle from tropical forests or science fiction films.


Logitech Touch Mouse M600 front view	Logitech Touch Mouse M600 rear view

The Logitech Touch Mouse M600 differs greatly from the Microsoft Touch Mouse model not only in the geometry of the case, but also in the material from which it is made. If the first manipulator has a rough coating that is pleasant to the touch, then the plastic of the novelty from Logitech is polished to a mirror finish both on top and on the bottom. How convenient the varnish coating is when working, we will talk below. In the meantime, we note that the coating, although of high quality, is still easily soiled. The mouse quickly becomes covered with fingerprints and loses its neat appearance.

Appearance Logitech Touch Mouse M600

The body of the novelty is both visually and actually divided into two halves. The upper, dark gray, has a characteristic pattern that intensifies at the edges and is lost closer to the center. The lower half is made of light plastic, the upper layer of which seems transparent, which gives the device an additional mystery and originality. Interestingly, no buttons are visible on the external surfaces of the Logitech Touch Mouse M600. There is also no familiar mechanical scroll wheel. But the outer surface of the manipulator is turned into a sensory field.

But the developers did not refuse mechanical buttons either. Only to find them, you need to put the mouse on the table and click on those places on the case where the corresponding buttons should be. With this action, the manipulator "pecks" down with its entire body, moving relative to a fixed base. And again, it is worth paying tribute to the designers who worked on the concept of the Logitech Touch Mouse M600. It is difficult to say how important such a solution is in terms of ease of use, but it is certain that it will attract a lot of users to the new product.

Logitech Touch Mouse M600 bottom view

battery compartment

The lower part of the body of the new manipulator has two large fluoroplastic legs, a power on / off button with a nearby LED indicator and a plastic cover, under which the battery compartment and the socket of a miniature Logitech Unifyling branded USB receiver are hidden. The latter is reliably protected from accidental loss during transportation, but it is too hard to pull out of its storage. But, as already mentioned, up to six compatible mice and keyboards can be connected to this receiver.

Pouch included in delivery

The rag bag-pouch from the delivery set can perform two useful functions at once. Firstly, it perfectly protects the manipulator from external influences and dust. And secondly, it is very convenient to wipe the shiny surface of the mouse with a bag, destroying traces of work with the manipulator - fingerprints on the surface of the case.

⇡ Customization

Installing the Logitech SetPoint Utility

The technical specifications of the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 say that the novelty only works with Microsoft Windows 7. In fact, only this OS works with the proprietary Logitech Flow Scroll utility, designed to manually adjust the scrolling function. But the Logitech SetPoint utility, traditional for Logitech manipulators, designed to adjust all other parameters of the novelty, worked quite normally under Microsoft Windows XP. However, under Mac OS X and Linux, you will not be able to configure the mouse.

Configuring Pointer Options in the Logitech SetPoint Utility

Since the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 has only two buttons, they perform only basic functions. With Logitech SetPoint, the functions of the buttons can be swapped, but they do not have any other settings. What I would really like to see is the ability to customize the touch field. In particular, it would be nice if gestures could be programmed. So far, the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 user can only use the functions of normal vertical scrolling and switching to the previous or next window. The first action is carried out by dragging a finger in a vertical direction, and the second - in a horizontal direction. Interestingly, these simple gestures do not require moving your finger to the central part. Actions can be performed anywhere on the touchpad, that is, the top of the mouse body.

⇡ Testing

Due to the squat body, the mouse is quite unusual in the hand. You quickly get used to it, but at first it seems that the manipulator is constantly trying to slip out. In addition, the center of mass of the novelty is noticeably shifted back, but after a couple of hours of work it becomes clear that this is not a disadvantage, but an advantage. Due to the unusual distribution of mass and the optical sensor shifted forward, you can move the cursor around the screen without moving your hand. That is, the brush, of course, will have to be moved from side to side, but the base of the palm will lie on the table at the same point. All this takes some getting used to, but ultimately significantly increases productivity. In addition, it should be noted a very smooth sliding of the manipulator on the table or any other flat surface. There are no complaints about the positioning of the pointer either.

Logitech's Flow Scroll utility really does noticeably increase the smoothness of page scrolling, bringing this action as close as possible to the capabilities of a well-tuned mechanical wheel. Moreover, the possibilities of touch scrolling even exceed those of this very wheel. So, as quickly as possible by sliding your finger along the body of the mouse from top to bottom, you will immediately get to the end of the document. With a normal wheel, this will not work. As it turned out, the notorious lacquer coating does not interfere with the smoothness of scrolling. It may not be as pleasant to the touch as rough, but in general it is quite comfortable to work with.

