This review of Leap Motion technology is meant to look at the product from several angles and will hopefully provide those considering purchasing the product with some food for thought.
![]() A Review of Leap Motion: A New Touchless TechnologyWhat is Leap Motion?
The Leap Motion App Store will officially retire on June 30th. Erghis First The next-gen writing experience 4.3899 of 5 (11) Computer Controls. By Erghis Technologies. Touchless For Mac. 2.7329 out of 5 stars (203) Free. Touchless For Mac. Touchless control for your Mac. Leap Motion is a company developing advanced motion sensing technology for human–computer interaction.
Attempting to review Leap Motion without giving a brief description of the product would be silly; so, here it goes. Leap Motion is a new sensory device that can be used with a pc or mac. The device itself is small, only about three inches long and one inch high, but creates a field of three dimensional space above it for your hands to work.
The sensor detects movements from your hands and allows you to perform actions like scrolling, picking up and dropping and grasping things on your computer screen. The device is not meant to replace a keyboard or mouse but is designed to cohabit your desk space with these other items.
The device costs $80 and is sold on Leap Motion’s site as well as Best Buy, Amazon and several other retailers.
The Pros:
The Cons:
While the Leap Motion sensor is a great “in theory” kind of device come to life, it’s definitely not the best it could be and still has a lot of glitches to be worked out. Thankfully, it seems like the creators of the product realize this is the case and are constantly working to update the software. Most likely, within the next few years, there will be a new version of this product (that claims to be even better) out on the market. So, what’s the issue?
The Leap Motion Controller officially begins shipping Monday. While the Controller is just now making it into the hands of consumers, it’s been in the hands of some developers for some time now, developers who have created some pretty amazing motion-controlled apps for the device.
The idea of motion-controlled apps is certainly intriguing, but do they actually work? I had the opportunity to spend this past weekend trying out some of the apps in the store to find out.
SEE ALSO: Top 25 Free iPhone Apps of All Time
At launch there are already a lot of apps to choose from. With everything from a racing game to an app for virtually dissecting a frog, there's a Leap Motion app out there that's bound to catch your attention.
Heading Into Airspace
Apps for Leap Motion are sold from their own special app store called the Airspace Store. Much like Apple’s App Store or Google Play, apps are organized in the store by category, with special sections available for things like Top Picks or Free Apps.
While the Leap Motion Controller can be used with both Macs and Windows PCs, apps in the store are platform specific. What that means is if you have a Windows machine, the apps you’ll be able to use with your Controller will be a bit different than those someone with a Mac can.
Below each app’s listing in the Airspace store you’ll see a “Win” or “Mac” designation letting you know what type of machine that particular application will work with. You can also sort apps in the store by platform. Right now that method works fairly well, simply because there aren’t a substantial number of apps available. As Airspace grows, however, it will likely get a lot harder to navigate.
Apps range in price from free to quite expensive, with most prices on-par with what you would pay for a particular application on its own with Leap Motion Controller functionality.
Ready for Launch![]()
Once downloaded, all of the apps that are compatible with the Leap Motion Controller can be launched from a special Airspace launcher.
If you’re not using Touchless, an app for controller your computer, then you’ll have to open each app using your computer’s mouse before you’ll be able to use the Leap Motion Controller.
Apps are displayed within the launcher as tiles, which ultimately expand to several pages as your app library grows, and grow it will. I found each app I tried a little more addictive than the next, each often offering an opportunity to do something entirely new and different with the Controller than the last.
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By in large I was able to use all of the apps I tried out — Leap gave me a demo account where I could download everything for free — but some apps definitely have a steeper learning curve than others, and could benefit from you coming in with a bit of experience using the Controller before you launch them the first time.
Check out the gallery for a look at some of the apps currently available in the Airspace Store.
What apps do you hope become available for the Leap Motion Controller? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Images: Leap Motion
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January 2023
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