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August 2013

Leap Motion – A Review

So, I want the Leap Motion to be this awesome thing that makes my computer word kinda like Minority Report. I really want it to be a totally new way of using my machine that doesn’t just replace the keyboard and mouse but can enhance it much the same way that touch interaction has these day. Unfortunately, I just can’t say that right now.

So far it has been kind of a let down … especially the apps that are geared toward native computer interaction. So far the app that Leap has put forward is just way too hard to use. It is super difficult to figure out in 3D space where to put you hand so that you get a cursor on your monitor, and once you have done that actually pointing at something and “clicking” it is super painful. I have to go so slow that it makes it worthless to use. I was hoping that they would give you the ability to calibrate the Leap to the position of your monitor and they in essence allow you to use your monitor as a touch screen … thus making it much more easy to accurately “click” on things and interact with the native OS. Similar to this Youtube video. Alas, they went for the 3D air clicking approach which just doesn’t work.

Granted this is a new device and hopefully it will continue to get better. I do hope that someone decides to create an app that lets you turn ordinary monitors into touch screens … maybe I’ll work on it. icon_smile