What you can do with the Logitech Touch Mouse M600

In general, with the two gestures available in the arsenal of new items, things are much better than expected during the first cursory examination of the manipulator. In this matter, the developers really tried to take into account all the subtleties and nuances. But having qualitatively worked out one, the most difficult issue, they left another one to the mercy of designers. We are talking about the response of the mouse to the click. Above, we have already talked about an unusual design solution related to the fact that the entire body of the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 has been turned into one large key. Coupled with the low profile, this design was not the most convenient to use. Despite the fact that pressing the buttons of the manipulator is clear, with a characteristic click, the entire body of the mouse seems to stick for a moment in the pressed position, which makes double-clicking a task much more difficult than on a regular mouse. As a result, a simple double-click is often only successful on the second or even third attempt. It must be admitted that after some training things are already going better, but the process of getting used to it is difficult to call it pleasant.

⇡ Competitors

Despite the fact that Apple released its own version of the Magic Mouse touch manipulator back in 2009, there are still very few competitors for the new product from Logitech. Its direct competitor today can be considered the touch manipulator Microsoft Touch Mouse, which we tested earlier. This mouse has a more traditional body geometry and a pleasant matte finish on the touch surface, which is sure to please the most conservative part of users.

As for ease of use, everything is far from clear. Comparing mice from Logitech and from Microsoft, it is easy to conclude that the second is much more functional than the first, since it works not with two simple gestures for scrolling text and switching between pages open in an Internet browser, but with a number of complex multi-touch gestures, in which two or three fingers are simultaneously involved. Because of such rich functionality, usability has suffered. Not only do you need to remember all these gestures, but also quite often false positives occur, because the more complex a system is, the more difficult it is to debug.

Developers from Logitech went the other way. They left only a couple of sensory movements, but debugged working with them to perfection. However, the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 model has another problem that its competitor from Microsoft does not have - difficulties with double clicks. So, unfortunately, neither one nor the other model can be called ideal.

⇡ Conclusions

Despite the criticism above, the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 manipulator will surely appeal to many. This is a nice-looking, modern computer mouse with a well-functioning touchpad. Its advantages should also include:

case included,
debugged scrolling function,
perfectly smooth sliding on the table.

The main disadvantages are poorly debugged pressing of the mechanical button and periodic false positives of pressings. It is hardly worth writing down the small number of gestures in the arsenal as shortcomings. Rather, it is a merit, thanks to which the touch capabilities of the mouse are brought almost to perfection.

The price of a novelty bites a little. If the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 had no problems with ease of use at all, then it would not be a pity to pay this money. The manufacturer would like to wish to correct minor flaws in the future and be sure to continue to develop its interesting product. And who knows, perhaps in the foreseeable future, all manipulators will be completely touch-sensitive.

IntroductionA keyboard with a touchpad is a phenomenon, although infrequent, but still familiar to many and does not cause much emotion. But we see a mouse with a touch surface for the first time (for the PC platform, of course - for the Mac this is no longer a novelty). How convenient and functional will Microsoft Touch Mouse be in use against the background of familiar models? Let's try to figure it out. But first, let's go over the milestones in the short history of mice with touch-sensitive coatings.

The history of mice with touch controls is still quite short and has some six years. It is possible (rather even “very likely”) that separate concepts were born before, but the first such serial cursor control device went on sale in August 2005.

It was the Apple Mighty Mouse, which caused quite mixed reviews from users: when admiring the new control options, there was a lack of selectivity of the touch sensor (sometimes confusing, for example, the left and right “buttons”) and the scroll ball was quickly dirty, which was not easy to clean.

In October 2009, this model was replaced in the Apple product line by the Magic Mouse with multi-touch support, which was less criticized, and the design still delights not only Apple fans.

Apple's eternal rival, Microsoft, has lagged far behind in terms of the release of mice with a touch surface. The company's first touch mouse, the Arc Touch Mouse, wasn't released until the fall of 2010, with very limited touch control capabilities. All the Arc Touch had was a small touch strip in place of the scroll wheel with the middle button, which clearly cannot match the touch-sensitive coating that occupies 3/4 of the surface of the Apple Magic Mouse.

So it's only now, almost two years after the release of the Magic Mouse, that Microsoft has struck back in full force. The first really serious competitor to Apple's touch beauty, the Microsoft Touch Mouse, will hit the shelves this summer - we're testing this mouse right now.

Appearance and equipment

The packaging of the Touch Mouse can hardly be called typical for Microsoft manipulators. Instead of the usual blister pack with a mouse on display, the new Touch Mouse is housed in a small but rather tall cardboard box in the traditional red color for Microsoft hardware with a magnetic lid lock. Almost on every side of the container, it is emphasized in different-sized font that the Touch Mouse is designed specifically for use in systems running Windows 7, and some of the device's features are also listed.

The scope of delivery is somewhat more extensive than one might expect for a modest package. The mouse itself hides a pair of pre-installed Energizer AA alkaline batteries inside itself (although the manufacturer's website at the time of preparation of the material was talking about two AAA batteries) and a compact USB radio receiver "Nano Transceiver" in the recess on the bottom.

