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The Windows PC ClickPad finally improved? Synaptics ClickPad IS Series 3 preview
You'll find a common complaint throughout most of our Windows laptop / netbook reviews. Nope, it doesn't have to do with CPU performance, boot times, or graphics prowess; it revolves around touchpads, and notably those that have integrated buttons within the pad itself – what have come to be known as ClickPads. While we usually point fingers (oh yes, pun intended!) at the laptop manufacturers responsible for choosing the wonky pads (eh hem, HP and Dell), Synaptics – the maker of those ClickPads – is the one behind the technology. Aware of the finicky multitouch gestures and jumping cursors, Synaptics has been hard at work on its next generation ClickPad IS Series 3, which will be hitting laptops sometime early next year. So, will the new image sensing and ClickEQ technology that's been baked into the new pads finally solve all our complaints and let us put away the laptop mice? Hit the break to find out. %Gallery-107778%
Synaptics intros ClickEQ, multi-finger TouchPad-IS trackpad solutions
Synaptics has been a serious roll of late, first introducing those luscious multitouch gestures to older trackpads, and last month extending its Gesture Suite to Linux and Chrome OS. Here at Computex, the company is expanding its TouchPad family of solutions, with the multi-finger PC TouchPad-IS range seeing the first update. Aside from being able to recognize four-finger gestures, the new platform prevents accidental activation of the cursor when a user's palm unintentionally contacts the TouchPad, and it also brings the aforementioned multi-finger capabilities of a touchscreen right onto a PC's trackpad. Next up is the new ClickEQ, which is hailed as the "industry's first hinge-less uniform force, uniform click depth ClickPad mechanical design." As you'd expect, this feels an awful lot like the glass trackpad that Apple's freshest MacBooks have, but you won't find us kvetching about getting a similar technology onto run-of-the-mill laptops and netbooks. Moving on, the company is also introducing new OEM customization capabilities for Synaptics gesture workflow technology, Scrybe, which will allow users to store specific trackpad settings and references so the whole family can control the laptop their own way. Sadly, there's no published ship date for any of these whiz-bang contraptions, but we're cautiously hoping to see it implemented in at least prototype form as we scour the show floor.
