There was a long line of people waiting for a chance to play with the Leap Motion controller at SXSW earlier this month and I was among those eager to give it a try. The idea of waving your hands in the air to use a computer instead of using a mouse is so living-in-the-future that it's hard to resist.
As an avid gamer, my motion-control experience has been with the Kinect for Xbox which can be an incredible amount of fun. Sure, if you're not careful you whack your fellow players in the head, but that's a small price to pay for the fun of being able to move your hands around and have things happen on the screen. I expected the Leap Motion to be no different.
Learning how to use the Leap Motion was very much like learning to use the Kinect in that the first thing you have to do is figure out just where you can move your hands and have the device "see" you. Too far left or right and it won't pick up your hands. The same thing goes for being too near or far from the screen. You have to figure it out and it does take a little playing around to find the sweet spot.
That said, once you find that sweet spot it's pretty amazing. It's not just one point on the screen that you control, but ten. Each finger and your thumbs are separate points that can all operate independently, just like your actual hand.
It picked up the movements of my fingers incredibly well, spacing them just the way I held them, but what was most impressive was just how small a movement it could sense. I just barely wiggled the tip of my finger and that tiny motion was picked up. So, it's cool, but how will you actually use it day-to-day?
There are lots of gaming applications, like Fruit Ninja, that are perfect for the Leap Motion, all of which will be downloadable from AirSpace. There are also more practical applications that are no less exciting. Imagine designing with something like Corel and you get an idea of the huge potential power in this little device.
Although I was excited to play with the Leap Motion and was amazed by what it did, I have to say I'm not entirely sure just how much I'd use it if I had one sitting on my desk. Yes, it's fun. I sliced and diced fruit like a pro, but holding your hands in the air gets a little tiring. Just how much fruit can you slice like that?
There's also a serious learning curve, like I mentioned earlier, where you have to find that sweet spot. If you're used to using a mouse for small movements on the screen, then it's going to take some time, and possibly cause some frustration, as you try to relearn things with the Leap Motion.
It remains to be seen if this will become an indispensable peripheral or if it'll just be a lark, but either way you'll be able to decide for yourself in just a few months. Pre-orders ship on May 13th with the device showing up for $79.99 on the shelf at your local Best Buy store on May 19th.