Traditionally, for wireless models, a battery compartment is located on the bottom, in the middle of the cover of which there is an island with a power switch and an optical sensor. The batteries are located on the sides of this ledge.

The mouse rests on two rather large supports placed across the body at opposite ends of the device: on all the surfaces we tested, from a worn rubber mat to denim, they provided easy glide without excessive effort.

In addition, the box contains a USB extension cable about one and a half meters long to place the receiver closer to the mouse and a thick paper envelope that hides a stack of traditional waste paper inside and a couple of self-adhesive Velcro to fix the end of the extension cable.

From the inscriptions on the package, you can only find out that the mouse is equipped with an optical sensor that uses BlueTrack technology, and has a touch surface with support for multiple touches. Other characteristics will have to be dug up in the documentation on the official website, where you can find out that the Touch Mouse boasts the following:

sensor resolution - 1000 dpi;
optical sensor reading speed - up to 8000 frames / s;
mouse movement speed on the surface - up to 1.83 m/s;
average battery life - 3 months;
button resource - 3 million clicks (with processing no more than 4 clicks per second).

The mouse has a symmetrical shape and is therefore equally well suited for both right-handers and left-handers. The dimensions of the Touch Mouse are not too large - about the level of typical inexpensive "office" mice, but due to the use of a pair of relatively large and heavy AA batteries, this little one weighs a lot.

The touch-sensitive part of the body cover is decorated with a cross-shaped sand-colored pattern, between the elements of which there are dots of the same color, which somewhat enlivens the utilitarian-black appearance of the mouse.

The contrast of the snow-white “belly” of the Touch Mouse with a dark top is somewhat surprising. In my opinion, a black base would have looked more harmonious, but we will assume that Microsoft designers know better.

Note that Microsoft did not take the radical path of completely abandoning conventional buttons. The standard left and right keys have a mechanical design with a rather tight, but clearly fixed pressing.

Software

There was no disk or flash drive with device drivers in the box, as you could already see from the description of the package. Windows Update could not help to the end either: despite the fact that the mouse is specially “sharpened” for Windows 7, which is emphasized by numerous inscriptions on the packaging, it “pulled” only the USB receiver drivers, after which the mouse worked, but, if possible, to put it, not at "full power". Most of the touch functionality, which is the main feature of this input device, was left out: only a couple of mechanical keys worked, and of all the touch capabilities, only vertical scrolling was available, similar to a regular mouse wheel.

However, it is worth noting that on another system running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (the first system tested was Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit), Windows Update performed its tasks completely, downloading and installing not only updated receiver drivers, but also the latest version of IntelliPoint.

After installing the latest version of the IntelliPoint software (at the time of testing - 8.1.5), the "touch" problems were left behind: the mouse began to do everything that was stated in the brochure that came with the package. The possibilities of gesture control are very wide. Commands given with one, two, or three fingers at once are supported.

With your index finger, you can scroll through the data in any direction or zoom in on the image (quick scrolling is enabled when moving quickly). The thumb, which, with the most comfortable grip of the mouse, is on the side, near the highest point of the device, is responsible for the forward/backward rewind typical of the side keys (moving up/down, respectively). In IntelliPoint, you can choose between left and right thumb configurations.

Movements with two fingers are responsible for managing windows. You can maximize a window to full screen (swipe up) or exit full screen mode (swipe down), and pin or undock the active window to half the screen, as you can with the Windows 7 Snap feature (swipe sideways).

A triple “swipe” with your fingers allows you to minimize all windows and show the desktop (moving down) or display previews of all open programs to select the one you need at the moment (moving up). The size of the preview image is scaled depending on the number of open windows, the preview window of the program, over which the cursor is located, slightly increases, and the desktop background is darkened.

Movements with two or three fingers are accompanied by a corresponding indication on the screen (the number of dots shows the number of fingers involved, and the trail following them indicates the direction of the gesture). This feature, enabled by default, can be disabled if desired.

Since the way you control this mouse is not yet among the familiar to the user, IntelliPoint has built-in video prompts for all gestures used.

General impressions

Although, if you wish, you can find fault with the not too large size of the mouse with a rather large weight, even long-term work with the Touch Mouse did not cause discomfort: the grip is quite comfortable (which cannot be said about the Apple analog), and the case material is pleasant to the touch and does not slip.

Although the package contains a USB extension cable, in practice it is unlikely to be needed. With a 10-foot (3.05 m) communication radius declared in the specifications, we observed stable operation at about twice the distance of the mouse from the signal receiver.

An accuracy of 1000 dpi is quite enough for everyday work or entertainment, but it may seem insufficient, for example, to fans of dynamic shooters. However, shooters clearly do not belong to the area of programs in which the Touch Mouse will show itself in all its glory. The reason for this is not only insufficient sensitivity (still, for most users, except for particularly fastidious players, it will be enough), but also in the imperfect operation of touch scrolling, which in such games is traditionally responsible for changing weapons.

Actually, scrolling is the least successful side of the Touch Mouse and when working in ordinary applications (say, in office programs or a browser). With a strong “stroke” of a finger, it is easy to scroll the page further than required, and weak touches are sometimes not recognized (especially often in cases where the mouse has been idle for some time before).

Overall, in terms of precision and stability, the traditional scroll wheel will give Microsoft's touch scrolling a hundred points head start, and the Logitech MicroGear dual-mode wheel will be offended in the best feelings by the mere fact of such a comparison.

In addition, it was noticed that at times of high load on a weak system (Athlon 64 3000+ with 1 GB of RAM), touch gestures sometimes worked with a delay or did not work at all. Moreover, a regular mouse connected in parallel did not have such problems: in situations where the Touch Mouse touch scrolling “went into itself”, the familiar mechanical wheel confidently scrolled the page. However, it is unlikely that buyers of a mouse for $ 80 will use it on such "calculators", and such problems were not observed on a more powerful computer.

However, despite some scrolling issues, controlling the system with the Microsoft Touch Mouse proved to be very convenient. Where previously you had to press a combination of buttons on the keyboard or make unnecessary movements with the cursor (say, to fix a window using the Snap function), now you can get by with an almost instantaneous gesture.

Conclusion

Let's see what the Microsoft Touch Mouse offers the user.
The model has the following advantages:

at first somewhat unusual, but generally very convenient in everyday work, touch control system;
good ergonomics;
"omnivorous" sensor BlueTrack;
long battery life;
extensive customization options for gestures and multiple taps (including and individually for various applications);
pleasant and austere appearance.

But it was not without drawbacks:

low scrolling accuracy;
fuzzy processing of touch commands under high load on weak machines;
compatible with Windows 7 only.

In general, as you can see, the balance of pros and cons is generally in favor of the Touch Mouse. However, it is worth noting that this mouse is still not for everyone.

For a user who often works with a large number of open programs, but is not too fond of dynamic games, Touch Mouse is almost guaranteed to bring a lot of pleasure, providing the most convenient control (even a not very successful scrolling implementation is lost against the background of general comfort) with ergonomics that do not cause significant complaints. However, enthusiastic gamers or owners of low-power systems may be disappointed in such an acquisition.

Other materials on this topic

Microsoft compact mice: Arc mouse and Mobile Mouse 3500
Logitech MX 1100 Mouse: A Revolution at a Discount
Blue-eyed mouse - Microsoft Sidewinder X8

A mouse with interesting touch technology, which is very useful when working actively with a large number of windows

Today we will talk about a rather interesting product from Microsoft - their new Touch Mouse. In general, the company has long had a reputation for producing very good keyboards and mice - it's a pity that only among a rather small audience of active users. However, Microsoft never wanted to become the leader of this market, and sees its task (at least according to statements) in bringing to the market and popularizing certain new technologies and technical solutions.

So, let's see what technology Microsoft is presenting to the audience today.

What can Touch Mouse do?

The concept of the Touch Mouse is that instead of buttons, there is a touch zone on the top of the mouse that can track the movement of several fingers.

First of all, associations with touchpads and multi-point input technology on the touchpad, i.e. multitouch, come to mind. Moreover, the multitouch technology itself has existed for a long time, but Apple became its active popularizer, with the light hand of which this technology began to be implemented everywhere, with or without reason. However, within the framework of this material, Apple is much more interesting to mention not only and not so much as a popularizer of multitouch.

The fact is that they have a very similar product in concept and functionality: the Apple Magic Mouse. This mouse entered the market back in mid-2009, and a review was dedicated to it on our website. It was developed just in the wake of the popularization of multi-point input and even received the name "multi-touch mouse." In this Apple model, all controls are removed from the body, and their functions are assigned to the touch surface of the mouse. Only the functionality of the button remained, but the entire body of the front of the mouse was pressed. However, the functionality of the touchpad in that mouse is not amazing. Scrolling back and forth, moving through galleries on the Internet, photos, etc., if you use two fingers. You can also scale the image, but for this you need to hold down the button on the keyboard. In general, there are too few interesting features. At the same time, the mouse has a global drawback, noted in our review. We will return to it later.

In terms of functionality, the Touch Mouse is much more interesting, because it can do more, and additional functions are more useful in a work application.

All additional mouse functions are available only with a special driver. If you do not set it, then it works like a regular two-button mouse, and without a scroll wheel. The driver should have been installed directly from the receiver, but for some reason this did not happen for me (the system gave an error installing the driver). Therefore, the driver had to be downloaded from the site and installed separately.

Let's see what functions the Microsoft Touch Mouse can perform. The mouse works out the movement of one to three fingers on the touch surface in four directions and perceives gestures in this way:

One finger swipe anywhere:
- Scroll in any direction.
Movement with two fingers:
- Up: Maximize the window to full screen.
- Right or Left: Expand to the right or left half of the screen (Aerosnap).
- Down: If the window is maximized, it becomes normal (not full screen). If normal, it collapses.
Three finger swipe:
- Down - minimize all windows.
- Up - Thumbnails of open windows appear above the screen (a bit like a traditional Alt+Tab switch, but done more modernly, above a darkened desktop), where you can select the desired program.

Also, if you slide your right thumb up or down along the side of the mouse (in its touch zone), it is perceived as “forward” or “backward”, depending on the direction of the finger movement. Naturally, this gesture will be most in demand when working with a browser.

Box, packaging and appearance

The mouse comes in a beautiful black and orange box, which is very similar in color to the colors of the promo site. The mouse in the package strongly resembles a car model, even the mounting method is similar.

The mouse itself looks elegant and beautiful. She has a black matte case, which looks very nice, and an unusual shape: the mouse smoothly descends to the sharp front edge. There are small gray crosses on the touch surface. The mouse is comfortable in the hand.

The mouse is symmetrical, it does not have buttons on the sides, i.e. it is equally suitable for both right-handers and left-handers. This, by the way, can become one of its great advantages: after all, all functions are fully available for those who use the mouse with their left hand. You rarely see fully symmetrical multi-button mice, usually they are made after all for right-handers.

For some reason, the bottom is made white, because of this, the mouse looks like an animal. At the bottom there are two large sliders (and well, there is less chance that they will come off), there is a sensor between them. There is also a switch here: the mouse can be simply turned off when it is not needed (or if you are going on the road). A special recess with a spring-loaded lock is also made in the bottom, where it is easy to remove the receiver when carrying the mouse.

The receiver is very small, it sticks out of the laptop case by three millimeters, no more. When working with a laptop, you can not pull it out of the port (although in fairness I note: when I put the laptop in a bag with horizontal stacking, it sometimes clung to the side of the pocket). In a computer, I think, it is generally invisible. Just in case, the manufacturer attaches an extension cable with Velcro to the receiver so that you can take it away from the case and avoid interference and uncertain operation.

Driver

As already mentioned, a driver is required for the full operation of all mouse functions.

Since the mouse was tested in a laptop, two devices were connected at the same time.

The driver itself is generally quite standard and provides standard configuration options.

First, it allows you to set the click parameters for both buttons.

Keep in mind that IntelliPoint is a universal program for all Microsoft mice. If the mouse has a large number of hardware buttons, then the wide customization options are a big plus. However, in this case, when there are only two buttons (and even then ...), they are likely to remain unclaimed.

The driver also allows you to set specific settings for individual applications.

I think they are also irrelevant for this mouse.

The most interesting tab is with the touch surface settings.

Here you can adjust the sensitivity of the mouse when moving with one finger, the navigation gesture with your thumb along the edge of the mouse (and at the same time the ability to select the use for left-handed / right-handed), enabling other mouse functions.

Impressions from work

The Touch Mouse has a good body shape and weight, the mouse feels good in the hand. It may seem narrow to people with a large palm, but for most users its size and shape are optimal. The mouse also fits well in a woman's hand.

This mouse uses Microsoft's Bluetrack technology (about its presentation on our website).

I haven't had any problems using the Touch Mouse on all the surfaces I've tried it on. Even on a wrinkled blanket, it worked well. There were no problems with cursor positioning, the mouse works well. There were no complaints about the parameters of movement speed and acceleration, I got used to the mouse almost instantly. Pressing the buttons is average in hardness, the click is not loud. You hear him, but he does not distract others.

I decided to stop the range experiments when I found out that the mouse works normally from the next room through a non-permanent wall. At the same time, the receiver was plugged into one of the ports of the laptop, without an extension cord.

In general, for use as a regular mouse, the Touch Mouse fits very well. So let's move on to advanced functionality.

Based on the list of implemented gestures, we can conclude that the mouse is primarily focused on work - I would even say office use. It is especially good to use it when working with a large number of open documents or application windows that need to be simultaneously monitored, content compared, etc. In these work scenarios, the mouse far outperforms other solutions. It is very convenient to view thumbnails of all open applications and documents and (without taking your hand off the mouse) switch to the desired window. Or minimize all windows and open the desktop. It is very easy to scatter two documents on their halves of the screen if you need to compare them. Etc.

In order to start working confidently with the mouse, you need to get used to the gestures. A whole presentation is built into the mouse software, and it is very nicely done, where all possible gestures are shown. You can also practice there. This is a very useful feature that allows you to quickly get used to performing gestures “on the machine”.

However, getting used to it turned out to be difficult for me, even though the description of gestures looks simple and clear. I had to force myself to use gestures for a long time in order to somehow remember them and start performing them “on the machine”, without being distracted from work. You usually get used to the hardware buttons faster, although I had difficulties even with additional keys. All in all, getting used to it, even with software to practice with, proved to be a difficult process. By the way, once you get used to it, it's even harder to break the habit - sitting down at another computer, scratching someone else's mouse on the back and wondering why the window didn't roll up.

Well, from the advantages smoothly move on to the disadvantages.

Main disadvantages

In general, the Touch Mouse is based on the idea of the Apple Magic Mouse, which Microsoft creatively redesigned and adapted to the needs of its operating system. However, the history of the development of electronics teaches us that copying is not worth it, and in the person of Touch Mouse we are dealing with a very good example of the validity of this statement. The fact is that the main problem of the Apple mouse is directly copied into the Touch Mouse.

I will quote from an article by Sergei Uvarov, to which I already gave a link:

The entire surface of the mouse is one big button, the right side of which is responsible for the right click, and the left side for the left one (if you noted in the settings that you need an imitation of the right button). However, since the position of your finger (right or left) is determined by the sensor located under the transparent button plate, only one finger should touch the mouse during a click. That is, if you have your index finger on the left side of the surface, and your middle finger on the right side, and you try to press with the middle finger, nothing will work. The Magic Mouse will interpret this as a left click.
Mighty Mouse had the same problem, and I personally expected Magic Mouse to solve it. All the same, four years have passed ... But alas. And this drawback (together with average ergonomics) makes it almost impossible to use the Magic Mouse in computer games. Where the outcome of the entire mission can depend on a click made in time, Magic Mouse will constantly strive to let you down.

Here is how I described the same problem with the Touch Mouse when I took notes for the article.

If the fingers are on the buttons, instead of a right click, a left click is obtained. That is, if you put your index finger on the left button, and the ring finger on the right button (the middle one lies in the middle, where the groove is) and press the right (!) button, then the mouse will work it out as a left click. If you raise your index finger from the surface, then everything is fine, it is the right button that will work.

This happens for the same reason: the Touch Mouse also has an upper part of the body that is one large button across the entire width of the mouse (doesn't it remind you of anything?), And it distinguishes between right and left clicks by which finger lies on the touch surface. The problem is that the mouse does not distinguish between "lies" and "presses". So if the fingers are on both keys, then left pressing is selected as a priority.

Therefore, each time using the right click, you need to raise your finger from the left button. With constant active work with the mouse, I appreciated how much this problem interferes with life. Well, along the way, I found out how often I use the right button, and how annoying it is when it does not work. In principle, you can get used to it, but it is very inconvenient, and returning to a regular mouse with hardware buttons, you feel well how much easier it has become to work. You still miss the convenient window layout functions for a while, but a properly working right button is more expensive.

By the way, for some reason, the mouse lacks support for the most common gesture of the multitouch system - zooming. Perhaps this gesture was abandoned due to the large number of false positives, I don’t know. But the fact remains.

The surface of the mouse is rough and when you move your fingers creates a noticeable resistance. If you do not squeeze the mouse (for example, it just lies freely on the table), then when you perform a gesture, it strives to follow your finger.

Finally, due to some touchpad oddities, the mouse has problems implementing scrolling. Sometimes the mouse doesn't react to a slight movement at all, sometimes it reacts too abruptly. It is almost impossible to do what is called “move by one click” in a conventional mouse. Sometimes scrolling gets stuck and continues for some time after you take your finger off the surface. For some applications, the problem was solved by slightly reducing the sensitivity in the settings, but not for all. And I was left with the clear impression that the mouse does not always respond in the same way to the same movements.

General impression of use and conclusions

The mouse is focused on a specific application: active work with the Internet and with documents in all cases when you need to switch between several windows or arrange them on the screen. For other applications - for example, for games - it is categorically not suitable. In principle, it is more interesting to use it in systems with a large monitor, where the problem of arranging windows plays a significant role. If the screen is small, and the windows are regularly expanded to full screen, then the mouse will not demonstrate all its advantages. Although it is still more convenient to open and hide windows, as well as switch between them. Then this functionality is greatly lacking with other mice.

If we discard the habituation problems (and no less problems when switching back to the use of “normal mice”) arising from the peculiarities of the technology, then the mouse has two main drawbacks that personally greatly interfered with my work.

Firstly, this is unstable scrolling, when the page moves in jerks, does not scroll, or scrolls too much. Secondly, the need to raise the left finger if you need to press the right button. I can say that after working with the mouse for two weeks in office mode and behind a large monitor, you get used to it and begin to appreciate the additional features. But if you start using another mouse, then the skills are forgotten very quickly. At least for now.

If we consider this mouse as a finished product sold in stores, then it is very well made. It has a comfortable shape, good body material, it works on any surface, has no problems with the range.

Gesture recognition is a very interesting and unusual technology. However, it has a limited scope, as well as a couple of significant flaws that make it inconvenient for everyday use. Nevertheless, I think that even in the current implementation there are many professionals for whom the convenience of working with windows on the desktop will outweigh these shortcomings. We hope that this technology will remain on the market and will be actively developed, getting rid of the shortcomings and getting new and interesting functionality.

The success of Apple's Magic Mouse touch mouse prompted other manufacturers to produce similar solutions, in particular, the main opponent in the person of Microsoft, which currently has several such models - Touch Mouse and the recently announced Wedge Touch Mouse. Also, touch manipulators can be seen in the model ranges of Verbatim, Rapoo and SPEEDLINK - Wireless Optical Touch, T6 Multi-touch and CUE Wireless Multitouch Mouse, respectively.

The Swiss company Logitech did not bypass this trend, presenting this spring a touch mouse, which we will get acquainted with in this review.

Specifications

Manufacturer	Logitech
	Touch Mouse M600
Sensor type	Optical (Logitech Advanced Optical)
Resolution, dpi	About 1000
Interface
Connection	Wireless
Receiver type	Logitech Unifying USB receiver (2.4GHz Logitech Advanced)
Range, m
Number of buttons	1 + Touch surface
Number of available actions / programmable actions
Gesture support	Missing
sole type
	2 AA batteries
Additional features
	Black gray
Dimensions, mm	111.3 x 64.3 x 29.2

Software	Logitech Unifying Software Logitech Flow Scroll (Scroll App)
Supported OS	Windows XP/Vista/7
Official guarantee	36 months
Products webpage

Delivery and equipment

The manipulator comes in a small black cardboard box, on the front side of which, in addition to several logos, there is a large cutout that allows you to get acquainted with the appearance of the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 and the tiny Logitech Unifying USB receiver. The reverse side provides brief descriptions of the main features, as well as images of possible actions that the touch surface is capable of processing. On the sides is information about what can be found in the box.

So, in the package, in addition to the mouse itself, you can find:

USB receiver;

suede case (pouch);

2 AA batteries;

a brochure describing the main features;

brochure on setting up the manipulator;

brochure with warranty information.

One of the first, and most importantly, important features is the use of the Logitech Unifying USB receiver, which not only has a miniature size and operates at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, but also provides the ability to simultaneously connect up to six compatible devices. It should be noted that the receiver encrypts the transmitted signal with a 128-bit key using the AES algorithm and has built-in anti-jamming protection.

The presence of a suede cover, made in the form of a bag, allows you not to worry about the appearance of scratches and scuffs on the mouse body during various trips, as well as remove fingerprints accumulated during operation.

Appearance and arrangement of elements

The touch mouse Logitech Touch Mouse M600, due to the lack of familiar controls, looks very unusual and very original, while thanks to smooth contours and the almost complete absence of sharp edges, the manipulator pretty much resembles some kind of decor element or a stone well-turned with water, rather than a device for positioning the cursor . This impression is also facilitated by the abundance of gloss with an unusual texture on the “back”.

The body of the mouse turned out to be too squat, its height is only 29.2 mm against the usual 40 ± 3 mm, so for many, especially those with large hands, it may seem uncomfortable. However, you can quickly get used to this feature. In addition, due to the symmetrical shape of the body, the manipulator is suitable for both right-handed and left-handed people.

The top part, painted black, is smooth and carries only a large touch panel, which occupies about half of the entire area. The underside is also black, but has a matte, rough surface. It contains an optical sensor, significantly shifted to the front, with a power on / off button and an LED indicator, as well as two rather large Teflon legs and a plastic cover.

Removing the cover reveals a compartment for installing two AA batteries and a USB receiver socket.

On the side faces, as well as the front and back, you can see only a large translucent edging, made of gray glossy plastic. There are no additional elements in the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 anymore.

Mouse Features

Undoubtedly, the main feature of the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 is the presence of a touch surface that replaces two standard and two additional buttons, as well as a scroll wheel.

However, although there is only one mechanical button, it is present and when it is triggered, it is not the usual area in the front of the case that is pressed, but the entire upper part of the mouse, which in turn affects convenience, but more on that below.

In total, the manipulator offers the user only six actions, and all of them are the most simple: left and right clicks, vertical scrolling, and the Back and Forward functions. Unfortunately, it does not implement actions such as the middle button and any gestures that, for sure, could be useful.

However, it is interesting that at the hardware level, the touchpad used has the ability to handle multi-touch actions, so it is likely that Logitech will release new drivers with support for this function and a set of several gestures in the near future.

It is also worth noting that for normal operation of the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 it is enough to install only one AA battery, but then it will live only three months, instead of the declared six when installing two batteries.

Software: Logitech SetPoint and Logitech Flow Scroll

To configure the touch mouse settings, software is provided that must be downloaded from the manufacturer's website.

The program, which has a fairly simple design, is, as usual, divided into two tabs - "My Mouse" and "Tools". Moreover, each of them has several points.

In the “Button settings” item, it is possible to select the left or right button, although it is impossible to assign any other function to them. Also from here you can invert the functions of the buttons, which will be useful for left-handers, and restore the default settings.

The next item is "Pointer and scroll settings", in which you can change the speed of the pointer, i.e. dpi value (although there are no specific numerical values here), select the desired pointer acceleration and enable the Smart Move function, which automatically places the cursor on the default button when a dialog box appears. You can also turn on the pointer trail, select the scroll step, and turn on smooth scrolling.

The Mouse Batteries item displays information about the charge level of the used batteries or accumulators.

The last item in this tab is for launching the Unifying program ( Logitech Unifying Software), which connects additional compatible devices. This application must be downloaded and installed separately.

The first item in the "Tools" tab is "Informational", in which you can find out the software and driver versions of the mouse, go to the support site, install the PS / 2 driver and save the system report.

In the "SetPoint Options" item, you can configure the display of the SetPoint icon in the notification area (tray) and pop-up status indicators, as well as check for software updates and return all settings to the default value.

The last item, as such in the My Mouse tab, is for launching the Unifying program.

Utility Logitech Flow Scroll, or rather an add-on or extension, helps to achieve smoother scrolling in various browsers, namely Internet Explorer 8, Internet Explorer 9, Firefox 6 and later, and Chrome 13 and later. It should be noted that Flow Scroll only works under Windows 7.

Impressions from work

Working with the touch mouse Logitech Touch Mouse M600 is quite convenient, however, only after getting used to a very low body and non-standard location of a single button - under the entire top of the manipulator. The result of this arrangement turned out to be an uninformative, one might say sluggish, process of pressing the button, while, according to the sensations, it “sticks” a little in the pressed position (after all, the button has to lift the mass of almost the entire mouse), which makes it difficult to perform a quick double pressing. Also, the consequence of using only one button is the impossibility of simultaneously performing the actions of the left and right mouse buttons, which is often found in games when you first need to aim and then shoot. However, the manipulator is not designed for games.

Otherwise, there are no comments. The touchpad perfectly defines all six available actions, and they are very convenient and perfectly designed. Moreover, after the M600, when working with a regular mouse, at first you just want to go to the previous or next page with a simple swipe to the side. In addition, it is worth noting that Teflon legs contribute to easy sliding on surfaces.

Despite the high cost of a touch mouse, it uses an optical sensor, not a laser one. Logitech Advanced Optical is installed in this model, which is more than enough for the purposes for which the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 is designed. So, the sensor does an excellent job of positioning on all commonly used surfaces, in particular, ordinary plastic mats, hybrid gaming surfaces and various kinds of tabletops, including lacquered ones. Mirror and glass surfaces, as befits optical technology, remain inaccessible.

Results

In general, the touch mouse is a very interesting device that will definitely find its buyer, but it will not find much popularity. First of all, due to the rather high cost, and secondly, due to the not very comfortable case, which is too squat. However, if you need a stylish and unusual mouse that will spend most of its time as an addition to a laptop, and not as the main device for controlling a desktop PC, then the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 can be an excellent choice.

Of course, the manipulator, due to the lack of support for multi-touch gestures at the software level, offers only six fairly simple, and most importantly, quickly remembered actions, unlike the main competitors in the face of models from Apple and Microsoft, but at the same time it offers up to 6 months of uninterrupted work. After at least a week of using the Logitech Touch Mouse M600 as my main battery, the battery level remained at the same level.

Logitech for providing a touch mouse for testing.

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Logitech® Touch Mouse M600

Flicking, scrolling and searching web pages has never been easier! The touch surface responds to finger movements in the most natural way. Exceptionally easy navigation, swiping and scrolling make working with a laptop easy and comfortable. The role of the scroll wheel is performed by a finger. Thanks to this, exceptional smoothness of movements is achieved - it feels like you are touching the screen. The touch-sensitive mouse with smooth contours fits comfortably in the palm of your hand and looks spectacular next to your laptop. For convenience, up to six compatible mice and keyboards can be connected to the miniature Logitech® Unifying receiver.

Smooth scrolling like on a smartphone

The role of the scroll wheel is performed by a finger. When you move your finger across the touchpad, you achieve exceptional fluidity of movement - it feels like you are touching the screen.

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The miniature Logitech Unifying receiver lets you connect up to 6 Unifying compatible devices. Add a keyboard, change mice, mix and match your devices as you wish, all without having to change miniature receivers or sacrifice an extra USB port!